Guilty, Instagram, Salaries: Taiwan Uniquely

Lee Ming-che Pleaded Guilty in Chinese Court

• Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che appeared in a Chinese court in Hunan Province on Monday, pleading guilty to the charges of subversion of state power. In the 13 minute court proceeding, Lee accepted all the charges raised against him, and repeatedly confessed to have committed the crimes of subverting state power by criticizing the communist system in China through articles and online comments.
• Lee finally met his wife, Lee Ching-yu after the trial, and she shared her sadness over Lee’s inability to voice his true feelings through a social media post. As for what would happen to Lee after this trial and how heavy his final sentence would be, it remains unclear to his family and the Taiwanese general public.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau Invited Popular German Instagrammer to Promote Taiwan

• As part of its plan to further promote Taiwan’s nature and scenery to the world digitally, the Tourism Bureau invited one famous German instagrammer, Jannik Obenhoff, to come experience the beauty of Taiwan’s mountains as well as natures, and share with the vast amount of his followers on Instagram.
• Obenhoff shared 3 photos of the famous sunset and green woods at Alishan, as well as an old school suspension bridge at Taroko Gorge. The images attracted more than 120,000 likes on Instagram in merely 3 days, opening many people’s eyes to the underrepresented beauty of Taiwan.

New Premier Gave All Civil Servants a 3% Salary Raise

• Taiwan’s new Premier William Lai delivered his first major executive order on September 12th, promising to give all civil servants a 3% salary raise by adding an additional $18 billion NTD to the central government’s budget in 2018.
• The order was passed on September 14th, and the group of people that will benefit from this decision include civil servants, teachers, policemen, soldiers, and employees of state-owned enterprises and banks. According to the Executive Yuan, Premier Lai hopes to boost morale among government workers, while setting up an example for companies in the private sector to follow suit.

Discovering Taipei’s Historic Trail through Dihua Street

• A city’s history is often preserved in our surroundings and reflected in an unintentional way that residents may not pay special attention to. In this week’s love note, Taipei Love Notes takes us on a journey of discovering Taipei’s historic trail through Dihua Street.

(Feature photo of Dihua Street by William Yang)