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Updated Friday, December 28, 2007 0:00 am TWN, CNA

Bullet train launch chosen top domestic news story of 2007

The bullet train service is officially launched on Feb. 1, making the 345-km high speed railway one of the most important long-distance transportation arteries linking all major cities and counties in western Taiwan.

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Bullet train launch chosen top domestic news story of 2007

— The Legislative Yuan completed the third reading of the National Pension Act, which is set to take effect Oct. 1, 2008. Under the act, those who are not covered in the existing civil service and labor insurance programs can join the national pension program and will be eligible to receive about NT$9,000 per month until their death so long as they pay a due amount of premium for 40 full years.

— Taiwan-born New York Yankees star pitcher Wang Chien-ming made the “2007 Time 100” list, making him the third Taiwanese citizen to be selected by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world after President Chen Shui-bian and Oscar-winning film director Ang Lee.

— Ang Lee won the coveted top honor in the 2007 Venice Film Festival with his steamy spy thriller “Lust, Caution.” It was the second time that the New York-based director captured the Golden Lion for best film, the Italian film festival’s top honor. In 2005, Lee won the award for “Brokeback Mountain,” a gay cowboy romance movie which also earned him a best director Oscar.

— The government launched a drive to replace the word “China” or “Chinese” in the titles of several state-owned enterprises with the word “Taiwan” to protect them from being mistaken as companies in China. For instance, Chunghua Post was renamed Taiwan Post; Chinese Petroleum Corp. was re-designated CPC Corp., Taiwan; and China Shipbuilding Corp. was renamed Taiwan Shipbuilding Corp. Meanwhile, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which was dedicated to the late President Chiang Kai shek, has been renamed the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Chiang was branded by the DPP as a dictator and main perpetrator of the tragic 228 Incident of 1947.

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