(1) Takio Murakami, China tries to buy Taiwan hearts on reunification. Asashi Shimbun, Jan. 8, 2011.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201101070308.html
Note: Xuejia district of Tainan 學甲區 (city and county just merged on Jan 1, 2011)
(2) S. F. Wang and Flor Wang, Construction of Kinmen Bridge to begin Sunday: official. Central News Agency, Jan. 8, 2011.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aALL&ID=201101080015
( a 5.4-km bridge linking Kinmen Island (Greater Kinmen) and Lieyu 烈嶼鄉, or Little Kinmen 小金門; NT$7 billion (US$233 million); scheduled to be completed in 2016)
See the map in Kinmen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinmen
(3) CC Hsieh and Flor Wang, Taiwan data shows record low number of births in 2010. Central News Agency,
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aALL&ID=201101080013
(a) 166,886 live births in Taiwan in 2010, the lowest number in the country's history--24,424 less than in 2009;
(b) 138,819 marriages in 2010, an increase of 21,720 from the previous year. The number of divorces totalled 58,115 in 2010, up by 892 from 2009, the figures showed.
My comment: Press in Taiwan for about 2 or 3 years has said that fertility rate of Taiwanese women was the lowest in the world. Yesterday, a newspaper in the West said so.
Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg, US Growth Slowed, Still Envied; Developed nations hit by economy; aging issues. USA Today, Jan 7, 2011 (title in the print).
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2011-01-06-us-population_N.htm
("Taiwan has the lowest fertility rate of any country in history: an average 1 child per woman")
(4) Jimmy Lai, Taiwan's Less-Free Media; The government of President Ma Ying-jeou is tightening controls on Taiwan's press..Asia Wall Street Journal, Dec 28, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203731004576045030292636182.html
(The author is the founder and chairman of Next Media)
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