(b) 反对声浪大 台湾政府暂停拆迁工程. VOA Chinese, May 18, 2010.
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/taiwan/20100518-Taiwan-Controversy-over-wet-land-94098739.html
My comment: What surprised me, upon seeing the photo of the writer, was I could not recognize her. Her appearance changed so much. Not just hair (which was cut short from shoulder-length) and size (she obviously gained weight, a lot).
My comment:
(a) The article states, "清代称福皮寮、福地寮街,日治时期称北皮寮街,光复之后称剥皮寮。"
A Taiwanese commented in a web page, "是由發音相近轉換而來."
(i) Japanese pronunciations (音読み: on (Chinese) reading of Kanji) for 福 and 北 are "fuku" and "hoku," respectively.
(ii) 闽南语发音中「北」与「剥」相近.
(b) 民国35年 is 1924, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule.
(c) The article asks, "艋舺-万华,发音相近?"
The answer is yes, if one pronounces 艋舺 in Taiwanese rather than Mandarin. 万华 in 音読み is "man-ga"--exactly the same as Taiwanese pronunciation for 艋舺.
(d) 艋舺 (電影)
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E8%89%8B%E8%88%BA_(%E9%9B%BB%E5%BD%B1)
(2010年2月5日春節檔期上映)
Note:
(a) Lara is Russian, shortened from Larissa. Lara became a bit popular due to the female character in the film Dr. Zhivago.
(b) 大長今
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E5%A4%A7%E9%95%B7%E4%BB%8A
("《大長今》(韓語:대장금)是韓國文化廣播(MBC)電視台出品,以長今的一生為藍本的長篇古裝連續劇")
(6) 台湾手记(6):陈阿姨、王阿姨、胡爷爷. VOA Chinese, May 8, 2010.
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/taiwan/taiwan-journal-6-20100508-93186674.html