'Trapped' voted word of 2019 across Taiwan Strait

TAIPEI - More than 12 million Chinese mainland and Taiwan netizens have picked the Chinese character "kun", meaning trapped, as the word of the year for 2019, expecting cross-Strait relations to break free from the trap next year.

The character won 1.03 million votes out of a total of 12.06 million in an online poll from Nov 29 to Dec 12 jointly hosted by organizations including Taiwan-based Want Daily, Fujian-based Sun News and online news giant Sina, Want Daily announced in Taipei earlier this week.

It beat the other 35 candidates recommended by personages across the Taiwan Strait.

The choice showed that people on both sides have a clear understanding of the difficulties currently facing cross-Strait relations, said Wang Cho-chung, president of China Times and Want Daily, at the announcing ceremony Friday.

"Let us hope that next year we will be able to bring cross-Strait relations out of the trap and into a new beginning," he said.

"The more difficult the current situation becomes, the more necessary it is for us to stay on the right track," said Huang Yubin, president and editor-in-chief of Sun News, addressing the ceremony via a video message. "I believe people chose the word 'trapped' not only to express their feeling of 2019 but also an aspiration to break out of the current situation."

The event has been held annually since 2008. Last year's choice was the character "wang", or expectation.

The event reminded people across the Strait of the cultural roots they share, said Lin Gu-fang, chief of Taipei Lecture Hall, an institute promoting traditional Chinese culture including calligraphy.

"As long as we all use Chinese characters, the essential bond across the Strait remains, and the proof that we come from the same origin is there," Lin said.