Taiwan's craze for mainland food, pop culture stems from same customs of one family: spokesperson

BEIJING -- The essential reason for the popularity of mainland food, scenery and pop culture among Taiwan compatriots, especially among young people, is that people across the Taiwan Strait belong to the same family and share the same customs, said a Chinese mainland spokesperson on Wednesday.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks when responding to a media query about the craze that a local version of malatang, literally meaning a numbingly spicy hotpot, from Tianshui in Gansu province, has created in Taiwan.

Recent trends in Taiwan, such as learning the Kemusan dancing of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, traveling to the "ice city" Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, and the popularity of local foods of Sichuan and Gansu, show that all Chinese share the same culture, eating habits and interests.

The query also cited many young people in Taiwan as saying that "the mainland is different from what the Democratic Progressive Party has said."

Commenting on this, Chen said that the mainland welcomes Taiwan compatriots to come and see it with their own eyes, and also hoped they would think deeply about why the DPP deliberately conceals the truth and lies to the people about the mainland.