Two New Typhoon Names Suggested

[HURAKAN]

The names Taichi and Kapok may soon be gracing tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea.

They were selected out of 25,000 nominations received in a contest organised by the Hong Kong Observatory and Radio Television Hong Kong. Most nominations were names of people, animals, plants, food and places.

The judging panel selected Lionrock, Yun-Yeung, Dolphin and
Lu-Feng as standby names should the favoured two be rejected by the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific-United Nations World Meteorological Organisation Typhoon Committee which will select names at a meeting later this year.

Representing Hong Kong

At the prize presentation ceremony today, Bernadette Tsui, one of the judges, said Taichi and Kapok were selected because they have Hong Kong characteristics and are easily pronounceable in both Chinese and English.

Reasons submitted for nominating Taichi and Kapok include:

* tai chi is a very popular exercise in Hong Kong;

* Hong Kong holds a Guinness World Record for the largest group of people doing tai chi together;

* the structure of a tropical cyclone resembles the sign of tai chi;

* kapok is a common flower-baring tree in Hong Kong;

* there are a lot of colourful kapok in Hong Kong every spring; and,

* the vitality and ever-growing spirit of kapok symbolises Hong Kong people.