david on formosa
david on formosa
david on formosa
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links 22 october 2007
hanging out in hukou
lust, caution cut from the oscars
youtube, taiwan and a-bian
un membership for taiwan
links 15 october 2007
movie review: the drummer
a website of culture
links 8 october 2007
typhoon krosa: superstorm
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links 22 october 2007
typhoon krosa dumped a huge amount of rocks on the bend in the xindian river at bitan. it seems to have become a popular new fishing spot.
fili on the pressures faced by taiwanese students.
learning mandarin chinese insights has some great advice for language learners.
talking taiwanese on the quality of taiwan's universities.
craig hikes the taoyuanli forest trail.
todd goes hiking on the xianjiyan trail.
hannostamm goes birding in taiwan.
sponge bear goes bird-watching in seisui.
tea masters has a great post on tasting wenshan baozhong tea.
the foreigner has something to add to the un for taiwan post office controversy.
check out fjny's great taiwan photos at flickr.
media: the taipei times on friday reported that the council of indigenous peoples (cip) has defined the boundaries of aboriginal communities and set guidelines for the collection of forest products. this is in response to the smangus case.
blogs: michael will have more links later this week. also visit the taiwan blog feed and bloggers in taiwan for more from the taiwan blogosphere.
file next to:
links 2 august 2007links 20 july 2007links 1 october 2007links 27 august 2007links 8 october 2007
posted: october 22nd, 2007 under blogs & websites, taiwan.
comments: none
hanging out in hukou
on saturday afternoon i met up with todd at taipei station and caught the train down to hukou. from the train station we headed to the home of michael j klein and hui-chen for the grill party. todd and i were the first to arrive. we headed up to the fourth floor of michael's home where todd and michael compared their nikon digital slr cameras. a little later michael turton arrived along with mark. michael j klein pulled out his twelve string guitar and played some tunes.
as it got dark we headed over to xiao hui's thai restaurant. michael and hui-chen set up the grill and got the charcoal burning and not long afterwards a whole lot more guests arrived to get the party started. a lot of people who i was familiar with from their blogs, but had never met in person were at the party. it was great to meet andres, karen, jerry, becky, carrie, john, david and cathy.
the evening progressed and everyone enjoyed some delicious grilled meat and thai dishes. i am consistently disappointed by the thai food in taipei, however xiao hui's food is great and the prices very reasonable. if you want to experience some good thai cuisine then it is well worth the trip to hukou.
after everyone finished eating they moved inside to start singing some karaoke. you may not know it from reading their blogs, but there are a couple of taiwan bloggers who are also great singers. i didn't take many photos of the food or the party, but i suggest you check out the new hampshire bushman's photo stream at flickr.
the next day michael and hui-chen took me on a tour around hukou and zhubei. the first stop was the xinpu yimin temple (新埔義民宮).
this temple was established in 1789 to commemorate the victims of the lin shuang wen and dai chao chun uprisings. it is a very important centre of worship for the hakka in taiwan and the yimin festival is held here during the seventh lunar month.
next stop on the tour was the hukou old street. the architecture is very similar to the old streets in daxi and sanxia.we discovered the remnants of an old railway line in the area and a park called the hukou station park (大湖口車站公園). a sign near the temple said the railway line and station were built there in 1886. however, according to several references i have construction of the taipei to keelung line didn't begin until 1887 and the taipei to hsinchu line opened in 1893. the date might be wrong, but i assume this place was the site of the original railway line and hukou station. the hukou station is now located some distance away.
the final stop of the tour was ding feng yuan (鼎豐園) in zhubei for some delicious xiao long bao (小籠包). many thanks to michael and hui-chen for a great party!
this wasn't the train i caught home, but i snapped the emu700 at zhubei station. more of my photos here.
update: michael turton, carrie, david in taiwan, todd, andres, the nh bushman and mark (video) also have posts on the party.
file next to:
high speed rail ready?riding the maokong gondolagrey-faced buzzard eagle under threat
posted: october 21st, 2007 under xinzhu, trains, travel, taiwan.
comments: 10
lust, caution cut from the oscars
ang lee's latest movie, lust, caution, is not only making money at the box office, but it is also generating plenty of headlines. first, there was a great deal of discussion about the film's sex scenes. about thirty minutes was cut by censors in china, although the film screened in taiwan and other places without being censored.
the other major controversy is over the film's country of origin. the film is a china/usa/taiwan co-production that was shot in china and malaysia. when lust, caution screened at the venice film festival, where it won the golden lion, it was originally credited as "china-usa" at the festival. after a complaint it was changed to "taiwan", then a few days later changed to "usa-china-taiwan, china".
now the academy has rejected the film as taiwan's official nomination for the oscars on the grounds that "an insufficient number of taiwanese participated in the production of the film". the film was of course directed by taiwanese director, ang lee, and the screenplay was written by wang hui-ling (王蕙玲). afp reports:
some in the island questioned the decision, saying that lee's "crouching tiger, hidden dragon," which also had few taiwanese in the cast and crew, was allowed to represent taiwan and went on to win the oscar for best foreign film.
my own feelings are that lust, caution was really a chinese film and it didn't have any strong connection with taiwan, other than its director being taiwanese. of course it must be disappointing that ang lee misses out on the chance to win another oscar. taiwan has now nominated island etude for the academy awards.
update: the taipei times have made this issue the topic of their editorial today. (21 oct 2007)
file next to:
links 17 september 2007understanding the struggle for democracy
posted: october 19th, 2007 under news & media, movies, taiwan.
comments: none
youtube, taiwan and a-bian
video sharing website youtube yesterday launched a taiwan version of its site. the taiwan news reports:
the internationally popular web site youtube yesterday launched a local site "youtube taiwan" with a chinese-language interface, in a bid to encourage more taiwan users to share their video clips, not only with chinese-language web surfers, but also with others around the globe.
steve chen (陳士駿), one of youtube's co-founders is taiwanese. youtube was launched in february 2005 and rapidly became popular. it was acquired by google in october 2006 for us$1.65 billion.
to coincide with the launch president chen shui-bian has his own youtube channel (english version). from the president's website:
總統youtube影音頻道，讓您更貼近總統日常生活的點點滴滴，認識不一樣的「阿扁總統」，歡迎上網觀賞。
the president's youtube channel can let you get close to some of the president's daily activities. get to know another side of president a-bian, get on the internet and take a look. [english translation by david]
president chen also celebrated the sixth anniversary of his electronic newsletter. the taipei times reports:
president chen shui-bian's (陳水扁) weekly electronic newsletter celebrated its sixth year yesterday and a series of short films featuring the president were posted on taiwan's youtube to coincide with the launch of the video sharing web site yesterday. the a-bian e-newsletter, with weekly updates on thursday, has published 314 entries since its inauguration on oct. 18, 2001, and has 123,000 subscribers.
file next to:
taiwan travel videos on youtubea-yue live at the living mallxinzhuang temple parade videospider lilies kissing scenecycling in taiwan video
posted: october 19th, 2007 under videos, blogs & websites, news & media, taiwan.
comments: none
un membership for taiwan
michael turton has a post on his blog about the un for taiwan blogger flap. it has attracted many comments. the story began when blogger wandering in wulai argued that un for taiwan was bad english. he also complained about the post office using un for taiwan postmarks. it got quite a lot of coverage in the taiwanese media.
the graphic above shows un for taiwan is a contraction of un membership for taiwan. the graphic was taken from the taiwan, u.n. me website. the promotional video for the campaign shows the words "unlimited taiwan" transforming into "un for taiwan". the caption "support un membership for taiwan" is at the bottom of the screen.
in the end i don't think it is that important whether the statement is grammatically correct or not. the ad campaign is primarily aimed at taiwanese and a highfalutin english phrase would not be understood by your average chen in the street. it clearly and effectively communicates the intended message.
i was earlier somewhat critical of the whale in the fishbowl video and the un campaign. while i still don't think much of the video, i think the campaign has been very successful with limited resources. sadly, many people who are pro-taiwan have been unreasonably critical of the campaign. taipei times columnist johnny neihu called the campaign "ultimately fruitless".
while taiwan's campaign to enter the un may have failed this year that doesn't mean taiwan should give up. the referendum next year is really crucial for taiwan. i just hope it doesn't get sabotaged by domestic political infighting. if taiwanese vote in support of the referendum then the un and the international community have to start taking taiwan's entry into the un seriously. although taiwan might fail again next year, at least the debate will go to a new level and the world must begin to acknowledge the desires of the taiwanese people.
it is easy to have a negative attitude and think taiwan has no hope. however, recent history is full of examples of hopeless situations that have suddenly changed for the better. take the tiny nation of east timor for example. ten years ago who would have believed that east timor would achieve independence? circumstances can change very rapidly and the continual resistance of the east timorese to indonesian rule ensured that east timor was able to move very rapidly to independence when the opportunity arose.
taiwan cannot wait for the world to change before it begins its campaign to enter the un. the campaign has to be continual even if it is unsuccessful. the day will come in the future when taiwan takes its seat at the un. taiwan has to get ready now.
file next to:
no related posts
posted: october 17th, 2007 under news & media, taiwan.
comments: 3
links 15 october 2007
tailingua on the origins of the name of maokong.
fili asks: do taiwanese like foreigners in taiwan?
talking taiwanese on trilingual education.
isla formosa notes a new book about taiwan.
michael turton on who wants to win the 2008 election.
thoth on taiwan and tuvalu.
notes from a small island asks why should i care about taiwan.
lonely planet author joshua samuel brown announces taiwan 7 is available for pre-order.
taiwan air blog has photos of the missiles and launchers from the double ten day parade.
the nh bushman goes to a cabin in miaoli.
file next to:
links 2 august 2007links 20 july 2007links 1 october 2007links 27 august 2007links 8 october 2007
posted: october 15th, 2007 under blogs & websites, taiwan.
comments: none
movie review: the drummer
a while back i wrote about the drummer (戰鼓), a hong kong - taiwan co-production featuring taiwan's u-theatre (優人禪鼓) zen drumming group. it was released in taiwan yesterday and i went to see it today.
the first part of the film is set in hong kong. it is here that sid, played by jaycee chan (房祖名), gets in trouble with a triad boss and flees to taiwan. here is drawn by the sound of drumming in the mountains. he discovers u-theatre and begins training with him. the personal transformation he undergoes is contrasted with the troubles with his family back in hong kong, particularly the difficult relationship with his father, played by tony leung ka fai (梁家輝).
taidong was used as the location for the film in taiwan, even though u-theatre's actual training area is in the hills south of taipei. one of the most interesting things about the film is the chance to appreciate u-theatre, not just for their drumming performances, but for the rigorous training that they do. their work is very much rooted in an almost monastic discipline and buddhist world view. most of the members of u-theatre appear in the film as themselves with just the part of hong dou, played by actor angelica lee (李心潔).
the beautiful mountain scenery and drumming were the highlight of the film. the part set in hong kong was a bit weaker, but overall it was very enjoyable.
links
the drummer - official website
jin gwu - internet movie database
the drummer info
when u-theater meets the cinema - taipei times review
file next to:
the sound of drummingmovie review: island etudemovie review: reflectionsspider lilies kissing scenesome books about taiwan
posted: october 13th, 2007 under buddhism, movies, taiwan.
comments: none
a website of culture
today i discovered a new website, taiwan culture portal, via an article in the taipei times.
with taiwan's established english-language media outlets behind the internet/multimedia curve, it's up to a new web site run from a small office in taipei's central news agency (cna) building to lead the way.
culture.tw, which is funded by the executive yuan's council of cultural affairs and run by cna, aims to be the main internet portal for english speakers around the world who are interested in taiwanese culture, arts and entertainment.
a quick browse through the website reveals a great selection of articles on topics ranging from architecture to pop music. it also includes a good links and events section. this site will only get better as it adds more content. definitely add it to your bookmarks.
file next to:
the power of the nutbetween democracy and authoritarianismlinks 30 july 2007not chinese but signesebeitou: buddhism, museums and hot springs
posted: october 11th, 2007 under blogs & websites, taiwan.
comments: none
links 8 october 2007
taffy has a new website, tailingua, all about the taiwanese language.
taiwan green party reports on a river of toxic waste.
pinyin news spots an english street sign. is it an error or a trend?
talking taiwanese writes about language education in future taiwan.
plenty of bloggers have written about typhoon krosa: poagao, the only redhead, michael turton, the nh bushman, the taiwan chronicles and nostalgiphile.
doubting to shuo and michael turton have different viewpoints about taiwan's education system.
travels in taiwan is a new travel blog.
fotozon blog is from the creator of taiwan picture of the day.
spicygirl goes to sun moon lake.
check michael's blog for more links later this week.
file next to:
links 2 august 2007links 20 july 2007links 1 october 2007links 27 august 2007links 15 october 2007
posted: october 8th, 2007 under blogs & websites, taiwan.
comments: 1
typhoon krosa: superstorm
typhoon krosa (颱風柯羅莎) hit taiwan with great force on saturday. at zhongshan mrt station on saturday morning i found this sign. it says exits 3 & 4 were closed for the typhoon. the mrt was still running and 7-11 was still open though! and on saturday afternoon the typhoon didn't stop the free burma protest from going ahead either.
on saturday afternoon around five o'clock i went for a bit of a walk around bitan. the xindian river had become a raging torrent. the water level was much higher than it was during the previous typhoons and storms this year. the photo above is the spot where you can catch a ferry to the other side of the river. normally you need to walk down some steps to reach the river here.
this photo illustrates very well how high the river level was.
this photo was taken from the bitan bridge on saturday at 5:30pm. normally there is a wide stretch of concrete here where people walk and play.
on sunday morning the typhoon had weakened and the rain in taipei abated. the photo above shows that the level of the xindian river had dropped significantly overnight, although it was still well above normal.
the view along the river in bitan on sunday morning.
this guy obviously thought the flood waters would bring some fish.
this graphic from the central weather bureau shows the rainfall in taiwan on 6 october. all of northern taiwan and the central mountains areas received very high rainfall. the taiwan news reported the highest rainfall was at taipingshan (太平山) in yilan county where 1,005 millimetres of rain was recorded. taidong escaped the typhoon, but the taipei times reports it experienced foehn winds which raised the temperature to 36.3 degrees. there was also a tornado in taidong.
*more photos related to the typhoon can be found at flickr.
file next to:
links 8 october 2007free burma protest in taipeilinks 20 august 2007after the stormlinks 22 october 2007
posted: october 7th, 2007 under taipei county, news & media, taiwan.
comments: 1
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