Jedi forces are set to land in Taipei tomorrow, when the nation plays host to what is already being dubbed "the most powerful unofficial Star Wars fan gathering ever held in East Asia," in order to celebrate the first Chinese-language publication of Timothy Zahn's popular Star Wars saga novels.
Jointly organized by the Chinese Global Forum (華人網), founders of the movie--related Web site www.starwarsforce.com, and the local publishing house, Fantasy Literature (奇幻文學), the event begins at 1:30pm tomorrow at the Taipei Youth Activity Center (青少年育樂中心).
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHINESE GLOBAL FORUM
The main event is the launch of Lucifer Chu's (朱學恆) translation of Zahn's 1991 Heir to the Empire, the first in a series of five books that the publisher hopes to release over the next three years. Chu has already established a reputation for himself as the translator of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.
If the Star Wars series proves successful, as the publishers confidently expect, then other translations of Zahn's science fiction work are likely to follow.
Organizers are being rather coy as to the number of people they expect to attend the event, but it is hoped that Death Star Stormtroopers will be rubbing shoulders with Darth Vaders, Luke Skywalkers, Han Solos, Princess Leias, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobis, and even the odd Tusken Raider or two. All of whom will become honorary Jedi Knights for the day and be asked to recite the Jedi Oath.
Although slated as a Star Wars gig, the day's events are in fact open to fans of all types of science fiction, be it Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5 or Captain Scarlet.
According to organizers a universal treaty with local `Trekies' has been signed and anyone who turns up speaking Vulcan and with pointed ears will be allowed to live long, prosper and enjoy the days events without fear of being executed with a light saber!
The Star Wars Celebration will begin at 1:30pm tomorrow on the 10th floor of the Taipei Youth Activity Center (青少年育樂中心), which is located at 17 Jenai Rd., Sec. 1, Taipei, Taiwan (台北市仁愛路1段17號). While organizers would like to see everyone dressed up in costumes, fancy dress is not obligatory: a rabid appetite for science fiction and a little insanity is a must, however.
Recently the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its Mini-Me partner in the legislature, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), have been arguing that construction of chip fabs in the US by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is little more than stripping Taiwan of its assets. For example, KMT Legislative Caucus First Deputy Secretary-General Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) in January said that “This is not ‘reciprocal cooperation’ ... but a substantial hollowing out of our country.” Similarly, former TPP Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) contended it constitutes “selling Taiwan out to the United States.” The two pro-China parties are proposing a bill that
It starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother. This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of a spate of butsukari otoko — “bumping man” — shoving incidents in Japan that experts attribute to a combination of gender
The race for New Taipei City mayor is being keenly watched, and now with the nomination of former deputy mayor of Taipei Hammer Lee (李四川) as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, the battle lines are drawn. All polling data on the tight race mentioned in this column is from the March 12 Formosa poll. On Christmas Day 2010, Taipei County merged into one mega-metropolis of four million people, making it the nation’s largest city. The same day, the winner of the mayoral race, Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), took office and insisted on the current
Last month, media outlets including the BBC World Service and Bloomberg reported that China’s greenhouse gas emissions are currently flat or falling, and that the economic giant appears to be on course to comfortably meet Beijing’s stated goal that total emissions will peak no later than 2030. China is by far and away the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, generating more carbon dioxide than the US and the EU combined. As the BBC pointed out in their Feb. 12 report, “what happens in China literally could change the world’s weather.” Any drop in total emissions is good news, of course. By
RSS