"It is more appropriate to view cross-strait relations with the panoramic lens of Ansel Adams than the magnifying glass of Sherlock Holmes," Lin Chong-pin (
The comment was not just a reflection of the vice defense minister's approach to the nation's torturous relationship with China, but also of his love for photography.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lin is a fine amateur photographer, and yesterday he opened his first photography exhibition at Jazz Gallery (
The exhibition features 35 photographs taken locally and in countries such as China, Japan, the US and the UK over a span of 30 years.
One featured photograph is entitled This Old Man, which won first prize in the portraiture division in a contest held by the National Industrial Recreation Association in New York in 1977.
The photograph shows an old man with a stern appearance sitting on a stone bench in a park. One reviewer said that Lin's photography had adopted a lighting technique similar to that of the painter Rembrandt.
Another prize-winning photograph, entitled Daybreak, shows the stunningly beautiful first rays of dawn at Montana's Glacier National Park in the US.
The exhibition, entitled "The Longest Journey is the Journey Inward," reflects Lin's inner world.
Lin said that the exhibition's name came from a quote from the book The Markings by the former Secretary-General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold, who hiked the Himalayas. Lin was also fond of Robert Frost's poetry, especially Frost's famous lines, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ... I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
The exhibition started yesterday and will continue until Dec. 14. The gallery is at 431, Pate Rd. Sec. 2 in Taipei, and is open from 10am to 6pm daily.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner