Spectators attending today's National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Office will notice the absence of big-name artists. It is especially apparent when compared to the time period of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, when famed entertainers were often seemed eager to accept an invitation to perform on formal occasions.
But due to the huge profits offered by the Chinese market, many Taiwanese entertainers are distancing themselves from taking the stage when it means having to rub shoulders with pan-green officials. Many are afraid of being labeled as "pro-green" entertainers by the leadership in Beijing. The first such singer to suffer from this kind of fallout was Aboriginal singer Chang Hui-mei (
Olympic taekwondo gold medalists Chen Shih-hsin (
Officials at Chinese Television System (CTS), the station authorized to broadcast the National Day festivities, admitted that it ran into some difficulty finding entertainers to perform for the event.
Pop singers such as Jay Chou (
The evening party, which will take place on the square in front of the Presidential Office tonight from 7pm until 10:30pm, will be hosted by Pung Chia-chia (
Aside from an array of cultural performances, military parades and the like during the day's ceremonies outside the Presidential Office, spectators will be treated to a taste of Taiwanese flavor which characterizes this year's National Day celebrations. For the first time, Chen will not lead the crowd in chanting "long live the Republic of China."
"Shouting slogans is outdated -- even the military doesn't do it anymore," said Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
A new National Day design will replace the traditional National Day decorative arch in front of the Presidential Office building. The new logo, designed by a senior high school student, features an image of a green shape of the island with a pair of peace doves painted in gold adjacent to the name "Taiwan" in English.
About 82,000 foreign guests, local politicians and overseas Taiwanese are expected to attend the morning celebration, according to the event organizer.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
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