The first-ever set of bilingual comics dealing with Taiwan's history were released and placed on the Internet yesterday, allowing people from around the globe to understand Taiwan.
"During this time when Chinese-language education is popular, this set of Chinese and English books will allow many Chinese who do not know the language to know Taiwan," Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission Minister Chang Fu-mei (
The 10-book set of color comics, called A History of Taiwan in Comics (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Speaking about the books yesterday, National Taiwan University history professor Wu Mi-cha (
While the books use pictures to explain Taiwan's history to readers, Wu said, the content is much richer in its description of Taiwanese history than that of current history books.
As a result, Wu said, the books could be used to make up for the deficiencies in current educational materials.
The most difficult part of creating the books, Wu added, was researching the clothing that was worn.
To enhance accuracy, for example, the book's illustrators would rely on black-and-white photos of Aborigines taken by Westerners during the 19th century. For earlier periods where no such pictures were available, the illustrators had to use their imagination to make an educated guess at the clothing of the time, Wu said.
To promote the books, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the commission have bought 2,000 sets of A History of Taiwan in Comics to give to overseas departments.
The comics can be viewed online through the commission's Web site at edu.ocac.gov.tw/local/history_of_taiwan/index.htm.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods