After months of haggling over the details of their visit, a group of Shaolin monks from China arrived in Taiwan to exchange skills with martial arts professionals and offer free performances of their world-famous fighting techniques to the general public.
The 19-member delegation, which arrived on Thursday and is slated to depart on Sept. 1, visited the legislature yesterday to offer a treat to the media before presenting routine performances from today through Aug. 26 in Chiayi County, Kaohsiung City, Taichung County, Hsinchu City, Ilan City and Taipei City. Admission to all of their public events is free.
Before the Shaolin monks gave their performances, six kung fu practitioners from the Taipei Chinese Kung Fu Association greeted the young guests with their own individual performances.
PHOTO: CNA
The event was organized by the Chinese Shaolin Association. The association had arranged for 45 monks from the Songshan Shaolin Temple in Henan Province to teach Shaolin kung fu at summer camps.
According to the original itinerary, which would have kicked off on July 25, classes were to be open to the general public and be held at public facilities such as school playgrounds and parks. The activity had attracted more than 4,000 students who had enrolled at a cost of NT$1,200 (US$37.62) each.
At the insistence of the Mainland Affairs Council, the size of the group was downsized and the schedule was pushed back. Members must also enter and leave the country as a group, and stay in one group during the visit.
Saying that summer camps did not constitute professional exchanges, the council requested the monks limit their "exchanges" to martial arts professionals and not the general public. In addition, charging for lessons was deemed illegal.
Andrew Lin (林逸士), chairman of the Chinese Shaolin Association, said that although the event sponsor, security company Taiwan SECOM (中興保全), had bailed out, he is confident that the events will be successful.
"I'm sure Buddha will be on our side and make things alright," said the 54-year-old Lin, who converted to Buddhism and became a vegetarian at the age of 36.
According to Lin, Taiwan SECOM invested about NT$10 million in sponsorship money. While the money has already been spent, primarily on publicity, they still need another NT$10 million. The estimated budget for the original schedule was NT$50 million.
Lin said that he understands the government's concern over national security and he is aware that the council is just doing their job in accordance with the law.
However, he said that he believes the invited monks would not do anything to sabotage national security.
One monk, 18-year-old Shih Yen Lu (釋延路) from the northeastern Chinese province of Shandong, said that although their days are busy at the temple, and sometimes boring, he does not regret joining the century-old martial arts center.
"I am very happy to be with my brothers, and our masters are very nice, although they can be very strict sometimes," he said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS