More than 3,000 Vietnamese celebrated the upcoming New Year holiday on Sunday with traditional Vietnamese song and dance, flamingo dancing and lucky draws in one of the largest Vietnamese gatherings to take place in Taiwan.
The "Vui Don Xuan Moi 2006," held at the Armed Forces Cultural Center in downtown Taipei provided Vietnamese who work in northern Taiwan with a taste of the New Year's atmosphere back home. Vietnamese traditionally share the same Lunar New Year tradition as Taiwanese.
"It gives me sadness and nostalgia that I can't be home with my family for the new year, " said a 26-year-old girl who only identified herself as Dao.
"We can't even make our way into the hall, but it feels good to be able to see all my compatriots and chat a little bit. It's good enough for me," she added.
The Vietnamese have almost the same New Year traditions and rituals as the Chinese, Dao said.
"The whole family has dinner on New Year's Eve and worships their ancestors. It's almost the same as [the Chinese]," she said.
More than 1,000 people jammed into the hall, which has a capacity of just 810, to enjoy a series of traditional Vietnamese songs and dances performed by a group of volunteers.
Some of them won prizes provided by sponsors, including digital cameras and pre-paid telephone cards, in a quiz on foreign labor regulations and a lucky draw.
For those who couldn't get in, chatting on the sidewalk with friends was just as good.
"Usually we don't have a chance like this to meet so many Vietnamese and talk," said Nguyen The Ahn, who, like Dao, comes from Hao Binh, a two-hour drive south of Hanoi, and works at an electronics company in Taipei County.
About 70 percent of the Vietnamese in the crowd were female, with many wearing traditional Vietnamese dresses called Ao Dai.
Trihn Ngoc Hoa, who has been working in Taiwan for four years as a housekeeper, was all smiles when she accepted a trophy on stage.
"It was a call-in Mandarin-speech competition. Fortunately I won," she said.
"We expected 1,000 people to show up -- 2,000 at most. But the feedback has been both tremendous and surprising," said a worker from Western Union, one of the sponsors of the event.
The crowd went crazy when the organizers started distributing Vietnamese calendars outside the hall.
"It's a wonderful afternoon. Being able to take a break from work, talk to friends and meet all these people from Vietnam really relaxes us," Nguyen, 27, said.
The event was organized by the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, the Council of Labor Affairs (COA) and Taipei City Government. It was hosted by Taiwan Radio.
Currently there are 85,528 Vietnamese workers in Taiwan, according to statistics released by the COA, with 42 percent of them working in Taipei City, Taipei County or Taoyuan County.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
RSS