In an example of traditional Taiwanese culture spreading its influence around the world, Taiwanese puppet theater has brought joy into the life of a young girl from the US suffering from muscular dystrophy.
A nine-year-old girl named Trisha Stanford fell in love with the artform when she saw the Taiyuan Puppet Theater Company stage a performance last October at the Salt Lake City children's hospital where she was being cared for.
The troupe, led by Huang Wu-shan (
PHOTO: CNA
The festival, sponsored by the Press Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco and various government agencies, featured Taiwanese film, performances, music and culinary arts.
Trisha, who had been in the hospital for three months awaiting spinal surgery, was immediately drawn to the colorful puppets in the puppet theater show.
"The visit by the puppet troupe was one of the highlights in Trisha's young life," her mother said.
After the show, Huang taught Trisha some puppet manipulation techniques.
Just recently, months after the troupe had left Salt Lake City, the US organizers of the Taiwan Cultural Festival received a package sent from Taiwan by the troupe containing a DVD of a famous Taiwanese puppet theater film and a full-sized puppet of the main character in the film that were meant as gifts for Trisha.
When the organizers sent the loving gift to the young girl, they got some good news. Trisha's surgery had been a success, and she was released from the hospital in November.
The nine-year-old was recovering well and was even able to walk short distances on her own.
Trisha expressed her love for Taiwanese puppetry and her wish to be able to visit Taiwan one day to see its many puppet museums.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS