US fashion designer Jason Wu (吳季剛) yesterday said he was proud to be Taiwanese, while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) praised Wu as being someone possessing characteristics of “Chinese culture.”
Wu said he was glad to return to Taiwan to share his success with other Taiwanese.
“I am Taiwanese. No matter where I go, I was born in Taiwan,” he said in English as he met Ma at the Presidential Office.
Wu, who is in Taiwan for his brother’s wedding, said he was “surprised” by the warm welcome he has received since he arrived on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old Wu gained global fame last year after US first lady Michelle Obama wore one of his gowns to her husband’s inaugural ball. The one-shouldered gown is now in the National Museum of American History, where it is part of a collection of 24 gowns worn by US first ladies.
Wu told Ma that he was very proud to be the first Asian designer to have a gown in the museum’s collection.
“I think it’s such an honor and I never thought that it would happen to me,” Wu said. “I work very hard over the last few years. I’m still surprised what was going on. It’s been a very exciting time for me.”
Ma was eager to find out why Wu was more interested in dolls than toy guns when he was little, and asked Wu if his older brother had thought he was “weird” when they were young.
“He still thinks I am,” Wu said in Mandarin, adding that though he and his brother were very different, they were very close.
“I don’t know how to explain. Maybe I was born that way. My mother did not stop me. She encouraged me,” Wu said, adding that she would buy him fashion magazines, which is where he learned English.
Wu went to Canada when he was nine years old and studied sculpture in Japan for a few years before realizing that designing clothes was like “sculpting in real life.”
Ma described Wu as someone who was “simple” and “conservative” in his style of dressing, to which Wu replied he was “more simple” and that he wanted to make his dresses stand out, not him.
“That is quite oriental,” Ma said. “Our Chinese culture has the characteristics of being simple and modest.”
Ma asked Wu if there might be opportunities for the designer to meet young Taiwanese in New York or Taipei to teach them about fashion design. Wu said he was still a student and he wasn’t sure he was qualified to teach others. The only advice he could give them was to work hard.
Seemingly unsatisfied, Ma asked Wu how he could “pay back” young people interested in fashion design.
Wu said he hoped to bring more focus to design in Taiwan and perhaps his visit could bring more attention to it.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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