A small fishing village in Yunlin County’s Taishi Township (台西) has been transformed into a world-renowned international art village, thanks to the dedication of hundreds of volunteers from 20 countries who have helped color the community with symbolic stories and emblems of their cultures over the past six years.
From an array of brightly colored national flowers to a vivid portrait of the world’s most distinguished publications, the walls of 55 households in Haikou Village (海口) — totaling 1,300m in length — are painted with a variety of designs reflecting stories and cultural concepts which hold significance for the more than 250 Taiwanese and international volunteers involved in the project.
Six years ago, the fishing village was not much different from many other similar villages until the Taishi Art Association launched an international working camp, which invited young volunteers to paint in the community in 2007.
Photo: Liao Shu-ling, Taipei Times
In July 2007, the first batch of these volunteers, comprising just nine young people from South Korea and Japan, as well as one Taiwanese, arrived in the village with their paintbrushes — and a sense of mission.
The group of young volunteers, aged about 25, painted a “comical clam” on the wall that stood next to the village’s Chen-hai Temple, planting a seed of creativity in the community.
The following year, more overseas artists traveled to Taiwan to take part in the project — organized under the theme of “international flower alley” — to turn what was originally a pale and time-blasted wall into a giant canvas bedecked with the national flowers of Ireland (the shamrock), Scotland (the thistle), Wales (the daffodil), England (the rose), South Korea (the Hibiscus syriacus, or Rose of Sharon) and Japan (the cherry blossom).
In 2009, working under the theme “four seasons without borders,” scenes in a mural depicted all four seasons in Japan, an autumn scene in South Korea and a winter scene in Australia. A work of art inspired by the famous novelette of French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupry, The Little Prince, was also incorporated into the colorful wall.
In 2010, the association introduced another theme entitled “alley of international weddings,” which saw more murals created centered around a Korean fairy tale, The Fairy and the Woodcutter, a Spanish folktale called The Vain Little Mouse and a Japanese folklore legend known as Kaguyahime, in conjunction with a traditional wedding ceremony of the Tao (Yami) tribe.
Last year, the association invited a number of Taiwanese elementary-school students and international volunteers to create a work of art influenced by the concept of “happy reading,” which aimed to highlight the importance of reading and painting.
For the whole of this month, 51 volunteer painters from the US, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan have been adding their creative ideas to the community in a bid to encourage more people to visit the village with an emphasis on art and cultural fusion.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it