The honorary chairman of Taoyuan County’s Society of Natural Life Education, Chen Yang-sheng (陳仰聖), has spent nearly NT$300,000 purchasing the photography equipment needed to photograph 100 flowers endemic to Taiwan and surrounding areas to woo back his ex-girlfriend.
Chen and his ex-girlfriend, “Kai Xin Mei Mei” (開心妹妹), knew each other for about a year when they started a relationship, but Kai Xin Mei Mei decided to end it.
In an attempt to persuade her to reconsider, Chen — who originally only took pictures of birds and insects — began taking pictures of flowers which he then posted onto her Facebook page.
Photo: Lo Cheng-ming, Taipei Times
In March Chen began his botanic endeavors seeking to show Kai Xin that he still loved her.
In one example he wrote on the caption of the photo: “I give you a large flower, the glossyshower senna, today; hopefully we can see them together sometime.”
“People might not understand what I mean, but she knows,” Chen said.
On Aug. 23, Chen posted a video clip on YouTube which showed photos of 100 kinds of flowers, a picture of Kai Xin Mei Mei and music in an attempt to show her that he was still serious.
However, the woman simply said “thanks” and seemed unmoved by Chen’s efforts.
Despite the setback and the certainty that the relationship was finally over, Chen said he still loved natural life and its many wonders.
There are more than 5,000 flowers which are endemic to Taiwan and that number continues to grow as new species are discovered, Chen said, adding that he hoped that one day he would have taken the pictures of 5,000 flowers.
Chen acknowledges the difficulty of the project, pointing out that flowers, such as the common aspidistra, are becoming increasingly rare to find, adding that, for example, the Lycoris aurea herb can only be found on Keelung Island, which is only accessible by boat.
“At least I still have the goal of taking the pictures of 1,000 flowers over three years and I will try my best to achieve that,” Chen said.
As of Sunday, Chen had already taken photos of 126 flowers and is continuing to take pictures of the flowers despite his unsuccessful attempt to win back the woman’s heart.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard