An annual Taiwanese cultural festival in Canada scheduled to begin next month will offer a diverse lineup of events that showcase Taiwan, organizers said on Tuesday.
The Telus TaiwanFest 2013, held in Toronto and Vancouver, will showcase a variety of musical performances, lectures, exhibitions, food tasting, culinary art displays and film screenings, according to the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association, which is organizing the festival with the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation Canada.
Held under the theme “Children of the Ocean,” the festival this year will feature figures such as shipbuilder and temple artist Hung Chuan-jui, and canoe builder and Tao Aborigine documentary director Siar Man Mi Sar Ko.
Hung will share his life story with visitors, while Siar Man Mi Sar Ko will present a model of a Tao canoe and a film documenting the creation and voyage of a large Tao canoe that made a 700km trip from Lanyu (蘭嶼) to Taiwan in 2011, the organizers said.
Festival-goers will also have the chance to buy 200 representations of black-faced spoonbills made by children out of clay and oyster shells from a cultural association that produces handicrafts from the two materials.
Meanwhile, the Aboriginal Amis KaKeng Musical Group will cooperate with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra to blend Western music with Taiwanese Aboriginal percussion and folk songs. Jessica Sung, artistic and creative director of the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association, said she hoped the festival would encourage more Canadians to visit Taiwan.
Canadian Trade Office in Taipei executive director Kathleen Mackay predicted that the Taiwanese food to be offered at the festival would be a hit with Canadians.
Chefs will prepare dishes such as pumpkin seafood rice noodles, oyster rolls, sweet taro soup, noodles and steamed shrimp at the festival, which will take place on Aug. 23 to 25 in Toronto and on Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 in Vancouver.
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