Cultural and creative industries are working with government agencies to launch the Taiwan Comics Dream Park (台灣漫畫夢工廠), a project to make the nation a major player in Asia’s thriving markets for manga, animation, computer game design and cosplay exhibitions.
Based in Hsinchu County’s rural townships, officials said the park is aimed at attracting local and international talent, and “is to be one of the leading centers for comic books and cartoon animation in Asia.”
Aimed at boosting the tourism sector and revive the local economy, the plan has received NT$300 million (US$10 million) in funding from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The plan calls for establishing a “Comics and Animation Museum,” an institute for training students and for organizing competitions, facilities for youth summer camps, and exhibit halls for cosplay and comic book fairs.
Led by the Hsinchu County Government, the project team announced a range of programs on Tuesday to launch the International Comics Festival and Summit Conference, which will take place from tomorrow until Friday.
Wang Chin-tsang (王金倉), head of the county government’s Transportation and Tourism Department, said the project will be based in locations along the county’s Neiwan Line, a 27km-long railway from Jhuzhong Station (竹中) in Hsinchu City to Neiwan, a rural town surrounded by forests.
Neiwan, a town populated mostly by Hakka, is the hometown of Liu Hsing-ching (劉興欽), an art illustrator and inventor who is known as Taiwan’s “King of Cartoons” for his popular comic publications during the 1970s.
All nine station stops along the Neiwan Railway are to serve as local bases for the Taiwan Comics Dream Park, with planned facilities and infrastructural designs to be focused on the local culture.
Wang said he is confident the Dream Park will help Hsinchu County become a world-renowned cultural destination, that could draw up to 5 million tourists each year.
To mark the start of the program this week, leading Taiwanese and international comic book and animation artists will go to Neiwan for a summit conference.
The conference will also feature lectures and workshops for students and youngsters, as well as a design competition for new talents, titled “Make Your Comic Dreams Come True.”
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
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
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