While the Metropolitan Opera House in Greater Taichung yet to be completed, city councilors are excitedly tossing around ideas on how to celebrate its opening — ranging from hosting the Golden Horse Awards to inviting Britain’s young royal couple.
During a meeting on Monday, Greater Taichung councilors pressed Information Bureau Director Shih Ching-wen (石靜文) for an answer on whether the city would be hosting the Golden Horse Awards — also known as the Chinese-language Oscars.
Taoyuan County and Greater Taichung are bidding to host the awards this year, Tseng said.
Shih said the city would do everything in its power to persuade the awards’ executive committee to choose Greater Taichung as the site for the awards ceremony, adding that progress on the opera house’s construction is promising.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Greater Taichung Councilor Lee Chung (李中) said that the opera house would be on a par with the Sydney Opera House once it is finished, but it would lack prestige and international visibility if it were to host only the Golden Horse Awards for its opening.
Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), with his contacts from his previous stint as minister of foreign affairs, could perhaps invite the British royal couple Prince William and his wife, Catherine, to visit Taiwan as special guests for the opera house’s ribbon-cutting, Lee said.
“Such an event would put the spotlight on the opera house and make it more visible internationally,” Lee said.
In response, Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said: “The idea is the most creative I’ve heard this year.”
Cultural Affairs Bureau Director-General Susan Yeh (葉樹姍) said she would relay the suggestion to Hu.
Yeh said the city government expects to open the opera house’s outdoor area for sightseeing by July and to complete it by November in time to host the Golden Horse Awards should it be chosen.
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