The Discovery Channel yesterday said it would present a new series of documentaries that showcase Taiwan’s achievements in medicine, agriculture and industrial innovation.
The three-episode program, which was made in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is to premiere tomorrow, Arjan Hokstra, president and managing director of Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, told a press conference in Taipei.
The first episode, titled Taiwan Revealed: Body Reconstructed, focuses on Taiwanese microsurgeon Wei Fu-chan (魏福全) and his team at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s plastic reconstructive surgery department.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Wei, among the world’s top plastic and reconstructive surgeons, has provided surgical treatment to peopled injured at work or those needing craniofacial reconstruction, among others.
The episode features how Wei and his team treated three people and helped restore their dignity. The patients include a Taiwanese man who lost 10 fingers in an accident and a Hong Kong woman who lost her lower jaw from a gunshot.
Another episode, Taiwan Revealed: Convenient Truths, scheduled to air on Thursday next week, showcases cutting-edge agricultural innovations in Taiwan, the channel said.
Among the featured stories are a high-tech LED lighting system that helps produce beautiful water bamboo in Nantou County, a prewarning system for fruit flies that protects guava farms in Changhua and the invention of a membrane that can recycle and reuse industrial water.
The final documentary in the series, Taiwan Revealed: Innovation Island, is to air on June 19. Featured stories include the world’s first transparent smartphone, which was introduced by a Taiwanese company, and the use of coffee grounds to produce odor-resistant fabric.
At the press conference, Hokstra said that “this year marks Discovery Channel’s 20th anniversary in the Asia-Pacific.”
As part of the channel’s efforts to tell local stories from a global perspective, the channel has worked with the ministry to produce several documentary series on Taiwan over the past 10 years, he added.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and many Taiwan-based foreign officials attended the press conference, during which video clips from the programs were shown.
Ma praised Discovery Channel’s role in helping promote Taiwan on the international stage and recommended that the channel also produce documentaries featuring outstanding Taiwanese such as Lien Jih-ching (連日清), a specialist in mosquito-borne diseases who has played an important role in combating malaria.
The Taiwan Revealed series will be aired in 36 countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region this month and next, the channel said.
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor