A two-day kite festival scheduled for today and tomorrow at Baishawan (白沙灣) in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) is expected to draw expert kiters from across the nation and around the world, the New Taipei City Government said.
City government officials said the 16th annual New Taipei City North Coast International Kite Festival would not only feature traditional kite flying, but also kitesurfing displays on the water, allowing kite experts to show off their skills.
French kite artist Jean-Paul — known for his fluid kite designs that incorporate elements signifying the wind and local terrain — would be featured at the festival, while Belgian kite designer Alain Micquiaux — known for making symbolic kites out of unique environmental features — has also been invited for the first time, officials said.
Photo: Li Ya-wen, Taipei Times
Micquiaux is also known to utilize bamboo and paper in his designs to display an authentic “Asian” element in his works.
Shihmen District Office director Liu Shu-fen (劉淑芬) said that this year’s festival would not only feature kites, but also windmills and chimes, adding that there would be on-site workshops that would allow festival attendees to make their own kites, windmills and chimes.
“There will also be other cultural-creative products made available to visitors in the hope that they will be impressed with their visit to the ‘home of the wind,’” Liu said.
Meanwhile, Chunghwa Post Co said that its Sanchong District (三重) branch will setup a temporary post office at the festival to provide postal services, adding that the post office had designed “kite” stamps that will be on sale for collection and use.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS