The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism yesterday responded to controversy surrounding filming for a documentary about the city government’s “old town revitalization project” by the National Geographic Channel, which is to cost NT$5.45 million (US$164,902).
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) last week said that the Discovery Channel would make a documentary on the demolition of a 7m-high, 750m-long ramp connected to the Zhongxiao Bridge (忠孝橋) on Zhongxiao W Road, which is scheduled to take place over the Lunar New Year holiday in February, touting the project as the Taipei City Government’s “legacy.”
The project’s contractor estimated that the demolition would take three months, but agreed to expedite the work to complete it in eight days to meet Ko’s demand.
Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at a budget review session on Tuesday said he found out that it is actually the National Geographic Channel that is to shoot the documentary, with a budget of NT$5.45 million already approved.
While he is neutral on the budget allocation, Liang said that he is against Ko contracting the TV channel to film the demolition just to showcase the city government’s efficiency, citing potential dangers and higher costs due to the abbreviated project term.
Department Commissioner Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) said the documentary is to focus on the city government’s plans to boost tourism by accentuating Taipei’s history and culture through the demolition of the ramp.
The demolition is to be an important component of the documentary, Chien said, but would not be the main topic of the film, as Ko had said.
She said Ko did not fully understand the nature of the documentary when he made the remark.
The documentary is to explore Taipei’s history and culture through old communities in the city’s west, with introductions of the historic North Gate (北門), Longshan Temple in the Wanhua District (萬華) and the Red House Theater in the Ximending (西門町) area, before extending its scope to the Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Dalongdong (大龍峒) areas, Chien said.
Through the documentary, the department aims to convey the message that Taipei is not just a modern city, but also one with a rich history, she said.
The department in October issued a request for bids from both local and overseas filmmakers, Chien said, adding that the National Geographic Channel had been selected due to the high quality of its programs.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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