While most people spent their Lunar New Year holiday on indoor activities and snacking, three young men embarked on a nationwide trip before the holiday began in what they described as a journey to search for a meaning to life.
The men — Chung Chi-lung (鐘棋朧), Lee Kuan-yu (李冠佑) and Peng Yung-hsiang (彭詠翔) — are all students at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in different departments and in different years.
They walked from Pingtung to the east coast and headed north on their counterclockwise path around the nation. They arrived in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) on Tuesday and planned to stay in the county for a few days before continuing their trip.
Photo: Hsu Chan-yi, Taipei Times
The trio have attracted a lot of attention, as they travel with a baby stroller to carry clothing and food.
They strung up a set of Lunar New Year couplets in honor of the holiday spirit, which read: “Da Jia Gong Xi,” (大家恭喜) or “New Year’s greetings to everyone,” while the stroller also carries a rainbow flag to show their support for same-sex marriage.
Wednesday marked the 17th day of their journey, Lee said, adding that throughout the trip they have been encouraged by well-meaning individuals.
Photo: Hsu Chan-yi, Taipei Times
“People not only encouraged us when they saw us, but also offered us aid in our time of need,” Lee said.
“The trip has taught us how to solve problems and we no longer just sit and sigh over things,” he said.
Chung said he was bored and wondered what he could do.
“I decided that I would dedicate this trip to motivating myself,” Chung said, adding that he hopes that he will experience things in ways that were not available to him previously and ultimately find his own way in life.
Peng said that the trip does not have any fixed goal.
“If we had a specific goal, then this journey would be meaningless,” he said.
“So far we have always been able to find ways that would give meaning to the trip and encourage us to see it to the end,” Peng said.
On Tuesday the three men welcomed a new member, a man named Chen Ching-yuan (陳慶元) who is serving his alternative mandatory military service in Hualien County, where he met the three earlier in their journey.
“Their company was enjoyable and their goal was intriguing,” Chen said, adding that he had decided to join the group on their tour by taking a train to Jhunan.
Chung said they will not be making a specific point of promoting their ideals on same-sex marriage, but hope the flag would be visible and be seen as they travel around the nation, adding that they have sought to use a natural manner to promote their ideals on the issue.
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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