Prominent performing groups, rising Taiwanese stars and artists, and Aboriginal musicians, together with heavy doses of Taike (台客) culture, are to take center stage at this year’s TaiwanFest in Canada, which opens tomorrow in Toronto.
Founded in 1990 by the Vancouver Formosa Academy, the festival is also known for showcasing Taiwanese food and specialty dishes, which visitors can sample at the “Friendship Kitchen” program and stalls around the venue.
The festival is to run from tomorrow to Sunday at the Harborfront Centre, Asian-Canadian Special Events Association managing director Charlie Wu (吳權益) said.
Photo: Shen Chao-liang, courtesy of the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association
It is then to move to Vancouver on Labor Day weekend, from Saturday next week to Sept. 2, along Granville Street and areas around the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Wu said the festival would feature a “Taiwan stage” (台灣野台) — a mechanical contraption mounted on a truck that transforms into a colorful stage on which Taike-style entertainment is offered during temple celebrations, weddings, political rallies and other local events.
The word Taike refers to grassroots Taiwanese and a subculture built around them that is considered quite fashionable among younger Taiwanese.
Featured performers this weekend include indie band Sorry Youth (拍謝少年), three young Taiwanese rockers who play modern and traditional instruments, and sing in a mix of Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) and Mandarin.
“We sing about our experiences and stories, and to compare and contrast Taiwan’s contemporary culture with its past,” guitarist Weni said, adding that he is looking forward to making friends with other Canadian and Taiwanese musicians at the event.
The festival also features a “Taiwan Street Arts” program, with stage art creations by the graphic designer known as “Milkfish Man,” an animated film by visual artist Lee Wen-cheng (李文政), and techno-dancing “Robot princes.”
Other performers include the Ju Percussion Group, Aboriginal musician Suana Emuy Cilangasay, Toronto-based singer-composer Moulann (沐嵐) and the “Celebrate Women Concert” in collaboration with Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University Concert Orchestra.
In a continuation of the “Dialogue with Asia” series that links Taiwan’s cultural and human interactions with neighboring Asian nations, Wu said that this year’s theme is “Riding the Waves With Vietnam,” which is to feature cultural programs and activities hosted by Caroline Nguyen (阮秋姮), a Vietnamese married to a Taiwanese who resides in Taiwan.
Now a fluent speaker of Mandarin, Nguyen has helped bridge the Taiwan-Vietnam cultural gap with her online program and is best known for serving as a co-emcee at the Double Ten National Day celebration last year.
“The Dialogue series began with Hong Kong in 2016, then Japan in 2017 and the Philippines last year,” Wu said.
By working together, these international communities get to identify with and appreciate Taiwanese culture and our values,” he said.
For the culinary program Friendship Kitchen, organizers have invited three chefs: Josie Chang from Taichung, Allie Huang from Tainan and Nguyen Manh Hung from Hanoi.
According to organizers, the three chefs have become friends because of their shared passion, and they will work together at the event with local chefs from Toronto and Vancouver.
Other programs include “Cinematic Taiwan,” which will feature films and documentaries; an exhibition on Taiwanese Aborigines; “Hope Talk,” with artists and cultural icons as speakers; and two special workshops on Vietnamese water puppet theater and Taiwanese puppet theater.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai