A sculptor has carved a bust of Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to thank him for his devotion to preventing COVID-19’s spread in Taiwan.
Chen has worked tirelessly without respite on the front line in the fight to contain the disease and safeguard Taiwan, 60-year-old sculptor Huang Tien-fu (黃添富) said, adding that it took him a week to make the 27cm bust.
Chen’s commitment to his task is evident by his daily news conferences at the Central Epidemic Command Center to update the public about the disease’s spread, including reports on individual infections, Huang said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong Taipei Times
Chen has never been absent from these news conferences or sessions at the Legislative Yuan to update lawmakers, Huang said, adding that he was moved by Chen’s dedication and wanted to cheer him on.
“The minister has been doing a very good job. The public is aware of this,” Huang said.
Chen is effective and calm, and he is good at articulating things, Huang said, adding that Chen always answers people’s questions.
Huang, who has over the past 30 years dedicated himself to sculpting Buddhist statues, said that he had not made a bust or statute of a human likeness in years.
However, the underlying skills remain the same, Huang said, adding that he was able to craft Chen’s likeness from pictures he found online.
After finishing the bust, he shared it online, where the response has been positive, Huang said, adding that people told him it looked life-like and was an accurate rendering of Chen.
“I started off just wanting to do this to express my feelings, and I had no idea I would get this encouragement,” Huang said. “I am truly honored. It seems that it was the right thing to do.”
The most challenging part of sculpting a bust is the sides of the face, while accurately depicting the nose, eyelid placement, cheek width and position of the ears are also difficult, he said.
“Without looking at a person in real life, you do not know what the back of their head or sides of the face look like,” Huang said, adding that he asked a reporter friend to photograph the sides of Chen’s face during a news conference.
As he initially hoped to finish the bust within a week, Huang said he made it with a less time-consuming process using fiber-reinforced plastic, but added that he plans to recreate the work with copper.
He plans to send the bust to Chen, Huang said, adding that he also plans to sculpt President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS