The COVID-19 situation in Taiwan has been improving, allowing the government to gradually relax restrictions that it had imposed to stop the virus from spreading. One result of this was the surprisingly strong resurgence of travel and consumption over the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend. Freeways were choked by traffic jams, and scenic spots all over Taiwan were crowded with tourists.
Hotels, restaurants, snack bars and night markets did brisk business, easing their financial difficulties and offering a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.
However, the outlook is still dark and gloomy for movie theaters. They have been deserted since the Lunar New Year, causing their owners to groan in anguish. They even asked the government to order them to halt operations, cutting off their means of subsistence to make them eligible for relief subsidies.
As an avid cinemagoer, it is sad to see them shuttered.
Movie theaters have had a dire time for the four months or so since COVID-19 broke out, with hardly anyone going to cinemas to watch films. It is not uncommon to be alone in a theater, as if it were a private showing. Even on weekends and holidays, it is common for there to be fewer than 10 people watching a film.
Movie theaters are having a really hard time. When they shut up shop, affecting upstream businesses in the film industry, it puts many cinema service staff out of a job.
However, up until now, the government’s relief measures have been mostly focused on the aviation, travel and tourism sectors, while overlooking this popular form of entertainment.
Although the pandemic is easing slightly, the number of people visiting movie theaters has sadly not rebounded as seen in the travel and catering sectors.
Maybe the experience of being stuck at home for three or four months has made people more accustomed to watching videos via the various platforms on their mobile phones.
At the moment, movie theaters are safer than restaurants, coffee shops, night markets and snack bars. There is usually no need to space people out, as there are often fewer than 10 people watching a film in a theater that can seat 100 or more.
However, they are public spaces, and there is not much you can do if people do not want to go in.
The government should bear in mind that films are an art form. Movie theaters are not noisy venues such as dance halls, cabarets and karaoke parlors. Like stage theaters and concert halls, they offer cultural entertainment that is food for body and soul.
All these venues belong to the field of culture, so the government should prioritize offering them economic relief to help them get through this tight spot. When things become somewhat better, the government should think of ways to help them return to their former prosperity, because if they are forced into bankruptcy, it would be difficulty for them to ever get back on their feet.
Wang Hsi-chang is a writer.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past