Now in their 6th year, the X Games are coming to Taipei this weekend, offering a chance for Taiwan's skaterboarders, BMXers and extreme rollerbladers to qualify for a trip to the Asian X Games, which will be held in Phuket, Thailand in December.
According to local sponsors, the Chinese Extreme Sports Association (中華民國極限運動協會), around 200 to 300 athletes have already registered for the event. In the end, eight of them will advance, three in in-line skating, three in skateboarding, and two in BMX.
When it comes to skateboarding, Taiwan's athletes will only compete in street skating, a free-style event in which skaters pull tricks on a mock street course. Sponsors will not even bother to hold a vert competition, because hardly anyone in Taiwan can skate a half pipe.
The reason Taiwan's kids can't skate vert is simple: lack of opportunity. Until just over a month ago when the Chungshan Extreme Sports Park was designed and built by Adidas, there wasn't a single half pipe in Taipei. Now, there's a thirteen-foot monster.
At present, it's mostly in-line skaters who drop in off the top of the ramp, where they can pull grinds, 360s, 540s, and other tricks. Accordingly, vert is part of their competition. Taiwan's BMX club members, which have a little more history and facilities behind them, will also perform some pretty massive jumps, though off different ramps.
For athletes under 14 years of age, the event also includes a Junior X Games competition. Hou Bo-hung (候柏宏), age 7, is one of the kids who'll enter. On a ramp, he can pull a frontside turn, skate switchfooted and even crack a miniature Ollie. As he skates the half pipe, his mom sits by the side and watches. "He likes it," she says, "and it's okay as long as he stays near the bottom."
Exceptions to the rule are sometimes revealing. For a brief few years, there was an emerging ideological split between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that appeared to be pushing the DPP in a direction that would be considered more liberal, and the KMT more conservative. In the previous column, “The KMT-DPP’s bureaucrat-led developmental state” (Dec. 11, page 12), we examined how Taiwan’s democratic system developed, and how both the two main parties largely accepted a similar consensus on how Taiwan should be run domestically and did not split along the left-right lines more familiar in
As I finally slid into the warm embrace of the hot, clifftop pool, it was a serene moment of reflection. The sound of the river reflected off the cave walls, the white of our camping lights reflected off the dark, shimmering surface of the water, and I reflected on how fortunate I was to be here. After all, the beautiful walk through narrow canyons that had brought us here had been inaccessible for five years — and will be again soon. The day had started at the Huisun Forest Area (惠蓀林場), at the end of Nantou County Route 80, north and east
Specialty sandwiches loaded with the contents of an entire charcuterie board, overflowing with sauces, creams and all manner of creative add-ons, is perhaps one of the biggest global food trends of this year. From London to New York, lines form down the block for mortadella, burrata, pistachio and more stuffed between slices of fresh sourdough, rye or focaccia. To try the trend in Taipei, Munchies Mafia is for sure the spot — could this be the best sandwich in town? Carlos from Spain and Sergio from Mexico opened this spot just seven months ago. The two met working in the
This month the government ordered a one-year block of Xiaohongshu (小紅書) or Rednote, a Chinese social media platform with more than 3 million users in Taiwan. The government pointed to widespread fraud activity on the platform, along with cybersecurity failures. Officials said that they had reached out to the company and asked it to change. However, they received no response. The pro-China parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), immediately swung into action, denouncing the ban as an attack on free speech. This “free speech” claim was then echoed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
RSS