Dressed in bright red, Michelle Yeoh (
Yeoh should be happy. For the past two weeks she and her boyfriend and co-producer, Thomas Chung, have been touring China's major cities from Beijing to Wuhan and Chengdu, promoting the film. The result looks satisfying. In the two weeks after its release in China, the film reached a box office tally of 17 million renminbi, which surpassed the Chinese box office sales of Spiderman and Star Wars: Episode II.
"My feelings shifted from being extremely nervous to excited and now I feel really happy and relaxed," Yeoh said at a press conference on Wednesday.
PHOTO: SHEN CHAO-LIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Standing beside her, Pater Pau (
"She was the typical Chinese woman in Crouching Tiger, repressing her feelings towards her beloved and her anger towards her enemy," Pau said. "In Tomorrow Never Dies, she was too cool and serious." So in The Touch, Pau said the audience will see the true Michelle Yeoh, who likes to laugh and make jokes. There are also kisses with Ben Chaplin in the film.
The Touch is one of the few Hong Kong-produced films with a budget over US$20 million. Investors in the film include Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. "Chinese filmmaking is now beginning to change its face from small-budget kung fu films to bigger and bigger productions," Pau said. "Touch is among the first ones to make this change," he added.
Helen Huang (黃寶雲), chairperson of Pandasia Entertainment, is the film's Taiwanese investor. Her company put up nearly one-third of the film's budget. "Enterprises in Taiwan do have the willingness and the vision to invest in films with international appeal," she said. "The film is a good example of this."
The Touch sees many former Crouching Tiger actors and crew members, including late Taiwanese actor Lung Sihung (郎雄), who came to fame playing the father figure in most of Ang Lee's (李安) films. The Touch was Lung's last film and perhaps his most difficult as, at age 72, he had to memorize his lines in English. He plays a Tibetan monk in the film.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
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