Taipei's popular Red House Theater (
One of the nation's leading exponents of Nankuan, or Southern Winds music -- a form of Chinese opera originating in Fujian Province over 2,000 years ago -- the HTYF was founded in 1983 by Nankuan aficionado, Chen Mei-o (
Since then the HTYF has received high praise and been the recipient of many musical and cultural awards, at home and abroad. The group picked up two Golden Cauldron (
PHOTO COURTESY OF HAN-TANG YUEFU ENSEMBLE
Along with performing Nankuan opera, the HTYF has successfully crossed the cultural divide of east and west and performed an adaptation of Jerome Bosch's Le Jardin des Delices at the prestigious Opera Comique Theatre in Paris in 2000.
While preserving the age-old Nankuan tradition, the HTYF has also breathed new life into Liyuan opera (
This more recent form of Nankuan blends southern-styled traditional operatic music and song with the delicate, hypnotic and at times slow-motion movements of the troupe's dancers.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HAN-TANG YUEFU ENSEMBLE
Wednesday's performance will comprise a mixed bag of Nankuan. The first half of the evening will see the troupe performing three scenes from the classic Nankuan opera The Time We Met (
The Han-Tang Yuefu (
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moving the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds before midnight last month symbolized the closest humanity has ever been to global catastrophe In this context, the legislature remains gridlocked over the general budget, mirroring tensions simmering across the globe. According to local soothsayers, this “extreme speed and violent conflict” is no coincidence as the Year of the Horse is the year of bingwu (丙午), the rare “Fire Horse Year” (火馬年) that occurs once every 60 years, a configuration carrying an energy that shapes everything from personal fortunes to international crises. “For some people, it can be a
Feb. 16 to Feb. 22 Pai Ko’s (白克) film career appeared poised to reach new heights in 1962 with the completion of the highly-anticipated, star-studded Romance of Longshan Temple (龍山寺之戀). Despite being mainly in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the film promoted harmony between those born in China and Taiwan, aligning with the official cultural policy at the time. However, he soon disappeared. Colleagues found out he was arrested and accused of colluding with communists. It was not his first run-in with the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). As a university student in China, he joined the anti-Japanese Anti-Imperialism League and
Taiwan is especially vulnerable to climate change. The surrounding seas are rising at twice the global rate, extreme heat is becoming a serious problem in the country’s cities, and typhoons are growing less frequent (resulting in droughts) but more destructive. Yet young Taiwanese, according to interviewees who often discuss such issues with this demographic, seldom show signs of climate anxiety, despite their teachers being convinced that humanity has a great deal to worry about. Climate anxiety or eco-anxiety isn’t a psychological disorder recognized by diagnostic manuals, but that doesn’t make it any less real to those who have a chronic and
Just far enough out of reach to keep big crowds away, but not so far as to make a day-trip an exhausting affair, Jinhuang Hot Spring (近黃溫泉) is a nice winter escape for your next visit to Taitung County. The pools are numerous, the water is the perfect temperature and the walk in is not too challenging, though you will have to get your feet wet. The adventure starts in the county’s Jinlun Village (金崙), which is accessible by train, but you’ll want to have your own car, scooter or bicycle for this trip. If you arrive by train, walk up
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