There are two choices of Chinese-language films this week: An animated film from Hong Kong about a piglet's life that mocks elitism and new policies in Hong Kong; and a Taiwanese modern drama replaying the classic theme ofButterfly Lovers.
After world-wide accolades last year -- including the Best Animated Picture title at the Golden Horse Awards -- the crew of My Life as McDull (
PHOTO COURTESY OF PANDASIA FILMS
For those unfamiliar with McDull, he is a piglet studying in the Spring Field Flower Flower kindergarten (
She tries her best to give her son a happy childhood and expects a lot in return, in terms of his future success. McDull, however, is a carefree child without much ambition. He hopes to fulfill his mom's wishes, but usually fails.
In this sequel, the pictures are still water-color based, with realistic drawings of Hong Kong's streets, characterized by signboards for hemorrhoid clinics and traditional drug stores.
Times are still hard for the McDull family. Their neighborhood houses are being torn down by the Urban Renewal robot. Ms. McDull, voiced by comedienne Sandra Ng, is anxious about the future and she buys insurance, US dollars and lots of toilet paper. She also purchases a plot for a grave in the mountains that has good feng-shui.
As in the original film, McDull and his classmates are obsessed with becoming Hong Kong's national sports icons and going to the Olympics. In addition, they are required to learn Mandarin in order to integrate more with China. They are encouraged to practice "fake-death" skills, creative urinating and fishing for squid in the mud. The principal of the school believes these are essential skills to survive in a changing Hong Kong.
McDull, who is proud of his cross-legged leg-shaking, also gets to perform in public with Jo Jo Ma (a pastiche of Yo Yo Ma, presumably), to the accompaniment of Bach's cello suite, his crossed legs beating a rhythm to the music.
The film also discloses the story of McDull's absent dad, who is actually Prince de la Bun, the Pineapple Bun Prince and owner of a popular tea restaurant.
The recent decline in average room rates is undoubtedly bad news for Taiwan’s hoteliers and homestay operators, but this downturn shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. According to statistics published by the Tourism Administration (TA) on March 3, the average cost of a one-night stay in a hotel last year was NT$2,960, down 1.17 percent compared to 2023. (At more than three quarters of Taiwan’s hotels, the average room rate is even lower, because high-end properties charging NT$10,000-plus skew the data.) Homestay guests paid an average of NT$2,405, a 4.15-percent drop year on year. The countrywide hotel occupancy rate fell from
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
In late December 1959, Taiwan dispatched a technical mission to the Republic of Vietnam. Comprising agriculturalists and fisheries experts, the team represented Taiwan’s foray into official development assistance (ODA), marking its transition from recipient to donor nation. For more than a decade prior — and indeed, far longer during Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule on the “mainland” — the Republic of China (ROC) had received ODA from the US, through agencies such as the International Cooperation Administration, a predecessor to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). More than a third of domestic investment came via such sources between 1951
Indigenous Truku doctor Yuci (Bokeh Kosang), who resents his father for forcing him to learn their traditional way of life, clashes head to head in this film with his younger brother Siring (Umin Boya), who just wants to live off the land like his ancestors did. Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟) opens with Yuci as the man of the hour as the village celebrates him getting into medical school, but then his father (Nolay Piho) wakes the brothers up in the middle of the night to go hunting. Siring is eager, but Yuci isn’t. Their mother (Ibix Buyang) begs her husband to let
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