This weekend, if you're in the mood for slapstick comedy, spend NT$220 and check out Chu Yen-ping's (
Two Birds with One Stone is a China-Taiwan co-production, with Chu's Yen-ping Films and the Beijing-based Time Films (
Starring the notorious TV host Jacky Wu (
PHOTO COURTESY OF YEN-PING FILMS
The film is intentionally a parody and mocks some hit martial-arts movies of recent years, such as Zhang Yi-mou's (
Chu's films often insist on using poor taste to mock the classics and Two Birds with One Stone is no exception. But he seems to overdo this technique and forgets to tell a complete story. The only character that works is played by Wu in a convincing performance as a slacker who secretly adores the minister's daughter.
Behind the Palace, Beyond the Horizon (
PHOTO COURTESY OF YEN-PING FILMS
In 2003 the National Palace Museum underwent a series of cultural exchange projects in hopes of refreshing its public image. One of them was a "visiting artists" program that invited international artists to visit Taiwan and the museum. The program inspired this PTS documentary.
Film director Wang Hsiao-ti (
Dutch animation filmmaker Gerrit van Dijk is known for his unique style, which uses collage and deformation of images. During his visit to the museum, he is especially intrigued with a Ming-dynasty block print, Stories of the West Chamber (
PHOTO COURTESY OF YEN-PING FILMS
Van Dijk praised the work as so refined that he found its execution centuries ago simply unbelievable. And his 40-second animation is made like an impressionist painting, inspired by the block print and also infused with his personal impressions of his Taiwan visit.
French pottery artist Jean Girel owns the title of Maitre d'Art, presented by the French National Committee of Art. Girel came to see the Soong-dynasty china that he had been longing to see. He was also impressed by the animal-shaped ornaments on the bronze wares of the Bronze Age that depict bears, horses and birds.
Apparently, Girel was moved by the spirit of ancient people worshiping the universe and nature. His pottery work, which was made in the studio of Taipei Teacher's College reflects such a spirit. It is graceful artwork, simulating the thick and solid quality of bronzeware and at the same time demonstrates an experimental variation of glazed colors.
PHOTO COURTESY OF YEN-PING FILMS
As director Wang Hsiao-ti puts it, the relation between the collection pieces and the new artwork is the flow and transformation of creativity, and proves that such an old place like the Palace Museum can still generate new ideas and new creations.
The most valuable part of the film deals with seven architecture and design students and their works. Some were inspired by the art of calligraphy and invented a mechanism that looks like a huge writing brush. Others designed an imaginary world of plastic tubes that was inspired by Qing-dynasty snuff bottles.
From the young creative spirits shown in the film, Wang vividly paints a picture of those ancient collections being infused with new life. They no longer stay static in history but have become part of people's lives.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM
PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM
For many people, Bilingual Nation 2030 begins and ends in the classroom. Since the policy was launched in 2018, the debate has centered on students, teachers and the pressure placed on schools. Yet the policy was never solely about English education. The government’s official plan also calls for bilingualization in Taiwan’s government services, laws and regulations, and living environment. The goal is to make Taiwan more inclusive and accessible to international enterprises and talent and better prepared for global economic and trade conditions. After eight years, that grand vision is due for a pulse check. RULES THAT CAN BE READ For Harper Chen (陳虹宇), an adviser
Traditionally, indigenous people in Taiwan’s mountains practice swidden cultivation, or “slash and burn” agriculture, a practice common in human history. According to a 2016 research article in the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability, among the Atayal people, this began with a search for suitable forested slopeland. The trees are burnt for fertilizer and the land cleared of stones. The stones and wood are then piled up to make fences, while both dead and standing trees are retained on the plot. The fences are used to grow climbing crops like squash and beans. The plot itself supports farming for three years.
The breakwater stretches out to sea from the sprawling Kaohsiung port in southern Taiwan. Normally, it’s crowded with massive tankers ferrying liquefied natural gas from Qatar to be stored in the bulbous white tanks that dot the shoreline. These are not normal times, though, and not a single shipment from Qatar has docked at the Yongan terminal since early March after the Strait of Hormuz was shuttered. The suspension has provided a realistic preview of a potential Chinese blockade, a move that would throttle an economy anchored by the world’s most advanced and power-hungry semiconductor industry. It is a stark reminder of
The last couple of weeks spectators in Taiwan and abroad have been treated to a remarkable display of infighting in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the supplementary defense budget. The party has split into two camps, one supporting an NT$800 billion special defense budget and one supporting an NT$380 billion budget with additional funding contingent on receiving letters of acceptance (LOA) from the US. Recent media reports have said that the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) is leaning toward the latter position. President William Lai (賴清德) has proposed NT$1.25 trillion for purchases of US arms and for development of domestic weapons
RSS