Balgo Hills, in Western Australia, is a melting pot of Aboriginal cultures and is one of the most important centers for Aboriginal art in the country. A sampling of the work of 26 Aboriginal artists from the region titled Balgo Contemporary Australian Art From the Balgo Hills is currently on view at Taipei Fine Arts Museum. The Aboriginal artists from Balgo Hills create art that resembles experimental techniques of Western abstractionism and expressionism, yet employ a unique visual language imbued with strong totemic imagery.
■ Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM — 台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號). Open daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closes at 8:30pm on Saturdays.
Tel: (02) 2595-7656
■ Until Feb. 21
The Classics (經典大展) presents a who’s who selection of works by Taiwanese artists, both living and deceased. The paintings range from Modern works by Chu Teh-chun
(朱德群) and Yang San-lang
(楊三郎) to contemporary canvases by Lee Ming-tse (李明則) and Lien Chien-hsing (連建興). Sculptures by Ju Ming (朱銘) are also on display.
■ Impressions Art Gallery
(印象畫廊), 40, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路四段40號). Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10:30am to 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 7pm. Tel: (02) 2705-9966
■ Until Feb. 5
Celestial Realm (天界) is a solo exhibit by Taiwanese artist Chiu Hsien-te (邱顯德). Chiu’s finely detailed watercolor landscape paintings are flourished with rugged expressionist brushstrokes.
■ 99 Degrees Art Center
(99 藝術中心) 5F, 259, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段259號5F). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 6pm.
Tel: (02) 2700-3099
■ Until Feb. 28
The fine line separating fantasy and reality is the central theme of Low Floating Palace — Remix Version (浮宮 - 瑞米克斯版), a solo exhibit by Taiwanese multimedia artist Lin Ching-fong (林慶芳). Lin employs neon lighting, paint and sculpture to create works that examine Taiwan’s iconic betel nut girls, and in which he ponders the dichotomy between their attractive exteriors and the often torturous emotional lives they lead.
■ Gallery J. Chen, 3F, 40, Ln 161, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City
(台北市敦化南路一段161巷40號3F). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from noon to 9pm. Tel: (02) 2781-0959
■ Until Feb. 21
From Gatchaman to Deva Loka — The Legend Continues is a solo exhibition by Japanese contemporary artist Yoshitaka Amano. The show features Amano’s latest fine art paintings rendered in a manga and anime style.
■ Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (MOCA, Taipei), 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei City (台北市長安西路39號). Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm.
Tel: (02) 2552-3720
■ Until March 7
The Yingge Ceramics Museum’s Ceramics Park Gallery has been taken over by an ambush of tigers — ceramic tigers that is. The museum chose 120 sculptures as part of its contest for the Year of the Tiger. A brief overview of the tiger’s place in Chinese history and folk religion accompanies the exhibit, revealing that although extinct in many parts of the world, the large feline retains considerable mythological resonance for Taiwanese.
■ Yingge Ceramics Museum
(鶯歌陶瓷博物館), 200 Wenhua Rd, Yinge Township, Taipei County (台北縣鶯歌鎮文化路200號). Open daily from 9:30am to 5pm, closes at 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Tel: (02) 8677-2727
■ Until Feb. 28
May 26 to June 1 When the Qing Dynasty first took control over many parts of Taiwan in 1684, it roughly continued the Kingdom of Tungning’s administrative borders (see below), setting up one prefecture and three counties. The actual area of control covered today’s Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The administrative center was in Taiwan Prefecture, in today’s Tainan. But as Han settlement expanded and due to rebellions and other international incidents, the administrative units became more complex. By the time Taiwan became a province of the Qing in 1887, there were three prefectures, eleven counties, three subprefectures and one directly-administered prefecture, with
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
As with most of northern Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) settlements, the village of Arunothai was only given a Thai name once the Thai government began in the 1970s to assert control over the border region and initiate a decades-long process of political integration. The village’s original name, bestowed by its Yunnanese founders when they first settled the valley in the late 1960s, was a Chinese name, Dagudi (大谷地), which literally translates as “a place for threshing rice.” At that time, these village founders did not know how permanent their settlement would be. Most of Arunothai’s first generation were soldiers
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