The night sky over Taipei was transformed into a kaleidoscope of glistening colors last night as a firework display shimmered and wowed more than 16,000 spectators packed into the new Taipei Municipal Stadium for the opening ceremony of the 21st Deaflympic Games.
The 12-act show was ushered in with three loud bangs as white fireworks shot from the parameter of the stadium. Renowned theater director Stanley Lai (賴聲川) spent two years and a NT$600 million (US$18.3 million) budget to organize the two-hour spectacle.
This is the first Deaflympics to be held in Asia since the competition started in 1924. A record-breaking number — more than 4,000 — athletes and staffers from 91 countries will be competing in 20 events that include soccer, swimming, wrestling, table tennis and orienteering, to be held in Taipei City, Taipei County and Hsinchu County until Sept. 15.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
An ensemble of 80 hearing impaired drummers from U-Theatre kicked off the evening, followed by an artistic performance entitled The Song of the Ocean and Field, featuring top model Patina Lin (林嘉琦) as the Goddess Matsu, who in sign language bestowed blessings upon the audience and the Games’ participants.
Themed around Taiwan’s landscape and ecology, performers then brought in giant butterflies, lilies and water droplets to symbolize the natural beauty of Taiwan.
The audience burst into applause and cheers when pop diva A-mei (阿妹), of Puyuma origin, flew across in white wings, belting out the Games’ theme song, Dreams.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
To highlight Taipei as the culinary capital of the Chinese speaking world, performers dressed as rice, mushrooms and stewed eggs prepared giant bowls of local delicacies, such as minced pork, rice and beef noodle soup — which the organizers said all the athletes would have a chance to sample at the end of the tournament.
The Games are being held a month after Typhoon Morakot hit the south early last month, killing at least 600 people and completely obliterating several Aboriginal villages. To pay attribute to the victims and relief workers, a short prayer was offered by Chinese martial arts star Jet Li (李連杰), who recited the words with four rescue workers who saved all 137 people in Jiamu Village (佳暮), Pingtung County.
At one point in the show, first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) made an appearance in which she appeared on stage, embracing a child while being surrounded by Aboriginal dancers.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
One of the highlights of the evening — the procession of athletes — was led by the team from Algeria. The Chinese delegation, as with the Kaoshiung World Games in July, boycotted the opening ceremony and are also expected to be a no-show for the closing ceremony.
The Chinese national flag was carried by a lone staffer.
The decibels shot through the roof when the 202-member Taiwan delegation entered the arena. The crowd immediately rose to its feet and screamed for the home team, who entered last.
There was a minor incident when the organizers lit up the Games’ logo and a portion of it caught fire. The fire was quickly put out and no one was injured.
Chen Hui-ya (陳慧亞), 23, an accountant working in Taipei, said watching the show made her feel “so proud of my city” and said she hoped all the athletes would go back home and tell wonderful tales of what they had experienced in Taipei.
Major traffic controls were imposed around the stadium to block off non-game related vehicles, and every member of the audience, including the media, had to pass multiple security checkpoints.
The show was attended by many pan-blue politicians, the only opposition present being a small number of independence activists who were handing out literature at the entrances to the stadium.
Meanwhile, Taipei City’s Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday that a total of 14 municipal attractions would offer free admission or discounts to Deaflympics athletes.
Seven of the 14 cultural and recreational attractions in Taipei, including the National History Museum, National Taiwan Science Education Center and Taipei Museum of Contemporary Arts would offer free admission to Deaflympics athletes, guests from the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf and Games volunteers, the department said.
Other locations, including the National Palace Museum, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei 228 Memorial Hall and Taipei Fine Arts Museum would offer discounts, it said.
Athletes or guests will just need to show their Deaflympics pass.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
Also See: Willis, Evans fire Brits to victory
Also See: Volunteering for Deaflympics shows Taiwanese altruism
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS