The Nan Ying International Folklore Festival, part of the 2005 Formosa Arts Festival will be held in Tainan County from Oct. 1 to 16, the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Tainan County Government said yesterday.
Groups from 10 countries, including Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Nepal, Russia and Senegal have been invited to join their Taiwanese counterparts in the folklore festival.
The Tainan County Government sponsored the first Nan Ying festival in 1996 -- the first time such a big festival was organized by a local-level government.
Council for Cultural Affairs Minister Chen Chi-nan (陳其南) said the Nan Ying festival was "bringing globalization to Tainan" and promoting cultural exchange.
This year, 50 families have volunteered to be "friendship families" and host foreign participants. Forty schools will be "friendship schools," allowing the young foreign performers to observe classes. Students from Fu Jen Catholic University will be "friendship ambassadors," serving as guides for the performers.
"The friendship families, schools and ambassadors are all volunteers," Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said. "But they are willing to participate because they hope that these groups will take what they learned about Taiwanese culture back to their home countries."
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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