The second Chinese Character Festival began in Taipei yesterday with Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and 1,000 students writing Chinese characters together.
Flanked by his chief education and culture officials, the mayor wrote a big "han (漢)" meaning "Chinese," followed by some other students, who wrote characters of the same size to make a Chinese couplet reading "Chinese shake the universe and characters turn it around (漢動天地,字轉乾坤)."
The mayor and other officials then unveiled a scroll written by Sun Kuo-ting (孫過廷), a famous Chinese calligrapher from the Tang dynasty, which reads "A thousand people writing calligraphy simultaneously, every one enjoys the pleasure of calligraphy (千人齊揮毫,萬眾樂陶陶)."
Meanwhile, other students at the ceremony, held at the Poai Elementary School, wrote characters on ceramic plates that were later to be fired and given to them as souvenirs.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ma lauded Chinese characters as valuable human assets owned not only by Chinese but also by many other Asian nations.
Citing examples, Ma said that when he visited South Korea many years ago, his South Korean host gave him a briefing written in Chinese rather than English.
Ma said the two examples show the far-reaching influence of Chinese characters and added that Taiwan enjoys the advantage as the final bastion of this cultural treasure.
In addition to yesterday's gathering, the festival will also feature six seminars and a forum to discuss traditional and simplified Chinese characters on May 26-27.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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