Magic shows, diablo performances, clay artwork displays and other street performances packed Wuchang Street in Ximending yesterday to celebrate the 2008 Taipei Street Artists Carnival.
The annual activity is held to promote street art to the public and gather street artists whose performances are scattered around the city, allowing people to view the performances in one place.
Addressing the carnival yesterday, Chen Kuan-fu (陳冠甫), chief secretary of Taipei City’s Cultural Affairs Department, said the Taipei City Government began pushing for street arts in 2003. A total of 677 street artists received certificates after the department implemented the Taipei City Street Artists Performance Permit in 2005, Chen said.
The permit system was inspired by the cities of Cambridge, San Francisco and Tokyo, where governments have set up special districts for street artists, allowing street artists to perform at more than 100 public spaces across Taipei designated by the department, he said.
“We are hoping that street art and culture can be found more easily in Taipei residents’ lives, and people can appreciate such art forms,” Chen said.
Attracting a huge crowd with his magic shows at one corner, Fang Kuan-chi (方坤祺), also known as “Magic George,” said he started performing on the streets four years ago as an amateur, and the opportunity to be face to face with his audience was the best reward.
Thanks to the city government’s efforts, more and more people in Taipei City have the opportunity to appreciate street arts, Fang said, adding that many other local governments, such as Taipei County, Ilan County and Taichung County, also began pushing for the permit system to offer formal recognition to street artists.
The carnival will continue this afternoon from 2pm to 5pm on Wuchang Street, and will also be held next Saturday and Sunday in the same area.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS