Director-general of the German Institute in Taipei Birgitt Ory, German expatriates and their Taiwanese friends unveiled the “Buddy Bear” for Taiwan at German Night in Taipei on Saturday.
First created in Berlin in 2001, the Buddy Bear — a sculpture about 2m tall — serves as Germany’s ambassador of friendship, traveling around the world to promote peace and international understanding.
There are 1,300 Buddy Bears and 140 are on exhibit around the world, with each having a unique name and decoration.
The Buddy Bear in Taiwan is painted black with plum blossom-shaped sunglasses, two clasped hands forming a white V-shaped strip across its chest and pants decorated with images representing Germany such as a German soccer player, the German high-speed ICE train and a picture of Albert Einstein.
The bear arrived last month and was unveiled on Saturday after being painted in Kaohsiung by students of the Fengshan and Fenghsin high schools, as well as students of the German School in Taipei, Ory said.
“The plum blossom is Taiwan’s national flower, the V-shaped strip is a feature of the Formosan black bear and the shaking hands symbolize friendship between Taiwan and Germany,” Ory explained.
She said the Buddy Bear would have a busy schedule in Taiwan.
“He will meet the German athletes at the World Games in Kaohsiung [next month] and at the Deaflympics in Taipei, and will make a brief stop at the German School in Taiwan,” Ory said, adding that the Buddy Bear would also attend a concert featuring German music, and an event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in October.
Another reason the Buddy Bear was brought to Taiwan is the theme of this year’s Taipei Film Festival, which began on Friday and will last until July 12.
After the unveiling ceremony, guests were treated to German cuisine and a screening of the movie Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis.
Ory invited everyone in Taiwan to submit suggestions for Buddy Bear’s name.
Richard Pfennig, a native of Berlin studying at National Chengchi University, quickly made his own suggestion: Taibear.
“‘Taibear’ is a combination of Taipei, Berlin and the bear itself,” Pfennig said. “It also reflects my own life as I’m from Berlin and I’m studying in Taipei now.”
“It’s interesting to find a film festival featuring movies about my city when I’m tens of thousands of kilometers away from it,” he said.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS