The Greater Kaohsiung Government announced that it would be renewing its contract with popular band Mayday (五月天) for it to continue in the capacity as the municipality’s spokespeople as it attempts to raise its profile overseas.
In 2011, the band signed a contract with the government for the band to be the municipality’s spokespersons for a year and to promote it at international and domestic events.
Greater Kaohsiung Government Information Bureau chief Lai Rui-lung (賴瑞隆) said Mayday is one of the most popular bands among Mandarin speakers around the world and the economic benefit of having the band promote the municipality on a worldwide basis is enormous.
Photo: Chao Shi-hsun, Taipei Times
Last year, Mayday’s four concerts, titled No-W-here (諾亞方舟), which were held in Greater Kaohsiung, drew more than 100,000 people and NT$500 million (US$17 million) in extra tourism revenue, Lai said.
An example of how the band promotes the municipality’s products and culture was seen at the Golden Melody Awards ceremony last year.
Having won Best Musical Band, lead singer A-shin (阿信) said: “If friendship could be compared to a lengthy poem, it would taste of bananas.”
He then took a banana from his pocket, took the first bite and then passed it to the other band members, who each took a bite out of it to signify that the bond between them was “ru jiao sih ci (如膠似漆),” as thick as thieves, and also promoting the bananas grown in Greater Kaohsiung’s Chishan District (旗山).
“It was down to Mayday’s efforts that [Greater Kaohsiung] has been brought to the attention of so many international eyes and we hope in the coming years that Mayday will continue to help spread word of the municipality’s greatness,” Lai said.
Lai said that Greater Kaohsiung is set to host a number of international events this year, including the Asia-Pacific Cities Summit, the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles spirits tasting event and a debut event, the World DanceSport Games.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS