A dentist by profession, Hsiao Shih-cheng (蕭士誠) unwinds each day by spending time with his other love — collecting stamps.
After arriving home from his dental clinic in Changhua County’s Lugang Township (鹿港) every day, Hsiao spends about an hour in a room where he stores a variety of stamps, postcards and envelopes from more than 100 countries that he has collected since the age of 18.
“When I was little, I was the right-hand man of my father, who was also a philatelist, helping him clean his collection of stamps. I gradually learned that each stamp has its own story to tell and offers a glimpse into different parts of the world,” Hsiao said.
“Before I knew it, I got interested in stamps too,” he said.
Hsiao, who has been collecting stamps for 40 years, said that his trove includes stamps dating from 1840 to the present.
However, his collection grew so fast that he lost count of how many stamps he had. To avoid collecting duplicates, he started using a computer 20 years ago to catalog his purchases and collection.
While it was the variety of designs that first attracted Hsiao to the world of philately, it has also brought more fun to his life than he had expected, he said.
Most of his travels over the past years were related to his hobby, either to attend a stamp exhibition or to buy some postal item, he said.
“After amassing stamps for some time, I shifted my focus about three decades ago to collecting thematic stamps, such as those focusing on medicine, especially dentistry,” Hsiao said.
Talking about the thrill of stamp collecting, Hsiao said that finding that stamp that you have been looking for — whether online or at a stamp exhibition — feels like winning the lottery.
Hsiao’s love has also opened up a new career for him.
In 1993, he won a Vermeil medal for his collection of dental-themed stamps at the World Philatelic Exhibition in Thailand. The French medal is awarded annually to people who have made cultural contributions to society
Stepping up his efforts, Hsiao took an aptitude test in 2005 and was accredited as a philatelic judge in the Asian region. He has since served on the panel of judges at two international stamp exhibitions held in Thailand and South Korea.
Hsiao has published a book titled The Fun of Thematic Philately (專題集郵的樂趣) in February, aiming to introduce beginners and children to the joy of thematic stamp collecting.
Hsiao said he had spent more than NT$5 million (US$151,000) in collecting dental-themed stamps alone.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS