While some people use photographs to record a nation’s history, a man from Changhua County has sought to do so by collecting matchboxes.
“This is a miniature statue of TV drama character Liu Wen-tsung (劉文聰) holding a match and a can of gasoline, and that is [a matchbox] from a Japanese shipping company,” Chiang Min-chuan (蔣敏全) said as he showed off his collection of more than 60,000 matchboxes.
Chiang said his infatuation with matchboxes developed under the influence of his father, a salesman at the now-defunct Taiwan Match Co who had a collection of about 600 matchboxes.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
“My father’s sizable collection passed down to me after his death, but at the time I considered myself merely as its keeper,” Chiang said.
However, things changed about a decade ago when he became interested in the field of cultural and historical research, and started collecting every matchbox he could find, whether it was new or manufactured some time ago.
“I would ask for as many matchboxes as I could, and would purchase those I could not get for free,” Chiang said, adding that his acquaintances contributed to his collection.
In the past, many businesses — from hotels, restaurants and nightclubs to corporations and civic organizations — would have their own custom-designed matchboxes, Chiang said.
“During the Lunar New Year holidays, some businesses even launched special-edition matchboxes featuring the Chinese zodiac animal of that year,” Chiang.
Chiang added that matchboxes featuring celebrities such as the late singers Teresa Teng (鄧麗君) and Fong Fei-fei (鳳飛飛) were also popular at the time.
One of Chiang’s most interesting pieces is the miniature statue of Liu Wen-tsung, a character played by the actor Chin Yang (秦楊) in the popular drama Fiery Thunderbolt, which aired from 2002 to 2003. Chin’s character was famous for tormenting his enemies by setting fires with gasoline and matches.
Chiang’s collection has also drawn the attention of the YM Oceanic Cultural and Art Museum in Keelung City’s Renai District (仁愛), a privately run museum founded in 2004 by Yangming Marine Transport Corp, the nation’s second-biggest container shipper.
Earlier this month, the museum invited Chiang to put some of his matchboxes on display, with the aim of allowing visitors to relive the nation’s history.
“Each matchbox represents a piece of national history, and offers a glimpse into the way our forebears used to live,” the museum said.
The exhibition, titled The Little Match Girl, features 600 of Chiang’s pieces, and runs until Tuesday.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
RSS