The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei on Wednesday announced a series of events to be held later this year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, including a Canada Day celebration in Taipei and a video contest, with the winner to receive a round-trip ticket to Vancouver.
The Canada Day celebration is to take place on July 1 at Taipei Hakka Cultural Park, the office said.
Thousands of people are expected to attend, said Mario Ste-Marie, executive director of the office, which represents Canada’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of bilateral diplomatic ties.
The Canada Day celebration in Taipei is usually the biggest celebration of the national day outside Canada, Ste-Marie said.
The office is also to hold a video contest, inviting submissions from Taiwanese who have traveled, worked or studied in Canada, or are currently doing so, it said.
Participants are required to submit videos that focus on at least one of the four “Canada 150” themes — young people, the environment, diversity and indigenous culture — sharing their experiences of Canada, office general relations director Su Yun Geithner said.
Entries must be two minutes to five minutes in length and in English, French or Mandarin, Geithner said, adding that the deadline for submission is Aug. 31.
The winners are to be announced in September, with the top prize being a round-trip flight to Vancouver, the office said.
The second prize is a gift certificate worth NT$10,000 for Canadian lifestyle brand Roots and a NT$5,000 gift certificate for third place, it said.
Roots is also to provide special prizes, the office said.
To celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary, the office is collaborating on a series of events with several partners, it said.
The Canada Day celebration in Taipei, which is to mark its 12th year, is to feature live music by local and Canadian musicians, and a procession at Taipei Hakka Cultural Park, said Carrie Kellenberger, chairwoman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, the organizer of the event.
The celebration attracted about 8,000 people last year and the Chamber of Commerce is hoping for at least 10,000 this year, Kellenberger said, encouraging people to dress in red and white.
Air Canada is also working with the office, the national carrier said.
On June 9, the airline is to resume its Taipei-Vancouver service after a 14-year hiatus, Air Canada said.
Hopefully, direct flights will help promote tourism in Canada, said Sophia Chen (陳美至), Air Canada’s Taiwan manager.
“Our goal is that visitors from Taiwan to Canada will be increased by 10,000 in 2017,” Chen said, adding that the airline is working with local travel agencies to launch special packages to promote tourism in Canada.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS