An exhibition featuring hundreds of insect-themed postage stamps from around the world is on display at the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung.
Stamps are like “miniature versions of encyclopedias,” the Ministry of Education, which runs the museum, said in a statement yesterday.
Besides enabling correspondence, stamps, from a humanities perspective, contain designs that can express regional characteristics, natural landscapes and major historical events, the ministry said.
From a scientific and cultural viewpoint, they bear the imprint of the times, and reflect scientific developments and social changes, it said.
The insect collection at the museum is not only the best in Taiwan, but also a leading one in Asia, museum director-deneral Sun Wei-hsin (孫維新) said in a statement.
Unlike other insect-themed exhibitions the museum has held, “Insects on Stamps” (郵說昆蟲) introduces the science and wonder of insects to viewers through the stamps, he said.
The exhibition, which opened on June 24, is divided into five sections: “Successful Adaptation,” “Spinning Silk to Make Cocoons,” “All About Bees,” “The Human-Mosquito War” and “Coexistence of Humans and Insects.”
It was co-organized by the Postal Museum, the Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, National Taiwan University’s Department of Public Health and the Chinese Culture and Fine Arts Philatelic Association.
In addition to stamps from around the world, the exhibition also features nearly 100 insect specimens and silk products, the ministry said, encouraging visitors to use the magnifying glasses at the exhibition to get a closer look at the exhibits.
A BBC video introducing the mysteries of insects would also be played at the exhibition, it said.
“Insects have flourished on Earth for more than 300 million years,” the National Museum of Natural Science said.
“Through morphological, physiological, biochemical and reproductive adaptations, they have adjusted to changes in the environment,” it said, adding that they are important components of the Earth’s biosphere.
The ministry hopes the exhibition will enable viewers to not only appreciate the beauty of stamps and explore the insect world, but also consider the relationship between humans and insects, and how they can coexist in harmony, it said.
Postal Museum director Wang Chun-ju (王君如) said in a statement that she hopes the exhibition will inspire among the public a passion for stamp collecting.
From Wednesday next week to Aug. 30, the National Museum of Natural Science, typically closed on Mondays, would be open daily, it said.
Insects on Stamps runs through Feb. 21 next year.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition