The Ministry of Culture on Monday honored four Taiwanese artists as “national living treasures” for their intangible cultural achievements and contributions to the arts.
The ministry in a statement said Yu Li-hai (游禮海), Chuang Wu-nan (莊武男), Chiang Shi-mei (江賜美) and Cheng Rom-shing (鄭榮興) have been recognized for the role they have played in preserving the nation’s traditional performing arts and crafts.
Yu’s woodworking skills originate in Taoyuan’s Dasi (大溪) area known for traditional wood-based crafts, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture via CNA
He is also known for blending the traditional Fujian woodworking style and Western carving in works that showcase a unique type of Taiwanese craftsmanship.
Chuang has over the past 60 years specialized in painting traditional buildings and is a master of colored depictions of traditional Taoist temples, it said.
Chiang is a puppeteer who has performed glove puppetry in Taiwan for 70 years, the ministry said.
The artist has accumulated a rich array of skills, including variations in narration and voice, and developed her signature style, it said.
She also founded the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Co.
Cheng is a skilled Hakka bayin (客家八音) master who learned the craft from his grandfather. He is also the founder of the Rom Shing Hakka Opera Troupe, the ministry said.
Bayin, which literally means eight notes, refers to the eight materials used to make instruments — metal, stone, string, bamboo, fruit shells, earthenware, animal hide and wood.
Performances by Hakka bayin troupes involve a four-person group, with one playing the suona, a traditional Chinese wind instrument, two playing string instruments and one playing percussion.
The national living treasure designation recognizes individuals and groups for their role in preserving the nation’s cultural heritage. As of the end of last year, 59 individuals and groups had received the honor.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai