Organizers yesterday unveiled the design for the presidential inauguration ceremony, which features a four-color theme symbolizing Taiwanese values.
The organizers, the General Association of Chinese Culture, said that the neat and simple design for the May 20 ceremony is centered on ribbons of four colors — red, yellow, green and blue — to symbolize freedom, democracy, confidence and friendship respectively.
The design represents people in Taiwan from various backgrounds and with different values interacting with and supporting each other, said Yen Design founder and director Yen Po-chun (顏伯駿), who is in charge of the design.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Stylized portraits of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) using the four colors symbolize hope that the two would lead Taiwanese to a better future, Yen told a news conference in Taipei.
The organizers have prepared five items each for people who attend the ceremony — a sun hat, a towel, an amulet, a set of two badges and a bottle of water — all with the four-color design, he said.
One of the badges bears the portraits of Lai and Hsiao, and the other images of a dog and a cat — as Lai is a dog person and Hsiao a cat person — symbolizing that people with different stances can share a better future, he said.
Photo: CNA
For the first time, the ceremony is to include performances by a cappella choirs, and Hakka and Hoklo-language (also known as Taiwanese) rappers on a stage that can be raised and lowered, Lai’s campaign office spokeswoman Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) said.
There are also to be performances by groups from the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, the Taiwan Acrobatic Troupe, the Chio Tian Folk Drums and Arts Troupe, the Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School Marching Band, National Taiwan University of Sport, Best Crew Dance Studio, Paper Windmill Theatre, Vuize (王鐘惟), KE (柯蕭), the Taipei Male Choir, Ilid Kaolo, the Dashing Theater, Since Chou (周自從), Juang Jing Vocational High School, Fire Ex and LaBa LaVa, Kuo said.
On the night of the ceremony, a state banquet is to be held in Tainan to mark the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding, she said, adding that singer Hsieh Ming-yu (謝銘佑), the Yowuwei Children’s Choir, cellist Kenneth Kuo (郭虔哲) and Siri Lee (李竺芯) are to perform at the banquet.
The ceremony is to be hosted by SET News anchor Jasmine Liu (劉宸希) and Taiwan Plus journalist Ethan Liu (劉傑中), while the banquet is to be hosted by herself and model Kevin Tai (戴凱文), Kuo added.
The inauguration ceremony and the state banquet are invitation-only, but the events are to be broadcast live, she added.
An area would be set up at the intersection of Ketagalan Boulevard and Gongyuan Road in Taipei for public viewing, she said.
There would be surprises and more details revealed in the next few days, she said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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