The Taipei First Girls’ High School Marching Band, Honor Guard and Color Guard’s performances at the Calgary Stampede Parade won the Celebrity Judges Choice, organizers announced on Friday.
Marching to the shouts of “Taiwan” and “You are the best,” the band was praised by Canadian officials as the best troupe in the parade, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver Director-General Angel Liu (劉立欣) said.
They were “the perfect Taiwanese promoters,” Liu said.
Photo: CNA
Taipei First Girls’ High School Color Guard vice-captain Chen Pei-tzu (陳珮慈) said she felt they were winning glory for Taiwan, honoring the expectations that they be “the most beautiful diplomatic ambassadors.”
Their coach, Cheng Ko-li (鄭顆澧), said they felt a sense of honor in showing the world something beautiful from Taiwan.
However, the Taiwanese performers also encountered opposition.
Liu said a Calgary city official told her the Chinese consulate in Calgary protested the organizers inviting the marching band and allowing them to wave the Republic of China (ROC) flag.
The organizers did not cave to pressure, she said.
However, some Taiwanese living in Canada said that the official live television broadcast of the parade went to commercial just as the band made its entrance, resulting in the ROC flag being absent from the livestream.
The band’s name was also omitted from the official Web site list of participants.
Although some other groups were also not listed, the “coincidences” were still disheartening, the Taiwanese said.
The Calgary Stampede, now in its 112th year, is an annual celebration of “the people, the animals, the land, the traditions and the values that make up the unique spirit of the west,” the event’s Web site says.
The parade opens the event, which runs from Friday last week to Sunday, attracted a record-setting 350,000 people, organizers said.
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