The first Taiwanese winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind, took to the stage on Thursday at the Paris Cultural Olympiad along with members of her group Haus of Wind to showcase Taiwanese culture.
“Let us put this out there: I know it says Chinese Taipei, but in my world, it says Taiwan,” the drag queen said during the show at the Taiwan Pavilion.
“It means a lot to me to be able to represent Taiwan in a foreign country,” she added.
Photo: CNA
In the show, titled “Formosa Follies,” she captivated the audience by dressing as Mazu and the butterfly queen, and performed a selection of timeless Taiwanese songs.
“She is inspiring — she is the ‘Banana Queen,’” said a French Nymphia fan named Antoine.
He had come with a group of friends specifically to see Haus of Wind perform, Antoine said.
Discussing their perception of Taiwanese society, he said he believes Taiwan must be an open-minded society, as it allows Nymphia to shine.
“It is wonderful that she can share messages of openness, inclusivity and excellence with the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, Antoine’s friend Jerome said that although he had only learned about Taiwan’s vibrant drag community through RuPaul’s Drag Race and Nymphia, he knew that Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
At the end of the performance, a video montage featuring fan contributions from around the world since mid-June was displayed on the screen, featuring the rainbow flag and a map of Taiwan.
A group of Taiwanese audience members based in France said they were very inspired by the performance, especially given it was the first time that two of them had watched a drag show.
“I was fully absorbed tonight. I appreciate that she presented Taiwanese culture in such a brave way,” an audience member nicknamed Hsia-yu (小魚) said. “I enjoyed her selection of music, and sang and danced along.”
“It was really touching. With the backdrop showcasing the beautiful scenery of Taiwan, the show allowed me to relive the feeling of my home country. I am really glad to see all this in Paris,” said Peng Hsuan (芃萱), another audience member.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS