The annual Taipei International Book Exhibition (TiBE), which ended on Sunday, drew about 570,000 visitors over its six-day run, surpassing last year’s turnout of 550,000, its organizers said.
The enthusiastic response, despite the cold weather, was an indication of people’s passion for reading, which contributed to the show’s success, Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) said at the fair’s closing ceremony at Taipei World Trade Center.
The strong public response also showed that there was no justification for the opposition parties’ decision to cut the ministry’s budget for this year by NT$1.1 billion (US$33.5 million) and freeze another NT$3.4 billion, said Li, whose ministry hosts and partially funds the TiBE.
Photo: CNA
Despite the limited funding, the ministry would continue to host high-quality events, Li said.
The minister added that he was pleased to see that many people followed his lead, sharing on social media lists of their book purchases at the fair.
Li had shared on Facebook the titles of books purchased by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) at the TiBE, which helped boost the profile of the event.
Another noteworthy and “heartwarming” aspect of the book fair was the pavilion of Italy, the country that was this year’s guest of honor, Li said.
Over the fair’s six days, a plain wall at the Italian Pavilion became a “kids area” and was plastered with children’s artworks, after the staff at the pavilion granted a request by a child to post his art alongside the display of works by renowned Italian illustrators, he said.
That gave visitors a glimpse of the world through the eyes of children, he said.
It also highlighted Italy’s rich history and its reputation as the home of romantic people with boundless imagination, he said.
Thailand is to be the guest of honor at next year’s TiBE, Li added.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS