For readers in the Kaohsiung area looking to fill their apartments with stuff they really don't need but feel they should have anyway, a visit to 2005 Taiwan Design Expo (台灣設計傳覽會) is in order.
The expo runs until Oct. 30 at the city's Wei Wu Military Camp
Co-sponsored by the Kaohsiung County Government this year's event focuses on everyday household products under the theme "Discover the New Home in Asia." Divided into five categories, the expo introduces a smorgasbord of new designs ranging from furniture to kitchen utensils and children's playthings.
PHOTO: GAVIN PHIPPS, TAIPEI TIMES
Those looking to spend their hard-earned cash on stuff that looks nice but that one can live without or, as the official English language guide puts it: "[to] learn creative esthetics of living up your life and building a [perfect] home."
From innovative and, admittedly, quite comfortable bamboo and wickerwork furniture, to two-person bathtubs, the expo features just about every conceivable form of product design. Some of the objects are already on the market, some of them are manufactured to order and others are, well, simply so batty that it makes you wonder why anybody would get paid to design them let alone why anybody would possibly want to buy them.
Visitors can wonder through the long disused military base's barracks and take in the contents of over a dozen specially designed pavilions.
"The Future Pavilion" predictably enough features futuristic designs for furniture and household objects, many of which look like they've come straight off the 1960s sci-fi TV series Space 1999.
The most interesting of the pavilions is the one dedicated to international design. The wide array of oddball household objects on display here includes ergonomic oven gloves that resemble flippers, a tubular cognac bottle that looks like it belongs on the International Space Station, gaudy 1970s-styled plastic tea pots and tea sets that wouldn't look out of place on an episode of the Brady Bunch.
The most inane of the lot, however, is the French-designed wedding dress that doubles as all-purpose sportswear and allows any modern bride the freedom to go for a quick jog before saying "I do."
The wildest pavilions are the "The Green" and "Home Forest" pavilions, which are filled with over-the-top bamboo structures designed to transform living spaces into urban
jungle-like environments.
Along with showcasing the oddball human aspects of modern design the expo also features a special area dedicated to pets. Here visitors can see outrageous designs for "pet houses" for dogs, cats and even hamsters. It's pretty inane, but it does make for an interesting and certainly mind opening visit.
Performance notes:
What: Taiwan Design Expo 2005
Where: Wei Wu Military Camp, Nanking Rd, Fangshan City, Kaohsiung County
When: Until Oct. 30.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the country’s other political groups dare not offend religious groups, says Chen Lih-ming (陳立民), founder of the Taiwan Anti-Religion Alliance (台灣反宗教者聯盟). “It’s the same in other democracies, of course, but because political struggles in Taiwan are extraordinarily fierce, you’ll see candidates visiting several temples each day ahead of elections. That adds impetus to religion here,” says the retired college lecturer. In Japan’s most recent election, the Liberal Democratic Party lost many votes because of its ties to the Unification Church (“the Moonies”). Chen contrasts the progress made by anti-religion movements in
Taiwan doesn’t have a lot of railways, but its network has plenty of history. The government-owned entity that last year became the Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) has been operating trains since 1891. During the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule, the colonial government made huge investments in rail infrastructure. The northern port city of Keelung was connected to Kaohsiung in the south. New lines appeared in Pingtung, Yilan and the Hualien-Taitung region. Railway enthusiasts exploring Taiwan will find plenty to amuse themselves. Taipei will soon gain its second rail-themed museum. Elsewhere there’s a number of endearing branch lines and rolling-stock collections, some
This was not supposed to be an election year. The local media is billing it as the “2025 great recall era” (2025大罷免時代) or the “2025 great recall wave” (2025大罷免潮), with many now just shortening it to “great recall.” As of this writing the number of campaigns that have submitted the requisite one percent of eligible voters signatures in legislative districts is 51 — 35 targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus lawmakers and 16 targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The pan-green side has more as they started earlier. Many recall campaigns are billing themselves as “Winter Bluebirds” after the “Bluebird Action”
Last week the State Department made several small changes to its Web information on Taiwan. First, it removed a statement saying that the US “does not support Taiwan independence.” The current statement now reads: “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.” In 2022 the administration of Joe Biden also removed that verbiage, but after a month of pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reinstated it. The American
RSS