In order to promote the nation's entertainment business domestically and overseas, the Taiwan Cultural Entertainment Development Asso-ciation (台灣文化演藝推展協會) was launched yesterday.
"This civic association is not involved with any political party, nor is it registered with the Council of Labor Affairs like the Taiwan Entertainment Union (台灣演藝工會)," said Yu Tian (余天), a well-known Taiwanese-language singer who is also the founder of the association.
"The aim of this association is to unite performers in Taiwan and also to help create more entertainment jobs overseas," she said.
PHOTO: CNA
"Before overseas tourism became popular, many local artists formed troupes to visit overseas Chinese communities," Yu said. "Our performers were able to receive a lot of fame outside Taiwan. But today's Taiwanese entertainment business has been taken over by [South] Korean and Japanese pop stars."
According to Yu, the association hopes to revive Taiwanese entertainment overseas.
"We are hoping to take care of the minority artists, as well as create more opportunities for them to work overseas. It is our goal to establish a special foreign affairs culture," Yu said.
Yu made it clear that the new association had nothing to do with the dispute over the Special Report VCD series.
"We have been planning this association for months now, well before the VCD incident took place," Yu said.
Among the names mentioned as possible association board mem-bers were entertainment heavyweights such as Luo Shih-feng (
The association has over 40 members, including Chian Huei (
Yang Kuang-you (
"This association is not to break up the union, but to seek synergy among all local artists," Yang said.
Actor Ni Min-ran (倪敏然) said there are clear differences between the union and the association.
"The aim of the union is to take care of the rights of the artists, but the aim of this association is to make our entertainment business a more prosperous one," Ni said.
"Before, our entertainment culture was being exported, but now, foreign entertainment culture is being imported to Taiwan. We are hoping to restore our export trade," Ni said.
Lee Cher-jean (
"There have been many meetings between the GIO and members of the association to lay out the details of this new institute. We want to ensure the association members that the government will do its best to provide you with the resources you need," Lee said.
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