An annual film festival featuring movies on peace-related subjects was launched yesterday in Taipei in the hope that the Taiwanese can learn something about the global immigration phenomenon.
The 2007 Peace Film Festival will screen 20 movies in Taipei, Hsinchu and Taichung until Oct. 19. The festival presents various viewpoints about immigration and conflicts among ethnic groups from different countries such as Taiwan, Israel, Turkey and Italy, said Chien Hsi-chieh, chief executive officer of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan, the festival organizer.
The closing film, The Nyonya's Taste of Life, directed by Wen Chih-yi (
"Nyonya" is a Southeast Asian cuisine that is a mixture of Taiwanese and Malaysian food ingredients, symbolizing the co-existence of Taiwanese and new immigrants in Taiwan, Wen said.
Golden Door, the opening film, addresses the experience of an Italian immigrant family in the US.
"The world is experiencing the same immigration and conflicts of ethnic groups and Taiwan has a lot to learn. We have to learn how to treat new immigrants with respect and respect their basic human rights," said well-known director Hou Hsiao-hsien (
"If Taiwan could develop a complete system or mechanism that takes care of all the new immigrants and migrant workers, it would be the best diplomacy for our government," Hou said.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
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