In an example of traditional Taiwanese culture spreading its influence around the world, Taiwanese puppet theater has brought joy into the life of a young girl from the US suffering from muscular dystrophy.
A nine-year-old girl named Trisha Stanford fell in love with the artform when she saw the Taiyuan Puppet Theater Company stage a performance last October at the Salt Lake City children's hospital where she was being cared for.
The troupe, led by Huang Wu-shan (
PHOTO: CNA
The festival, sponsored by the Press Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco and various government agencies, featured Taiwanese film, performances, music and culinary arts.
Trisha, who had been in the hospital for three months awaiting spinal surgery, was immediately drawn to the colorful puppets in the puppet theater show.
"The visit by the puppet troupe was one of the highlights in Trisha's young life," her mother said.
After the show, Huang taught Trisha some puppet manipulation techniques.
Just recently, months after the troupe had left Salt Lake City, the US organizers of the Taiwan Cultural Festival received a package sent from Taiwan by the troupe containing a DVD of a famous Taiwanese puppet theater film and a full-sized puppet of the main character in the film that were meant as gifts for Trisha.
When the organizers sent the loving gift to the young girl, they got some good news. Trisha's surgery had been a success, and she was released from the hospital in November.
The nine-year-old was recovering well and was even able to walk short distances on her own.
Trisha expressed her love for Taiwanese puppetry and her wish to be able to visit Taiwan one day to see its many puppet museums.
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
STRICTER ENFORCEMENT: Taipei authorities warned against drunk cycling after a sharp rise in riding under the influence, urging greater public awareness of its illegality Taipei authorities have issued a public warning urging people not to ride bicycles after consuming alcohol, following a sharp rise in riding under the influence (DUI) cases involving bicycles. Five hundred and seven people were charged with DUI last year while riding YouBikes, personal bicycles, or other self-propelled two-wheelers — a fourfold increase from the previous year, data released by the Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division showed. Of these, 33 cases were considered severe enough to be prosecuted under “offenses against public safety,” the data showed. Under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), bicycles — including YouBikes and other
RSS