With many women's rights activists watching, a monument to commemorate Taiwan's pioneer in modern dance, Tsai Jui-yueh (
"The erection of the monument is a tribute to Taiwan's history and women, as well as a reminder of the example that Tsai set for the coming generations," said Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀), secretary-general of the National Cultural Association.
Tsai was born in 1921 during the Japanese colonial period. As a child, she showed her interest and talent in dance by creating a dance to accompany the Japanese children's song Momotaro-san when she was five years old.
At the age of 16, Tsai traveled to Japan to learn from modern dance master Ishi Baku, participating in hundreds of performances across Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar and Japan during World War II.
AFTER WORLD WAR II
On her journey back to Taiwan from Japan after World War II, Tsai gave the first performance of the musical The Beautiful Island on the ferry.
However, when her husband was accused of spying for the Chinese Communist Party and expelled from Taiwan in 1949, Tsai was also arrested and imprisoned for three years on Green Island, where many other political prisoners were jailed.
After her release, Tsai continued her career by founding a school for modern dance and a dance troupe in Taipei in 1953, though the authoritarian Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime often intervened.
In 1983, Tsai and her son moved to Australia to continue her career. She often traveled back and forth between Taiwan and Australia until her death in 2005.
"I admire [Tsai] for her insistence on what she loved, despite repressions and restrictions that the government put upon her during the White Terror," Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (
Several of Tsai's former students performed dances and read poems in commemoration of their teacher.
COLORFUL STEEL
The monument is made with colorful steel boards that form the shape of a woman jumping with her head held up towards the sky.
"The colors symbolize the colorful creativity of Tsai, and the gesture represents her desire to search for perfection in art," T.T. Deh (
Deh was convicted in 1970 for a failed assassination attempt on late president Chiang Ching-kuo (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and