Taiwanese film Night Market Hero (雞排英雄) has continued an impressive run at the local box office, grossing more than NT$90 million (US$3.05 million) and setting itself up possibly as the next blockbuster hit following Monga (艋舺) and Cape No. 7 (海角七號).
Night Market Hero, the feature debut of director Yeh Tien-lun (葉天倫), focuses on the night market culture of Taiwan and follows a group of vendors at a bustling night market whose lives are filled with rivalries and unspoken romances until they find a common cause to resist politicians and property developers eyeing the land on which the vendors have made their living for a decade.
The film features model-turned-actor Blue Lan (藍正龍), Chu Ke-liang (豬哥亮), a popular stand-up comedian and TV host, and -comedienne Lotus Wang (王彩樺).
Photo courtesy of Chinlai Artists Agency
Jackie Liu, from the local office of film distributor Twentieth Century Fox, said yesterday that box office receipts had reached NT$90.93 million by Sunday since the film’s Jan. 28 release.
Although still far behind last year’s box office hit Monga, which grossed NT$258 million, and the 2008 hit Cape No. 7, which amassed about NT$530 million, Night Market Hero has performed well from the start.
In the first weekend following its release, the film earned NT$12.56 million, and within 10 days, it had reached NT$54 million, Liu said.
Local film critic Lan Tzu-wei said on his blog that Night Market Hero might not show many new ideas on an artistic level, but its portrayal of stereotypes of Taiwanese culture has made it a major draw.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS