Taipei is mixing Confucianism with soap opera and gourmet food in the hopes of attracting independent Chinese tourists, government officials said yesterday.
Confucianism, an ethical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (孔子), is considered a quasi-religious philosophy that has influenced the culture and history of East Asia.
Through a modern interpretation of Confucianism, Taipei can present to Chinese tourists a traditional culture that was largely demolished in China during the Cultural Revolution, but which is still well-kept in Taiwan, city officials said.
“Confucius is a great cultural icon cherished by every tourist,” said Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏), -commissioner of the city’s Department of Information and Tourism.
“What we are doing is giving a little bit of background to let tourists experience Confucianism themselves,” Chao said.
In its latest tourism promotion campaign on Confucianism, the department launched a film production in which a couple falls in love because of their common passion for Confucius’ teachings. The story starts with a light quarrel, with the boy and the girl disagreeing on the manner of drinking coffee.
It is a refreshing way to illustrate how Confucian principles dictate not only how the dishes are cooked, but also the order in which they are brought out, project supervisor Su Yu-chin said.
Since the characters in the film were based on the different -personalities of Confucius’ disciples, Su said the love story makes the educational material accessible for Chinese tourists who want to pursue in-depth travel in Taiwan.
Besides the short film, the city also offers Confucian cuisine, which reflects Confucianism by following strict rules governing different classes of banquets according to the status of attendees and the specific event.
Prepared with specific -nutrition, flavor, color and aroma under Confucian rules, all the dishes are named after great people in Chinese history, including revered poets.
“We want to succeed in making a name for Taipei as a source of Confucius’ legacy,” Chao said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS