Outstanding works of Hakka literature received recognition at the fifth Tung Blossom Literary Awards yesterday, as the organizers expressed their desire to carry on the Hakka community’s rich cultural heritage.
Held by the Hakka Affairs Council, the event saw 30 awards given out to works in three categories — short stories, prose and poetry — with separate divisions for works written in Mandarin Chinese and those in the Hakka language.
In addition to pieces submitted by members of the Hakka community in Taiwan — which constitutes roughly 15 percent of the nation’s population — the competition attracted the participation of people from around the world, including literary pieces submitted by members of the Hakka diaspora in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas, with a total of 768 pieces submitted, the council said.
Photo: CNA
Organizers said the awards celebrated multicultural literary expression, as well as the growing maturity of the Hakka language in its written form, with this year being the first time in which short stories and prose written in Hakka Chinese characters were invited to compete.
The awards were accompanied by live performances by pop singer Wing Luo (羅文裕) and a string quartet that played renditions of Hakka folk tunes.
Yesterday’s biggest winner was writer and calligrapher Yeh Kuo-chu (葉國居), who clinched awards in all three categories in the Hakka language division, including first place in prose and honorable mentions in the short story and poetry categories.
Besides his occupation as Greater Taichung’s tax bureau deputy director, Yeh is known for his critically acclaimed literary essays, which are largely inspired by reflections on his hometown — a traditional Hakka village in Greater Taoyuan — as seen in a collection of his work published last year, Hair Bun Blossom (髻鬃花).
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
‘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
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
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
RSS