Members of the Hong Kong performance troupe Nonsensemakers on Monday accused the Hong Kong government of political bias over demands they claimed had been placed on the group as it prepares for an event.
A Nonsensemakers member surnamed Tai (戴) said on Facebook that the Department of Leisure and Cultural Services had made verbal demands that the troupe remove the word “national” from acting producer Luo Shu-yan’s (羅淑燕) alma mater, Taipei National University of the Arts, which is in a brochure introducing the group.
Tai said the Hong Kong government’s alleged demand was “absurd and terrible,” adding that “Hong Kong today is a totalitarian government that cannot even allow a name.”
Tai said that Hong Kong society is losing its freedoms of speech and creativity, adding that everyone must stand fast in the face of totalitarianism.
The troupe said it had tried to reason with the department on multiple occasions and even offered to change the introduction from Chinese to English.
However, the department insisted that the Chinese shorthand “Taipei University of Arts” must be used, the troupe said.
Nonsensemakers posted an article on Facebook later on Monday saying that it would rather remove the controversial wording from the introduction than print partial or edited information.
The name of one’s alma mater is a basic fact and to include it in its entirety is to respect both art and the academia, the troupe said, adding that hopefully, Hong Kong continues to enjoy the troupe’s most prized core values — freedom of speech and creativity.
The group included in the post a photograph of Luo holding her diploma from the university.
Taipei National University of the Arts president Yang Chi-wen (楊其文) told On.cc, a Hong Kong Web-based media outlet, that the department’s demand that the word “national” be removed was “incredibly stupid and without wisdom.”
Yang said he would continue to protest the politicizing of art by the department.
As of press time last night, the department had yet to respond to a request for comment.
Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper Headline Daily found an archived use of the full name of the university in official department documents dating back to October 2003.
The department then issued a media release promoting a new rendition to the Chinese opera piece Golden House for My Beloved (金屋藏嬌) by Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國), who the department called “Taipei National University of Arts department of drama associate professor.”
Nonsensemakers have an upcoming performance of The Third Lie in Hong Kong, a retelling of the book of the same name by Agota Kristof. It is the third in a trilogy, with The Notebook and The Proof the first and second books respectively.
‘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