The Sports Administration on Wednesday said it would start creating digital records of traditional martial arts indigenous to the nation as the pilot of a digital archive project to document the nation’s sports culture.
The pilot project would begin this year, the agency told a news conference in front the Red House Theater (紅樓劇場) in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area.
A martial arts group led by 91-year-old practitioner Lee Lo-tsun (李鑼村) demonstrated traditional hand-to-hand and armed combat techniques at the conference.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
The agency said it plans to interview and film practitioners like Lee for the project.
A martial art known as Qikan (七崁) — the old Hakka name of Siluo Township (西螺) in Yunlin County — is an indigenous fighting style with nearly 200 years of history, Siluo Martial Arts Foundation president Lee Ming-che (李明哲) said.
However, Qikan masters are aging and local residents are concerned that the martial art will be forgotten, Lee said.
He said the concerns prompted him to ask the agency to preserve records of the martial art in a digital archive, he added.
Historically used by local residents for self-defense and warfare, Qikan includes armed and unarmed fighting styles, according to the foundation’s Web site.
Qikan practitioners use twin short swords, sword and shield, staff, spear or glaive, among other weapons, the Web site said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said he is happy to see children among Qikan practitioners.
“Martial arts would be useful at the Legislative Yuan. Maybe the masters can teach me a few moves,” Chiang said.
Sports Administration Director-General Lin Te-fu (林德福) said the agency would also digitize other materials related to the nation’s sports history.
Materials collected from sports academies, professional leagues, Olympic teams and the public would be digitized along with information on traditional sports, he said.
More than 100 people would be interviewed by researchers, and records and materials would be archived in a database for public and academic use, Lin said.
People who have books, memorabilia, photographs, newspaper clippings, video recordings, manuscripts or other relevant material, or know people who can be interviewed for the project, can contact National Taiwan University of Arts, he said.
Additional reporting by Huang Shu-li
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS