Golden Horse undiminished
The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival officially opened on Nov. 9. Before that, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), unveiled his five major cultural policies, pledging to “polish the Golden Horse” again, while simultaneously blaming the government for the China’sagainst the Golden Horse Awards, because of its cross-strait policy, as the scope of the awards has narrowed in recent years.
The reason for China’s boycott of the Golden Horse Awards is that during the awards ceremony in November 2018, director Fu Yue (傅榆), who won Best Documentary that year, said in her acceptance speech onstage: “I hope that our country can be regarded as a truly independent entity, and this is my greatest wish as a Taiwanese.”
In Taiwan, the winners of the Golden Horse Awards enjoy freedom of speech and are allowed to say whatever they want, but unexpectedly, this triggered the sensitive nerves of the narrow-minded Chinese authorities, and some Chinese filmmakers simply walked out of the ceremony. China has not participated in the Taiwanese event since then.
As for this year’s Golden Horse Awards, the five nominees for Best Narrative Feature include: Time Still Turns the Pages (年少日記) from Hong Kong, Snow in Midsummer (五月雪) from Malaysia, and Stonewalling (石門) from Japan. Meanwhile, members of the jury include Singaporean director Anthony Chen (陳哲藝), Hong Kong songwriter Chris Shum (岑偉宗) and many more filmmakers.
With such a lineup, international participation is particularly broad. Has the scope really narrowed that much since 2018? Despite the absence of Chinese filmmakers, the Golden Horse Awards are still glittering as they enter their 60th year.
Wang Shan
Taipei
Lessons from 3D knives
As videos about 3D-printed “radish knives” (蘿蔔刀) on TikTok go viral in China, the popularity of such toy knives has spread to elementary schools in Taiwan.
Surprisingly, an Internet celebrity joked in one of the videos: “If you see someone you do not like, just stab him.” This Internet celebrity was completely irresponsible and failed to take into account the consequences of his actions. That was unbelievable.
There are two sides to every story. As a tool, a toy knife is essentially a piece of stationery, if used properly. If not, it might become a weapon. We can allow students to use a toy knife, but we must explain the rules of use correctly, so they know how to use it with caution. It not only cultivates a sense of responsibility, but is also a good teaching moment.
From a psychological point of view, the more forbidden something is, the more desirable it becomes. This is what we might call the “forbidden fruit effect.”
If students try to use the toy knives in secret, if they were to hurt each other accidentally, they will not dare to tell the adults and would delay getting treatment, which would only make the situation worse.
Instead of banning the toy knives, students should be actively guided to think and discuss why they want to use the knives and what the alternatives are. Through a series of reflective questions, children can have a sense of awareness and use the toy knives responsibly.
Lin Yen-yu
Kaohsiung
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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