Founded in 2016, the Bethlehem Mission Society Friendship Circle connects friends, organizes community events and promotes the Bethlehem Mission Society, a Catholic organization. The Friendship Circle will commemorate over 70 years of Mission Society activity in Taiwan this month with an art exhibition beginning tomorrow. A 33 artist residency at the Bethlehem Mission Society House, which is located on Hangchou Street (杭州街) in the middle of Taitung, will also be open for public viewing.
“Works expressing the clergy’s devotion,” will be on display, according to a press-release, including artwork by artists of the Puyuma indigenous community. There will be sculpture, illustrations and big canvas paintings created by people “from a diverse background” that are united by a “mutual theme” — that is, “to record and pass on the touching stories of the Bethlehem Mission Society.”
The Bethlehem Mission Society (Societas Missionum Exterarum de Bethlehem in Helvetia or SMB), is a Catholic religious order that was founded in Immensee, Switzerland in 1895. Originally headquartered in Northeast China, the Mission Society relocated to Taiwan in 1953.
Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Mission Society
After establishing its headquarters in Taitung County, the mission helped found St. Mary’s Hospital as well as several local nursing homes, among them, St. Joseph’s Kung-Tung Technical Senior High School (私立公東高級工業職業學校) which was founded by the Taiwan mission’s founder, Father Jakob Hilber, in 1960.
In addition to missionary work, SMB priests and volunteers have, over subsequent decades, built more schools and hospitals, as well as professional training centers and kindergartens, often in remote, mountainous areas populated by aboriginal people.
Art and creativity has long be practiced and promoted by the clergy who are said to decorate their chapels and houses with art pieces made from “recycled and found materials” which has “deeply inspired” local artists.
Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Mission Society
■ Bethlehem Love Art Exhibition, Taitung County Arts Center (台東縣藝文中心), 25, Nanjing Road, Taitung City (台東市南京路25號); open house 34 Hangjhou Street, Taitung City (台東縣台東市杭州街34號)
■ Until April 16, open Tuesday through Sunday from 9am to 5pm
If you are a Western and especially a white foreign resident of Taiwan, you’ve undoubtedly had the experience of Taiwanese assuming you to be an English teacher. There are cultural and economic reasons for this, but one of the greatest determinants is the narrow range of work permit categories that exist for Taiwan’s foreign residents, which has in turn created an unofficial caste system for foreigners. Until recently, laowai (老外) — the Mandarin term for “foreigners,” which also implies citizenship in a rich, Western country and distinguishable from brown-skinned, southeast Asian migrant laborers, or wailao (外勞) — could only ever
Sept. 23 to Sept. 29 The construction of the Babao Irrigation Canal (八堡圳) was not going well. Large-scale irrigation structures were almost unheard of in Taiwan in 1709, but Shih Shih-pang (施世榜) was determined to divert water from the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) to the Changhua plain, where he owned land, to promote wet rice cultivation. According to legend, a mysterious old man only known as Mr. Lin (林先生) appeared and taught Shih how to use woven conical baskets filled with rocks called shigou (石笱) to control water diversion, as well as other techniques such as surveying terrain by observing shadows during
In recent weeks news outlets have been reporting on rising rents. Last year they hit a 27 year high. It seems only a matter of time before they become a serious political issue. Fortunately, there is a whole political party that is laser focused on this issue, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP). They could have had a seat or two in the legislature, or at least, be large enough to attract media attention to the rent issue from time to time. Unfortunately, in the last election, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) acted as a vote sink for
This is a film about two “fools,” according to the official synopsis. But admirable ones. In his late thirties, A-jen quits his high-paying tech job and buys a plot of land in the countryside, hoping to use municipal trash to revitalize the soil that has been contaminated by decades of pesticide and chemical fertilizer use. Brother An-ho, in his 60s, on the other hand, began using organic methods to revive the dead soil on his land 30 years ago despite the ridicule of his peers, methodically picking each pest off his produce by hand without killing them out of respect