Taiwanese director Liao Hsiang- hsiung (廖祥雄), who pioneered several policies to improve the film industry in Taiwan when he worked for the government, passed away on Saturday at the age of 89, the Taipei-based Chinese Society of Cinematographers said yesterday.
Born on Dec. 3, 1933, Liao worked as a filmmaker before entering the Executive Yuan’s now-defunct Government Information Office in the 1980s.
Liao initially served as a deputy chief at the Cabinet-level agency’s audiovisual department before heading the film regulator, where he pioneered several policies that benefited Taiwan’s film industry.
As a filmmaker, Liao pushed for broader inspection and rating procedures for films, and cemented regulations overseeing government funding for filmmakers.
He also tried to make the Golden Horse Awards, the world’s oldest annual celebration of film in the Chinese-speaking world, more internationally inclusive.
Having studied broadcasting in Japan and filmmaking in San Francisco in the early 1960s, Liao later headed the media section of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan.
Liao made a number of films, such as the 1971 movie Love Can Forgive and Forget (真假千金), which was the runner-up for Best Feature Film at the 10th Golden Horse Awards in 1972 following martial arts legend Bruce Lee’s (李小龍) kung-fu classic Fist of Fury (精武門).
Japan-based veteran actress Judy Ongg (翁倩玉) the same year won her only Golden Horse Best Actress award for her role in Love Can Forgive and Forget.
Typhoon Champi is forecast to turn northward earlier than previously expected, sparing Taiwan a direct hit but still bringing heavy rain to the north of the country on Friday and Saturday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Typhoon Champi had strengthened and increased in size over the past 12 hours, and as of yesterday afternoon, was packing sustained winds of 198kph near its center, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said. However, due to the weakening of a Pacific high-pressure system the storm is now expected to turn northward earlier than initially forecast, likely around Japan’s Ishigaki Island, Cheng said. As Champi brushes
A sea warning for Typhoon Champi might be issued tonight, while the storm’s trajectory would determine whether a land warning is to be issued tomorrow night, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Champi was about 1,536km east-southeast of Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), packing maximum sustained winds of 198kph, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said. The storm was moving west-northwest at 23kph and was expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours before weakening slightly as it approaches cooler waters east of Taiwan, Tseng said. Champi is expected to turn north tomorrow, with the angle of the
DEFENSE PROCUREMENT: Taiwan could become the largest operator of V-BAT drones outside the US if the contract is finalized, the Ministry of National Defense said The navy and the coast guard reportedly plan to acquire 292 units of MQ-35A V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) surveillance drones. If the contract is awarded and finalized, it would make Taiwan one of the largest buyers of the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the US-based defense technology company Shield AI. The Coast Guard Administration budgeted NT$1.2 billion (US$37.1 million) to buy 12 drones, which have been delivered, Shield AI said in a report on Oct 13. The navy is planning to spend NT$36 billion under a four-year program code-named Project Yuan Hsiao (遠鴞) to acquire 280 V-BAT drones,
A patrol vessel donated by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to the Philippines would not be used in waters near Taiwan or areas where Taiwanese fishing vessels operate, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The vessel, formerly the CGA's 500-tonne-class Kinmen (金門), was commissioned into the Philippine Coast Guard on Oct. 2. Speaking at the Legislative Yuan, Cho said the Philippines had pledged during the donation process that the vessel would be used only for designated missions and would not operate in waters related to Taiwan. The vessel could even provide assistance to Taiwan if needed, he added. Responding to questions from Chinese
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