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.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
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