The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a Ministry of Culture proposal to spend NT$1.4 billion (US$43.58 million) over four years to establish the National Tainan Art Museum, and to research and promote the history of Taiwanese opera, art, music, literature and architecture.
The project, titled “Rebuilding Taiwanese Art History 2.0,” was proposed following the successful implementation of a seven-year project in which the government appropriated a special budget from 2018 to this year to rebuild the nation’s art history through a collaboration between private and government entities, the ministry said.
The project helped bring back from the US paintings by Taiwanese artists collected by Sun Ten Pharmaceutical Co founder Hsu Hong-yen (許鴻源), it said.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Museum of Fine Arts
Sweet Dew (甘露水), a marble sculpture by Huang Tu-shui (黃土水), was rediscovered 50 years after it was lost and is on display at the Tokyo University of Arts, Huang’s alma mater, it said.
The ministry has collected 867 works, repaired more than 8,000 and archived more than 90,000 documents, it said, adding that it has published 456 books and audiovisual works produced by Taiwanese artists, and organized 82 exhibitions on art, craftsmanship, literature and music.
More than 3.62 million people have viewed these exhibitions, it added.
“We want to deepen collective efforts to rebuild the nation’s art history and fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) National Project of Hope by introducing the Rebuilding Taiwanese Art History 2.0 project,” Department of Art Development Director Chou Ya-ching (周雅菁) told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei.
Aside from continuing to collect and research materials related to Taiwanese art, music and literature history, the budget approved by the Executive Yuan yesterday would also be used to gather and study documents related to the history of Taiwanese operas and architecture, the ministry said.
The funds would also be used to prepare for the establishment of the National Tainan Art Museum, which would be dedicated to research, exhibition and education of veteran Taiwanese artists, it said.
A preparatory office for the museum would begin operations on March 25 next year, the ministry said.
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature in Tainan, the National Taiwanese Opera Center in Kaohsiung and the Taiwan Music Institute and Taiwan Architecture Culture Center in Taipei are to continue efforts to preserve Taiwanese literature, opera, music and architecture, it added.
The ministry and the National Development Council would work together to ensure that information gathered through the project could be used for generative artificial intelligence applications and be available to the international community, it said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is