DIPLOMACY
China rejects deer offer
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) yesterday rejected a gift of two Formosan sika deer from the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), saying that it would be better for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage practically rather than make symbolic moves. SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) on Oct. 16 said that the organization would gift the deer as a gesture of goodwill. The deer are named He He (和和) and Ping Ping (平平), a play on the Mandarin word for peace, heping (和平). Instead of gifts, both sides should recognize that Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are one country, Zhu told a news conference in Beijing. DPP Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) said that the SEF’s decision to send the deer demonstrates Taiwan’s efforts to seek peaceful relations and mutual respect, adding that the TAO should stop making baseless statements, as Taiwan has not historically been a part of the PRC, Wang said.
SOCIETY
Actor Shih Ying dies
Actor Shih Ying (石英), known for his many performances in primetime television dramas, has died at the age of 82, his family announced yesterday. In a statement released by Shih’s agency, Phoenix Talent Co, Shih’s children said he died from “natural causes” on Sunday while being treated at the National Taiwan University Cancer Center. Shih “passed away peacefully surrounded by his family,” they said. A public memorial service for Shih, born Lin Chung-ping (林忠平), would be held at the Taipei Second Funeral Parlor on Nov. 17, the statement said. A prominent fixture in Taiwan’s entertainment industry for more than 50 years, Shih appeared in TV dramas such as Mom’s House (娘家), Night Market Life (夜市人生) and Fathers and Sons (父與子). Early in his career, Shih appeared in Justice Pao (包青天) and was short-listed twice for the Golden Bell Awards and Golden Horse Awards for Chinese-language films.
CULTURE
‘BIG’ heads to US theaters
BIG, a Taiwanese film about children in a pediatric oncology ward, is to be screened at 17 major movie theaters in the US and Canada from Friday. Written and directed by Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖), the film about children with cancer in a ward known as Room 816 explores themes of death, friendship and love through six stories. During a media screening in Toronto on Sunday, Wei, who also directed the 2007 hit Cape No. 7 (海角七號) and the two-part historical blockbuster Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (賽德克巴萊), said he was excited about the release, as Taiwanese films are rarely shown in North American theaters. The last time one of his films was featured in North American theaters was the 2012 release of Seediq Bale, he said. Wei said he was at a low point in his life when he wrote BIG and that he felt “reborn and energized” after bringing it to the big screen. “Many people who watched the movie liked it very much, saying it made them feel good to be alive,” he said. The director said he hopes the movie appeals to North American audiences, as there is no boundary between cultures when it comes to “family, friendship and love.” Henri Cheung (張恒傑), cofounder and president of Chime, a Canadian distributor of Asian films for the North American market, said BIG is its first Taiwanese movie. Depending how the movie performs in its first week, it would continue to screen it in the US and Canada, he said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
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