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Minister Li honors Chao-Tian Temple as preserver of folk custom with recognition certificate
The Beigang Mazu pilgrimage was recognized as an important folk custom by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) in May, and the Beigang Chao-Tian Temple (朝天宮) was designated as the preserver of the tradition. On Nov. 15, Minister of Culture Li Yuan presented the certificate of recognition to Tsai Yung-de (蔡咏鍀), Chair of the Beigang Chao-Tian Temple, with Yunlin Magistrate Chang Li-shan (張麗善) serving as the witness. Minister Li emphasized that the Beigang Mazu pilgrimage is the 23rd national important folk custom and the 5th in Yunlin County. He added that the Beigang Chao-Tian Temple, a national monument, is also the first temple to become the preserver of two important folk customs, playing a pivotal role in preserving and transmitting local traditions. Yunlin Magistrate Chang Li-shan emphasized that Yunlin County’s focus on religious events is crucial for preserving traditional culture and promoting it both locally and internationally. The MOC pointed out that the history of the Beigang Mazu pilgrimage spans two centuries, reflecting the dedication of ancestors to religious practices. To highlight Taiwan’s diverse cultural values, the Ministry will continue to work with local governments to promote the preservation and sustainability of the country’s intangible cultural heritage.

Minister Li honors Chao-Tian Temple as preserver of folk custom with recognition certificate

2024-11-20
The Beigang Mazu pilgrimage was recognized as an important folk custom by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) in May, and the Beigang Chao-Tian Temple (朝天宮) was designated as the preserver of the tradition. On Nov. 15, Minister of Culture Li Yuan presented the certificate of recognition to Tsai Yung-de (蔡咏鍀), Chair of the Beigang Chao-Tian Temple, with Yunlin Magistrate Chang Li-shan (張麗善) serving as the witness. Minister Li emphasized that the Beigang Mazu pilgrimage is the 23rd national important folk custom and the 5th in Yunlin County. He added that the Beigang Chao-Tian Temple, a national monument, is also the first temple to become the preserver of two important folk customs, playing a pivotal role in preserving and transmitting local traditions. Yunlin Magistrate Chang Li-shan emphasized that Yunlin County’s focus on religious events is crucial for preserving traditional culture and promoting it both locally and internationally. The MOC pointed out that the history of the Beigang Mazu pilgrimage spans two centuries, reflecting the dedication of ancestors to religious practices. To highlight Taiwan’s diverse cultural values, the Ministry will continue to work with local governments to promote the preservation and sustainability of the country’s intangible cultural heritage.
2024 Asian Art Biennial opens at NTMoFA
Organized by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA), the 2024 Asian Art Biennial, titled “How to Hold Your Breath,” is now open at the NTMoFA in Taichung City. The event is taking place until Mar. 2, 2025, and features 83 artworks by 35 artists from various countries. Held on Nov. 16, the opening ceremony of the biennial was attended by Secretary-General of the Ministry of Culture (MOC) Lin Hung-I (林宏義), NTMoFA Director Chen Kuang-yi (陳貺怡), and other distinguished guests. Secretary-General Lin noted that, supported by the MOC, the biennial brings together artists and curators from across Asia, presenting their works to explore the themes of environment, culture, and ethnicity. Li thanked the NTMoFA, curatorial team, and participating artists for their concerted efforts to make this event happen, hoping the biennial will not only enrich people’s experience but also showcase to the world the cultural diversity and innovation of Taiwan and other Asian countries. NTMoFA Director Chen said that, since its inception in 2007, the Asian Art Biennial has become one of the most representative art exhibitions in Asia. In recent years, more curators with diverse backgrounds have participated in the biennial, expanding the horizon of Asian contemporary art, noted Chen. She added that, along with creators from neighboring countries, emerging artists from Armenia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Turkey, and Uzbekistan have been invited to display a rich variety of cultural perceptions and artistic experiences to Taiwanese audiences. Apart from the exhibition, the NTMoFA will also host a series of activities such as lectures, experimental performances, workshops, guided tours, and screening events. For more information, visit the biennial’s official website.

2024 Asian Art Biennial opens at NTMoFA

2024-11-20
Organized by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA), the 2024 Asian Art Biennial, titled “How to Hold Your Breath,” is now open at the NTMoFA in Taichung City. The event is taking place until Mar. 2, 2025, and features 83 artworks by 35 artists from various countries. Held on Nov. 16, the opening ceremony of the biennial was attended by Secretary-General of the Ministry of Culture (MOC) Lin Hung-I (林宏義), NTMoFA Director Chen Kuang-yi (陳貺怡), and other distinguished guests. Secretary-General Lin noted that, supported by the MOC, the biennial brings together artists and curators from across Asia, presenting their works to explore the themes of environment, culture, and ethnicity. Li thanked the NTMoFA, curatorial team, and participating artists for their concerted efforts to make this event happen, hoping the biennial will not only enrich people’s experience but also showcase to the world the cultural diversity and innovation of Taiwan and other Asian countries. NTMoFA Director Chen said that, since its inception in 2007, the Asian Art Biennial has become one of the most representative art exhibitions in Asia. In recent years, more curators with diverse backgrounds have participated in the biennial, expanding the horizon of Asian contemporary art, noted Chen. She added that, along with creators from neighboring countries, emerging artists from Armenia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Turkey, and Uzbekistan have been invited to display a rich variety of cultural perceptions and artistic experiences to Taiwanese audiences. Apart from the exhibition, the NTMoFA will also host a series of activities such as lectures, experimental performances, workshops, guided tours, and screening events. For more information, visit the biennial’s official website.
This year’s 4th NTU STEM Competition for Secondary School Students in Malaysia Promotes Taiwan’s Higher Education
The National Secondary School Programming Contest 2024, was jointly organized by the Alumni Association of National Taiwan University, Malaysia (AANTUM), National Taiwan University (NTU), and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), with support from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. This nationwide competition in Malaysia was held to promote Information Technology and tertiary study in Taiwan. The competition has been conducted for four years now, since 2021. This year, 700 students from 52 secondary schools all over Malaysia took part. Among the 180 students who had successfully advanced to the final, a cross-school team from Methodist Boys' School Penang and Tsun Jin High School won the Grand Final of the competition which was held at Chung Hua High School Seremban on September 16. They were awarded a cash prize of 3,000 Malaysian ringgit. James Buu, Deputy Representative at TECO in Malaysia, was invited to attend the closing ceremony. In his remarks there, he explained a main purpose of this competition. Technology enhances learning opportunities and improves the studying experience of young people nowadays and it allows students to showcase their extraordinary programming skills. He encouraged students to appreciate the resources they have and continue to pursue innovation. Mr. Chew Kian Keong, the president of AANTUM, further explained that an aim of the programming contest is to provide a communication platform and foster secondary school students' logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Learning with students from different schools will facilitate software and hardware exchanges between urban and rural middle schools and lead to and improvements. All participating students have to take the qualifying exam, and students who pass the qualifying exam are eligible to form teams and participate in the preliminaries and finals. Ms. Charlin Chang, Director of the Education Division of TECO in Malaysia, said that it’s essential for students to develop digital literacy, especially in this rapidly-expanding artificial intelligence (AI) era. She praised the forethought of the organizers for conducting STEM-related competitions to assist students to maintain pace with the competitive environment of the future world and also get an in-depth understanding of the teaching and learning resources in NTU, one of the prestigious universities in Taiwan. She welcomed the students to pursue their tertiary studies and develop their talents in Taiwan. A NTU Department of Information Engineering team, led by Professor Michael Hsin-Mu Tsai, NTU Deputy Vice President for Academic Affairs collaborated with Professor Ts Dr Liew Soung Yue, Dean of UTAR Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) and his team, forming a combined team of 30 people. These people undertook the setting of the contest questions and invigilation of the competition from the preliminary contests to the finals, ensuring the fairness and professional standards of the competition.

This year’s 4th NTU STEM Competition for Secondary School Students in Malaysia Promotes Taiwan’s Higher Education

2024-11-13
The National Secondary School Programming Contest 2024, was jointly organized by the Alumni Association of National Taiwan University, Malaysia (AANTUM), National Taiwan University (NTU), and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), with support from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. This nationwide competition in Malaysia was held to promote Information Technology and tertiary study in Taiwan. The competition has been conducted for four years now, since 2021. This year, 700 students from 52 secondary schools all over Malaysia took part. Among the 180 students who had successfully advanced to the final, a cross-school team from Methodist Boys' School Penang and Tsun Jin High School won the Grand Final of the competition which was held at Chung Hua High School Seremban on September 16. They were awarded a cash prize of 3,000 Malaysian ringgit. James Buu, Deputy Representative at TECO in Malaysia, was invited to attend the closing ceremony. In his remarks there, he explained a main purpose of this competition. Technology enhances learning opportunities and improves the studying experience of young people nowadays and it allows students to showcase their extraordinary programming skills. He encouraged students to appreciate the resources they have and continue to pursue innovation. Mr. Chew Kian Keong, the president of AANTUM, further explained that an aim of the programming contest is to provide a communication platform and foster secondary school students' logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Learning with students from different schools will facilitate software and hardware exchanges between urban and rural middle schools and lead to and improvements. All participating students have to take the qualifying exam, and students who pass the qualifying exam are eligible to form teams and participate in the preliminaries and finals. Ms. Charlin Chang, Director of the Education Division of TECO in Malaysia, said that it’s essential for students to develop digital literacy, especially in this rapidly-expanding artificial intelligence (AI) era. She praised the forethought of the organizers for conducting STEM-related competitions to assist students to maintain pace with the competitive environment of the future world and also get an in-depth understanding of the teaching and learning resources in NTU, one of the prestigious universities in Taiwan. She welcomed the students to pursue their tertiary studies and develop their talents in Taiwan. A NTU Department of Information Engineering team, led by Professor Michael Hsin-Mu Tsai, NTU Deputy Vice President for Academic Affairs collaborated with Professor Ts Dr Liew Soung Yue, Dean of UTAR Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) and his team, forming a combined team of 30 people. These people undertook the setting of the contest questions and invigilation of the competition from the preliminary contests to the finals, ensuring the fairness and professional standards of the competition.
British publisher launches Taiwanese novella collection
Supported by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) and National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL), Strangers Press, a British publisher focusing on literature of non-English speaking countries, is publishing a collection of Taiwanese novellas and short stories titled “ká-sióng (假想),” which means make-believe, imagine, or hypothesize in Taiwanese Taigi. The five works featured in the collection include “Not Your Child (別人的孩子)” by Lâu Tsí-û (劉芷妤); “Cage (囚徒)” by Qiu Miaojin (邱妙津); “Mountain Rat (山瘟)” by Lulyang Nomin (魯亮．諾命); “Cloud Labour (搬雲記)” by Sabrina Huang (黃麗群); and “Social (臉書)” by Lamula Pakawyan (然木柔．巴高揚). These novellas, addressing various issues concerning from Indigenous peoples to sexual minorities, showcase the rich diversity of the Taiwanese literary scene. Chen Pin-chuan (陳斌全), head of the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K., noted that the translators selected this time are mostly non-native English speakers from Taiwan, which is different from the way such translations are usually done. The translators of the abovementioned works are Jenna Tang (湯絜蘭), Shengchi Hsu (許勝吉), Yu Teng-Wei (游騰緯), Lin King (金翎), as well as Wen-chi Li (利文祺) and Colin Bramwell. Describing the collection as a “sampling of Taiwanese snacks,” Chen also hoped that these literary pieces with diverse themes could spark up British readers’ imagination for Taiwanese literature. For more information, go to the publisher’s website.

British publisher launches Taiwanese novella collection

2024-11-12
Supported by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) and National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL), Strangers Press, a British publisher focusing on literature of non-English speaking countries, is publishing a collection of Taiwanese novellas and short stories titled “ká-sióng (假想),” which means make-believe, imagine, or hypothesize in Taiwanese Taigi. The five works featured in the collection include “Not Your Child (別人的孩子)” by Lâu Tsí-û (劉芷妤); “Cage (囚徒)” by Qiu Miaojin (邱妙津); “Mountain Rat (山瘟)” by Lulyang Nomin (魯亮．諾命); “Cloud Labour (搬雲記)” by Sabrina Huang (黃麗群); and “Social (臉書)” by Lamula Pakawyan (然木柔．巴高揚). These novellas, addressing various issues concerning from Indigenous peoples to sexual minorities, showcase the rich diversity of the Taiwanese literary scene. Chen Pin-chuan (陳斌全), head of the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K., noted that the translators selected this time are mostly non-native English speakers from Taiwan, which is different from the way such translations are usually done. The translators of the abovementioned works are Jenna Tang (湯絜蘭), Shengchi Hsu (許勝吉), Yu Teng-Wei (游騰緯), Lin King (金翎), as well as Wen-chi Li (利文祺) and Colin Bramwell. Describing the collection as a “sampling of Taiwanese snacks,” Chen also hoped that these literary pieces with diverse themes could spark up British readers’ imagination for Taiwanese literature. For more information, go to the publisher’s website.
Winners of 2024 Taiwan Literature Awards announced
The winners of the 2024 Taiwan Literature Awards (TLA) for Books were revealed on Nov. 1. Among shortlisted 30 works, seven were selected for the Golden Book Award (金典獎) and three for the New Bud Award (蓓蕾獎), while Ping Lu (平路)’s novel “Passing (夢魂之地)” snatched the Annual Golden Grand Laurel Award. Highly praised by the judging panel, “Passing” deals with the complicated issue of national identity in Taiwan from the perspective of the protagonist who is a psychic medium. The seven winners of the Golden Book Award include “Mountain Mirror (山鏡)” by Chang Chih-hsin (張郅忻); “A Silent Border (噤聲之界：北臺灣客庄與原民的百年纏結和對話)“ by Liang Ting-yu (梁廷毓); “Underground Lives: Stories Untold for Migrant Workers in Taiwan (移工築起的地下社會)” by Chien Yung-ta (簡永達); “Sugar Buns Island (甜麵包島)” by Lu Ping (鹿苹); “Dark Roads (暗路) by Li Chin-lien (李金蓮); “Sin (幸運的罪)” by Yin Ni (隱匿); and “Oh, Conan (噢，柯南)” by Tang Juan (唐捐). The New Bud Award, which was set up to encourage emerging writers, goes to Temu Suyan (黃璽) for his poetry collection “Khu Ka Qaraw Qulih (骨鯁集),” Hsu En-en (許恩恩) for her novel “The Becoming (變成的人),” and Liang Ting-yu, who is also one of the Golden Book Award recipients. According to the jury, genre-blending creation is becoming a trend as literary boundaries have increasingly expanded. These awardees are constantly looking for more creative ways to tell stories through their works, said the jury, adding that the writers offer their illuminating insights and heartfelt exploration of innermost feelings. The awarding ceremony for the TLA is set to take place at the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei on Nov. 16, and will be livestreamed on the TLA’s official Facebook page.

Winners of 2024 Taiwan Literature Awards announced

2024-11-06
The winners of the 2024 Taiwan Literature Awards (TLA) for Books were revealed on Nov. 1. Among shortlisted 30 works, seven were selected for the Golden Book Award (金典獎) and three for the New Bud Award (蓓蕾獎), while Ping Lu (平路)’s novel “Passing (夢魂之地)” snatched the Annual Golden Grand Laurel Award. Highly praised by the judging panel, “Passing” deals with the complicated issue of national identity in Taiwan from the perspective of the protagonist who is a psychic medium. The seven winners of the Golden Book Award include “Mountain Mirror (山鏡)” by Chang Chih-hsin (張郅忻); “A Silent Border (噤聲之界：北臺灣客庄與原民的百年纏結和對話)“ by Liang Ting-yu (梁廷毓); “Underground Lives: Stories Untold for Migrant Workers in Taiwan (移工築起的地下社會)” by Chien Yung-ta (簡永達); “Sugar Buns Island (甜麵包島)” by Lu Ping (鹿苹); “Dark Roads (暗路) by Li Chin-lien (李金蓮); “Sin (幸運的罪)” by Yin Ni (隱匿); and “Oh, Conan (噢，柯南)” by Tang Juan (唐捐). The New Bud Award, which was set up to encourage emerging writers, goes to Temu Suyan (黃璽) for his poetry collection “Khu Ka Qaraw Qulih (骨鯁集),” Hsu En-en (許恩恩) for her novel “The Becoming (變成的人),” and Liang Ting-yu, who is also one of the Golden Book Award recipients. According to the jury, genre-blending creation is becoming a trend as literary boundaries have increasingly expanded. These awardees are constantly looking for more creative ways to tell stories through their works, said the jury, adding that the writers offer their illuminating insights and heartfelt exploration of innermost feelings. The awarding ceremony for the TLA is set to take place at the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei on Nov. 16, and will be livestreamed on the TLA’s official Facebook page.