What are the various ways to watch a sporting competition?
Sports events are in many ways performances. From this perspective, the outcome is not particularly important. Everyone has their own particular way of enjoying the spectacle: watching athletes display their vigor, beauty and competitive spirit; exploring the delights of the host city around the various venues; or joining in street events.
In this issue, we invited authorities in sport, event management, travel, music, design, and even the games’ mascot to provide different perspectives on the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei. Let’s all cheer on this spectacular show when the whistle blows!
Chan Chun-chih, once a track and field star on his school team, is now chairman of the Chinese Taipei International Sports Volunteers Association. He served as an Olympic volunteer at both the Athens and the Rio Olympic Games, and traveled at his own expense to the London and Beijing Olympics to promote exercise back home.
Cheering On the Teams
Chan Chun-chih
Chan Chun-chih, once a track and field star on his school team, is now chairman of the Chinese Taipei International Sports Volunteers Association. He served as an Olympic volunteer at both the Athens and the Rio Olympic Games, and traveled at his own expense to the London and Beijing Olympics to promote exercise back home.
The Taipei Universiade provides Taiwan with a rare opportunity to hold a large-scale sports competition. Chan Chun-chih notes that the organizers have made the most of the home-field advantage and selected disciplines that Taiwan’s
student athletes excel in, such as badminton, weightlifting, and taekwondo.
Contestants will include badminton player Tai Tzu-ying and weightlifters Hsu Shu-ching and Kuo Hsing-chun, all of whom are former Olympic competitors. Fans will have the rare good fortune of being able to see them perform firsthand.
The Taipei Universiade will also showcase events that are less often broadcast on local television, including archery, diving, gymnastics, and water polo. Chan recommends that people brush up beforehand on the events—their rules, scoring methods, and ranking systems—so they can immerse themselves in the games once they start and better understand a previously unfamiliar sport. He also suggests that people check the time and the best viewing spots to cheer on runners competing in the half-marathon that will be routed along Taipei’s Ren’ai Road and in which some well-known runners from Japan will be taking part.
Chan thinks that watching an athletic competition should be treated as a pleasant pastime with little concern for who wins and who loses. “Sports competitions are like shows in which competitors exhibit their prowess and the grace of their sport,” he says.
The Universiade will allow people to share in the spirit of the athletes themselves and join together with other viewers to cheer for impressive performances.
（莊坤儒攝／photo by Chuang Kung-ju）
(Lynn Su/tr. by Robert Green)
Wang Yao-pang (Gezi), director of InFormat Design Curating and InFormat Paper, has been absorbed for many years in the fields of design, architecture, and culture, building integrated multidisciplinary teams and taking part in public–private exhibitions and various planning projects. He was curator of the Theme Pavilion for the 2017 Creative Expo Taiwan.
Building the Legacy
Wang Yao-pang (Gezi)
Wang Yao-pang, director of InFormat Design Curating and InFormat Paper, has been absorbed for many years in the fields of design, architecture, and culture, building integrated multidisciplinary teams and taking part in public–private exhibitions and various planning projects. He was curator of the Theme Pavilion for the 2017 Creative Expo Taiwan.
For Wang Ya-pang, sports are the ultimate showcase of the human body. Athletes’ movements are characterized by superlatives: highest, farthest, fastest, most explosive. “Athletes make real our fantasies of being Superman,” he says.
Wang feels that the Taiwanese public holds a narrow view of competitions as a zero-sum game between two opponents, while the government regards sports as a way to cultivate the body and build moral character. But he believes that athletics is a manifestation of physical aesthetics and should be seen as a cultural wellspring. Athletics is also related to the consumer economy, manufacturing, medicine, and other industries and so is especially in need of strategic thinking.
Our seeking to host the Universiade shows the positive direction of Taiwan’s ambitions. The experience of holding a large-scale sports event offers the opportunity to reassess our capabilities in this area. It also offers the chance to make creative use of the physical infrastructure that remains after the sports event, to increase public participation in sport and raise fitness, and to shift focus from constructing sports infrastructure to the cultivation of athletes who strive for excellence. By exploring these athletes’ personal narratives people can develop a richer understanding of sports. These are all opportunities presented to Taiwanese society by this year’s Universiade.
“What is the ideal legacy of the Universiade? That is the real question,” says Wang. Many cities that have hosted the Olympics have experienced lasting benefits long after the games have ended. Only time will tell whether Taipei will enjoy those same benefits as a post-Universiade city.
(Lynn Su/tr. by Robert Green)
Jack Wang, Click Music vice president. He took on a “mission impossible” in leading efforts to find the theme song for the Taipei Universiade.
All Together Now: Music for the Universiade
Jack Wang
Click Music vice president. He took on a “mission impossible” in leading efforts to find the theme song for the Taipei Universiade.
（典選音樂提供／courtesy of Click Music）
“To give the international community a sense of the power of music in Taiwan and draw local people’s attention to the Universiade,” says Jack Wang, “we chose the harder path: giving the people the power to select the song.”
To choose from among over 200 candidates one song that would convey the vitality of Taiwan’s youth and a sense of freedom, sunshine, joy and love, 13 judges tirelessly debated the songs’ merits. Ultimately, they selected “Embrace the World,” written by Paiwan singer Utjung Tjakivalid (Kris Wu) and performed by the group I-Want Star Taiwan.
The refrain “i u giugi senasena i” is Paiwan for “all together now, sing and dance.” We can be confident that thanks to the Universiade, this phrase will become another greeting from Taiwan sung out to the world.
Howie B., an internationally known master of electronic music, was invited to arrange the official version. He transformed the traditional Paiwan melody by mixing in rumba and other Latin beats. As soon as the first drumbeat sounds, listeners can’t help but want to start dancing.
“As part of the preparations for the Universiade, the musicians wanted to put together something fun and joyous,” says Wang. An important promotor of independent Taiwan bands, he has called on the musical energy of every ethnic group on the island in assembling a diverse musical lineup, including the Chairman Band, Sizhukong, and Sibongie, as well as the Chio-Tian Folk Drums and Arts Troupe and ZenKwun. The music is sure to give everyone in attendance a good sense of Taiwan’s creative vitality.
Agua Chou, head of the City Yeast project. Chou is a veritable fount of ideas about the city. She is also an ace at skipping with a rope.
(Cathy Teng/tr. by Jonathan Barnard)
This year City Yeast has designed small cartoon icons around the slogan “Taipei people love exercise” and placed them on street lights in or near the Taipei Arena, Nangang, Tianmu and National Taiwan University.
Bravo the Bear: Mascot with a Mission
Bravo
The 2017 Taipei Universiade mascot. He is fond of playfully teasing Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je. He has been popping up all over Taiwan and can’t wait to meet members of the public everywhere.
This year City Yeast has designed small cartoon icons around the slogan “Taipei people love exercise” and placed them on street lights in or near the Taipei Arena, Nangang, Tianmu and National Taiwan University.
Bravo, a Formosan black bear native to Taiwan and marked with the telltale white V-shaped pattern on his chest, has been scrambling about promoting the Taipei Universiade since he was enlisted as the games’ mascot last year. He has experienced the rare sight of snow on Mt. Yangming with local crowds, and secured a passport and flown to New York to promote the Universiade. It’s no exaggeration to say that Bravo is Taiwan’s busiest black bear.
In the run-up to the competition, Bravo has traveled to the Zuoying District of Kaohsiung to cheer on the athletes at the National Sports Training Center. He brought them towels to wipe away their perspiration, managed to make weightlifter Hsu Shu-ching blush and took personal lessons in table tennis from Chen Szu-yu. He is quite the lucky bear.
Bravo is black from head to foot (except for the white V) and his smile slopes up on both sides in 45 degree angles. His eyes never squint when he laughs but always retain their large round appearance. He loves to bear-hug fans and has some 28,000 of them on Facebook. As well as traveling all around Taiwan he entertains followers on Facebook.
Don’t let his girth fool you into thinking that Bravo doesn’t love exercise. An athlete’s spirit lives in his bones. Running about is his daily exercise, but he’s also no slouch when it comes to golf, basketball, rock climbing, baseball, judo, the horizontal bar and bicycling.
“Everyone to the stadium! Cheer on the home team!” Bravo roars while gesticulating energetically.
943 Travel expert “943” (which in Mandarin is a near-homophone with a phrase meaning “to save money”) is an experienced backpacker and travel club president. Having personal experience of traveling to over 100 countries on a total of only NT$400,000, she is keen on helping others travel abroad on a limited budget.
(Cathy Teng/tr. by Robert Green)
Creating Urban Exercise Corners
Agua Chou
Head of the City Yeast project, Chou is a veritable fount of ideas about the city. She is also an ace at skipping with a rope.
（莊坤儒攝／photo by Chuang Kung-ju）
“How do you calculate the age of a city?” asks Agua Chou. “Look at the relative size of the population that exercises.”
Taipei City won its bid to host the 2017 Universiade, games that draw college and university students from around the world. It’s the most important international sporting event that Taipei has ever staged, and Chou, a tireless urban activist, hopes to leverage these games to foster an environment that is more supportive of athletics, thus bolstering the vitality of the city and extending the games’ impact.
“Within our living environment, let’s design some small reminders in out-of-the-way corners of the city that tell people to take the time to get exercise.”
This year City Yeast has designed small cartoon icons around the slogan “Taipei people love exercise” and placed them on street lights in or near the Taipei Arena, Nangang, Tianmu and National Taiwan University. They feature images such as pudgy old men or little kids swinging their arms or stretching. They are meant to remind city residents to take the time to get some exercise now and then. Why are the people depicted all overweight? “It’s to convey to city residents that if they don’t exercise they’ll get even fatter!”
For the Universiade, boxing speed balls have been installed in “exercise corners” around Taipei City Hall Plaza. As you scurry between event locations during the games, note for a moment those icons on street lamps, and heed their instructions to move more. One option would be to use street lamps for pole dancing—because the entire city should be our sports arena.
(Cathy Teng/tr. by Jonathan Barnard)
An Opportunity to Promote the City
943
Travel expert “943” (which in Mandarin is a near-homophone with a phrase meaning “to save money”) is an experienced backpacker and travel club president. Having personal experience of traveling to over 100 countries on a total of only NT$400,000, she is keen on helping others travel abroad on a limited budget.
Bravo The 2017 Taipei Universiade mascot. He is fond of playfully teasing Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je. He has been popping up all over Taiwan and can’t wait to meet members of the public everywhere.（courtesy of TUOC）
“943”
believes tourism in Taiwan has a bright future. Taipei, for example, has a number of heritage attractions such as the Red House and the historic Taipei Guest House. She particularly recommends walking the city’s narrow lanes to explore the array of distinctive local businesses. Rents in such back streets are much lower, allowing owners to experiment with more imaginative products and designs. In fact, these stores are often the birthplace of creative ideas that will invigorate local industry. As venues for the Universiade are spread across the city, visitors will have ample opportunities to explore the many sides of Taipei.
943 specially recommends the Taipei Arena area in the center of the city. With minimum spending as a goal, she has designed a route that can be followed by tourists. The Man Fang Cafe and Big Two Gourmet, located in nearby lanes, are well patronized by local office workers. The latter’s Hong-Kong-style barbecue dishes are delicious and excellent value. For foreign visitors in particular, 943 recommends the Jin Shan Hakka Restaurant, where they can taste the flavors of authentic Taiwan cuisine. Nearby are malls with stores such as IKEA, Core Pacific City, and Carrefour, perfect for a little window shopping. Core Pacific City provides free shuttle buses to the Taipei City Hall MRT station, from where visitors can take a train back to their hotels. Accommodation around the Ximen MRT station is very popular with tourists. And along Nanjing East Road there are many bakeries such as Chia Te, Snowflake, and Yu Jan Shin. These stores are perfect for overseas visitors wanting to buy gift packs for family back home.
“We should be making the most of this fantastic opportunity to promote our city!” says 943. Taipei awaits the inquisitive eyes of many tourists exploring every inch of the city this summer.
(Lynn Su/tr. by Geoff Hegarty and Sophia Chen)
（金宏澔攝／photo by Chin Hung-hao）
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