Collaborations between Taiwanese dancers and dancers from Japan, Thailand and Germany demonstrate the performers’ creative skills and show off the fruits of cross-cultural exchange. This month we delve into transnational cooperation among performing artists, spotlighting the hard work and emotional energy that is required to put on such productions successfully.
The job of an artist is to cut through conflict and find harmony, and to find value in the tension of contradiction. Sculptor Lee Kuang-yu’s extraordinary “Bullfighting” series, which earned acclaim at the 2017 Venice Biennale, expresses the artist’s Asian heritage through Zen insights and Asian folk elements. Like the collaborations between performers of different nations, Lee’s timeless masterpieces convey a Taiwanese artistic sensibility.
Formosat-5, Taiwan’s first locally designed and built satellite, was finally launched last year. But the true test of its success began once it was up in space, where it had a succession of power supply and imaging problems. We report on the experts who investigated and overcame these difficulties, thus demonstrating Taiwan’s prowess in aerospace technology.
Taiwan’s rate of glass recycling—a measure of commitment to environmental stewardship—ranks second in the world. Spring Pool Glass handles 70% of Taiwan’s glass recycling. Its impact in reducing Taiwan’s carbon footprint is equivalent to reforesting an area the size of 500 Da’an Parks. The company is helping to push Taiwan toward becoming a “circular economy” and fostering the rise of green, sustainable industries as it shows how waste glass can be turned into fire-resistant, non-toxic insulating blocks as well as a variety of other ingeniously designed products.
The Global Federation of Chinese Business Women, made up of ethnic Chinese businesswomen worldwide, has been promoting public service activities for more than 20 years. In this issue we spotlight Li Shu-ying, its first overseas-based chairwoman, who serves an irreplaceable role in strengthening Taiwan’s people-to-people diplomacy.
Many remember wistfully the traditional general stores once found on streets and alleys all over Taiwan. Small and unpretentious, they were more numerous than convenience stores are today, and their fortunes closely mirrored the histories of their locales. Nostalgia for these old-school establishments is much like the interest in Kinmen’s old buildings chronicled in this month’s Photo Essay. The outlying island has witnessed an architectural evolution from traditional Fujianese architecture, to “Western-style” villas built a century ago by locals who returned after making their fortunes in Southeast Asia, to the military installations of more recent history, and the beachfront cafés of today.
