Brothers Chan Kuo-hsiang and Weng Kuo-hua, both Yingge potters, talk about the craft of imitation pottery and how their lives are intimately tied up with the fortunes of the old pottery town in New Taipei City

Taipei Times
Date: May 01, 2016
By: Paul Cooper / Staff reporter

Kick-wheel potter Chan Kuo-hsiang (詹國祥) tells a story of how late president Chiang Ching-

kuo (蔣經國) was puzzled during a visit to the old pottery town of Yingge (鶯歌鎮). BMWs and Mercedes were parked along streets lined with dilapidated buildings — conspicuous wealth amid ramshackle abodes.

Before China opened up its market, Yingge potters producing imitation Chinese ceramics were raking it in.

“The heyday was probably 1980 to 1990,” says Cheng Wen-hung (程文宏), head of the Educational Promotion Department of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum. “After that… most of the big factories moved to China.”

Chan and his brother, Weng Kuo-hua (翁國華), specialize in throwing huge pots. They have seen good times and bad. In many ways, their fortunes have been tied to those of Yingge itself.

Yingge has been a pottery town since 1804. It flourished because of local coal and clay deposits, and, later, because the arrival in Taiwan of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949 put a temporary stop to pottery imports from Japan and China. This gave Yingge potters the chance to start producing functional wares for the domestic market.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: April 20, 2016

Taiwan submissions won 16 awards at the 49th WorldFest-Houston International

Film and Video Festival April 16, including the Gold Remi for best comedy—one of four top-line honors on offer at the oldest independent film event in the U.S.

“The Missing Piece” by director Chiang Feng-hung trumped more than 500 submissions from 74 countries and territories to claim the prestigious Gold Remi Award. It tells the story of a young man suffering difficulty communicating after a childhood trauma, as well as four other characters struggling with different life issues.

Chiang said after the film’s April 15 WorldFest screening that he tried to use a simple but significant approach to giving the audience an insightful look into the characters’ self-seeking quests.     [FULL  STORY]

Asia One
Date: Mar 23, 2016

BALI – Taiwanese actor Nicky Wu went through a lot of trouble to marry

Chinese actress Liu Shishi. He had to go through the legal procedure of marriage and divorce again with his former wife, Chinese actress Ma Yashu, in Taiwan, in order to wed Liu, said Taiwan Apple Daily.

His mother spoke about his past and present marriages in an interview with the newspaper in Bali on Monday, a day after his lavish wedding to Liu at a resort.

She sounded apologetic when she said Ma did not get a wedding during her three-year marriage, which ended in 2009, said the report.

Wu rose to fame in pop trio Little Tigers before he switched to acting, mainly in the mainland. From about 1989 to 2001, he worked to pay off his father’s debts of NT$80 million, said the report.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/16
By: Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) Thanks to two-time best director Oscar winner Ang

Lee (李安), a protest by 25 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences against jokes mocking Asians at the Oscars show last month has been widely reported in Taiwan, Lee’s birthplace.

“Ang Lee also furious! Led protest against Oscar discrimination against Asians,” reported the Chinese-language China Times Wednesday.

Also reporting on the high-profile protest were other major media outlets in Taiwan, including United Evening News, Apple Daily, ETtoday, Sanlih E-Television and Liberty Times, along with the Central News Agency, which gave Chinese version of foreign news reports on the protest.

Academy members of Asian descent, including Lee and “Star Trek” actor George Takei, sent a letter to the organization Tuesday, protesting “tasteless and offensive skits” that were featured on the 88th Academy Awards that took place Feb. 28, The Hollywood Reporters reported.     [FULL  STORY]

The Express Tribune
By AFP

TAIPEI: A China-based Taiwanese singer who has called for reunification with

the mainland drew public ire after returning to his homeland for an operation that could cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

Huang An has styled himself as a “Taiwan independence buster”, publicly criticising fellow pop stars who appear opposed to reunification with China, where he has lived for more than 15 years.

But on Thursday he returned to Taiwan on a charter flight for an eight-hour heart operation that local media estimated could cost up to Tw$800,000 ($24,240) — most of which would be covered under the island’s universal healthcare system.

Pakistani-American dentist charged with sexual assault of sedated patient

“Mr Huang must not be confident in the level of healthcare where he lives,” Huang Wei-che of the Beijing-sceptic Democratic People’s Party told reporters in Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]