The film festival has found itself caught up in the increasingly tense relationship between China and Taiwan.

Al Jazeera
Date: Nov 27, 2019
By: Andrew Thomas
 

Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival, famous as the "Chinese-language Oscars", has grown into a fixture for the movie industry in Asia since its beginning in 1996.

But China has not only banned its filmmakers from taking part in the Taiwanese event but has even created its own film awards, the Golden Rooster, on the same day.    [SOURCE]

Study of Asperger's shows that sense of humor can be learned

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese do not rate highly on the international scale for sense of humor,

but such a sense can be learned, a research team at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) said Wednesday (November 27).

Professor Chen Hsueh-chih (陳學志) and his group spent 30 years studying the subject, and came to the conclusion that Taiwanese only rated No.15 on a list of 22 countries for their sense of humor, the Liberty Times reported.

Presenting the results of his study at the Ministry of Science and Technology Wednesday, Chen said Taiwan finished below average on the subject, while Italians were the most adept at using humor.

Analyzing the responses of the 7,226 Taiwanese citizens who took part in the survey, Chen’s team found that men often used humor which attacked or even denigrated others, while women were more considerate, though married couples would show the same style of humor after 10 years together.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/27
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) A Norwegian missionary doctor who established Taiwan's first nursing home for

children suffering from polio in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan in 1961, has passed away in Norway at the age of 93, according to the Taiwan-based Bjørgaas Foundation.

"Doctor Olav Bjørgaas, who devoted his life to Taiwan, rested in peace in God's arms on Nov. 15. He was 93 years old," said the foundation in a statement released Tuesday.

A memorial ceremony will be held at Pingtung Christian Hospital Dec. 13 under the auspices of the hospital and the Pingtung Christian Victory Home, both of which were founded by Bjørgaas in the 1950s and 1960s, the statement said.

According to the foundation, Bjørgaas was dispatched to Taiwan by Norway's Mission Alliance in 1954, when he was 28 years old and arrived with his newly wed wife. His first mission was caring for leprosy patients at the Losheng Sanatorium in New Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 26 November, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says the situation in Hong Kong has further underlined the importance of safeguarding freedom and democracy. Tsai was speaking Tuesday while meeting with a US congressional delegation led by Representatives Bill Flores and Guy Reschenthaler.

Tsai talked about the joint efforts made by the two countries to uphold the values of freedom and democracy.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2019/11/26
By: Yu-chen Lai  

HIV/AIDS has been treated like the plague, a punishment sent by god. A group exhibition at Taipei's Museum of Contemporary Art has attempted to provide various "prescriptions" for this epidemic.

Just north of Taipei Main Station, a black mannequin stands in an open plaza. Emerging from torrents of white medicine bottles, the mannequin wears sheets of white plastic threads that cling to its body like a second skin. Next to it, a red cargo container with portraits dimly-lit inside; the other end, a giant screen that plays two astronauts, dry-fucking in space suits.

Titled “Interminable Prescriptions for the Plague,” this art show opened in early October and is now on view for free at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei.

The “Plague” in question is HIV/AIDS — perhaps the only permissible instance to invoke the epidemic that haunts our memories of a specific time and place.

However, as a show that brings together 17 artworks from 20 artists, Interminable disposes of the notion of a generation lost or a community devastated. The show presents individuals practicing vastly different lives somehow gathered here, whose works all simply happen to contain, entertain — indeed, host the polemic of HIV/AIDS.    [FULL  STORY]

HK Leaks was said to have collected personal details of more than 500 people

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/26
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — At least eight Taiwanese seen as advocating Hong Kong's democracy found their personal details posted online by HK Leaks and some of them have received death threats from different email accounts after the exposure.

The Taiwanese victims include the island's pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Chen Yi-chi (陳奕齊), Citizen Front Taiwan co-founder Chiang Min-yen (江明諺), Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎), and News Eye founder Nancy Tao. The website disclosed their pictures, birthdates, occupations, emails, phone numbers, or passport numbers. They are tagged as "thugs" in their profiles on the website.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/26
By: Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Taiwan has the 15th-highest incidence of lung cancer in the world and the second-highest in Asia, with the rate among women ranked eighth-highest in the world, according to a report released Tuesday by the Formosa Cancer Foundation.

According to the World Health Organization's 2018 global statistics, lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, with an incidence of 22.5 per 100,000 people.

Taiwan has an incidence of 36 per 100,000 people, second only in Asia to North Korea at 36.2 per 100,000 people, foundation deputy chief executive Tsai Li-chuan (蔡麗娟) said at a press conference to mark Lung Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed in November.

About 10,000 people die of lung cancer each year in Taiwan, Tsai said, adding that the disease does not always produce symptoms until the later stages, which means it has a low rate of survival.
[FULL  STORY8]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 25 November, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

A flock drone formation showing off the Jadeite Cabbage[/caption] The Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum has put on a light show using drones in an attempt to attract more visitors. The display is part of a drone competition being held island-wide through the end of November.

This is the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum in Chiayi County, southern Taiwan. Just outside the museum, flock drones take flight in the dark of the night, lighting up in formation. Viewers on the ground are treated to familiar images of objects like the treasured Jadeite Cabbage from the museum’s northern branch in Taipei.

This is just one of the many things the southern branch is doing to try and attract visitors. Between June 1 and August 31 of this year, the museum offered free admission on weekends and national holidays. Residents of Chiayi can also get in for free.    [FULL  STORY]