Book Showing Ancient Austronesian Motifs Used in Contemporary Products

This book can be purchased at the Taiwan Shop across from National Taiwan University in Taipei.

Greatly inspiring story...

A free Taiwan continues to be a nation of innovation.

This from the Taipei Times, October 9, 2013:

"A local biotechnology company in Greater Taichung on Monday said it has developed paper cups that are resistant to high temperatures, acid and alkaline solutions...

...Chang Ching-wen (張靜文), the owner of a paper cup manufacturing company, has conducted research and development on high temperature, acid and alkaline-resistant paper cups.

Since traditional paper cups provide no resistance to high temperatures, acid or alkaline, many people inadvertently consume plasticizer released from the cups when the liquid they contain is too hot, Chang said...

...The cups can be placed in a microwave and are also acid and alkaline-resistant. They are 40 percent lighter than ordinary paper cups and their decomposition rate can exceed 97 percent. Chang said the cup has obtained patents from up to 100 countries and received SGS and US Food and Drug Administration certifications."

Read more...

Looks like a good healthy environmentally responsible product. (So different from what you get across the strait.)

Countering brainwashing

From the Taipei Times, August 16. Note that at the end of the article a different case is cited where an Austronesian singer was pressured into saying that she is from China, Taipei, Pingtung County.  How can an Austronesian verbally give up Taiwan, THE AUSTRONESIAN HOMELAND, to Chinese in China?  Answer:  brainwashing by the KMT derived education system in Taiwan.
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Dancers proud of national identity

By Wang Jung-hsiang and Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer.

China’s rise has attracted an increasing number of Taiwanese entertainers and businesspeople to the world’s second-largest economy, and while some are willing to gain fame and fortune at the expense of their national identity, an 11-year-old professional ballroom dancer and her father say nothing is worth such sacrifice.

Cheng Yu-hsin (鄭玉歆) has been dubbed the “little ballroom dancing diva” after she staged a duo performance with her father, Cheng Chu-hung (鄭竹宏), also a professional ballroom dancer, on a Taiwanese talent show and bagged the championship.

Cheng Yu-hsin started learning ballroom dancing at the age of six and won her first medal at age eight.

Over the course of the past three years, the 11-year-old has added more than 200 medals to her list of accolades, including six gold medals at this year’s World Chinese Cup International Standard Dance Transnational Invitational.

However, the Chengs faced a crossroad in December last year when they were invited to perform in a Chinese talent show, China’s Got Talent (中國達人秀), in Shanghai.

“Everything had gone smoothly until a few minutes before my husband and daughter were supposed to go on stage,” Cheng Chu-hung’s wife, Huang Tzu-ling (黃子玲), said earlier this week.

“The show’s director and some staff suddenly asked them to say in the preview to their performance that they came from ‘China, Kaohsiung’ (中國高雄), otherwise the part featuring them could be edited out,” Huang said.

Huang added that the director also tried to persuade them by saying repeatedly that they stood a good chance of getting the judges’ approval and that they could even earn the opportunity to launch a performance tour.

Although making an appearance on the show would have guaranteed them a shot at fame, the father and daughter decided to follow their hearts and tell the live audience that “we come from Taiwan Kaohsiung,” Huang said.

Huang said the statement apparently displeased the program’s director and staff members, as of the four judges on the talent show — including Taiwanese singer Annie Yi (伊能靜), Hong Kong superstar Leon Lai (黎明) and two Chinese entertainers — only Yi gave the Chengs her approval, while one of them even blatantly told the pair that “he simply doesn’t want to give them his approval.”

“The incident involving Aboriginal Taiwanese singer Yeh Wei-ting’s (葉瑋庭) made me realize the predicaments faced by most Taiwanese entertainers wanting to make a name for themselves in China, but I’m glad I chose to stick to my beliefs,” Cheng Chu-hung said.

Cheng Chu-hung was referring to the controversial statement Yeh made last month on the Chinese talent show The Voice of China (中國好聲音), in which she said she came from “China Taipei Pingtung District” (中國台北屏東區).    August 16, 2013

Why it is important to preserve endangered languages

Taiwan Austronesian Choir in North American Concert Tour

This choir will be performing in San Diego on 8/10/2013 at 2 pm. Who wants to go hear them perform with us? 

8/10 SAT 2:00pm 
雅歌堂基督教會 
House of Praise Evangelical Church of San Diego 
511 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas, CA 92024

A much more accurate description of Taiwan's history than is in ROC Ministry of Education textbooks