A protest has been filed by Taiwan’s Government Information Office, as well as the production company ARS. Jimmy Huang, producer of Seediq Bale, said: “It’s a pure Taiwan-made film and not a film made by Taiwan in cooperation with China ….”

There has been a history of the national status of a film becoming part of the diplomatic interchange. Similar protests emerged when Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution was listed under “Taiwan, China” at Venice in 2007. In 2010, the Shanghai film festival was forced to cancel plans for a Taipei Film Week after the Taiwanese organisers showed concern that films be described as from “Taiwan, China” – in effect, implying Taiwan is part of China, rather than an independent entity ….

It’s possible the “China” may have arisen after the participation of Hong Kong film-maker John Woo as executive producer. Woo is overseeing an “international cut”, drawn from the film’s two-part, four-and-a-half-hour running time.

However, Ann Hui’s ‘Taojie’, also among the competing films, is listed as from “China-Hong Kong, China“. Woo’s involvement would therefore presumably have led to a “China-Hong Kong, Taiwan” designation, rather than the actual “China, Taiwan“. (The festival’s listing uses commas to separate entrants’ multiple countries of origin, e.g. “Israel, Germany” or “France, Belgium, Germany”; if China wished to take counteroffence, it might start there.)

While no films from mainland China will be competing at the festival, Chinese brands have been storming multiplex screens elsewhere, with increasingly prominent product placement. From The Telegraph:

Transformers 3, a summer blockbuster, was the latest movie to see a host of Chinese brands pay for the right to place their products on screen. At least four Chinese brands were among the 68 companies who paid to have their products featured in the film ….

Spokesmen for the various brands said the decision to advertise through the Transformers film was part of an attempt to branch out into foreign markets. With companies such as Apple now finding a firm foothold on Chinese soil, and indeed now outselling the likes of Lenovo, Chinese companies are increasingly diversifying their markets.

However, other commentators suggested that the brands had used the Transformers movie, which is hugely popular in China, to boost their standing on the mainland. According to the Economic Observer newspaper, while Chinese are loath to see product placement in their domestic television series, they enjoy watching Chinese brands in international movies because of a sense of patriotism.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ang Lee, cinema, Taipei, Taiwan culture, Taiwan independence, venice biennale, venice film festival
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The original Palace Museum in Beijing was split in two — its staff as well as its collection — in 1949, when the Nationalist government fell to the Communists and retreated to the island of Taiwan with thousands of supporters and a huge cargo of museum pieces.

For decades there has been debate about ownership of the divided treasures. But in recent years the two museums have begun to collaborate on exhibitions in a stunning show of cross-Strait cooperation. On the scholars’ journey this summer, the talk was not of unification but of shared history and of a common desire to understand the remarkable events that both preserved the treasures and eventually led to their division.

“We had a rough idea of how things happened, but we didn’t know the details,” said Li Wenru, deputy director at the Palace Museum in Beijing. “But we knew it was a miracle that in wartime over a million treasures were moved 10,000 kilometers, on roads, in water, by air, and nothing was lost.”

The museum staff members who protected the artifacts on that 16-year odyssey, hiding them in bunkers, caves, temples, warehouses and even private homes, have all died. But some of their children were invited to participate in this year’s trip.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing Palace Musuem, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, history, National Palace Museum, Taiwan culture
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The decision is unlikely to end controversy over a case in which China appears to have used its growing economic clout in Taiwan to influence the island’s free-wheeling cultural scene. China “resolutely opposes” the showing of the film, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Sunday. It quoted a spokesman from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office as urging “concerned parties” in Kaohsiung “not to stir up troubles on cross-straits relations.”

Kaohsiung’s tourism industry also isn’t happy that the film will be screened. “It is regretful that the city government is still showing the movie,” said Tseng Fu-hsing, chairman of the Kaohsiung Tourism Association, who had urged the city not to include the film on the festival program.

He said the industry has come to rely on Chinese tourists during the economic downturn and that as many as 20%, or several thousand, reservations from the mainland may be affected. “We now hope the Chinese government doesn’t do anything to hurt us. We did our best. We really have nothing to do with the event,” Mr. Tseng said.

Read also about China’s efforts to ban dissident writers from the Frankfurt Book Fair, via CDT.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: exporting censorship, Kaohsiung Film Festival, Rebiya Kadeer, Taiwan culture
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Chu Teh-yung. Photo courtesy of the AP

Chu Teh-yung or Ronald Chu, a cartoonist from Taiwan, is getting recognition in mainland China with a new museum built in his honor, despite the tensions between Taiwan and China. From The Yomiuri Shimbun:

Late last month, the city of Hangzhou in eastern China signed a contract with Chu Teh-yung to build a museum celebrating his accomplishments. The ultramodern structure, scheduled to open in 2010, is to be the centerpiece of a sprawling animation complex that will also include artist workshops and luxury hotels.

His success reflects two shifts: a narrowing social gap between the mainland and wealthier Taiwan, as Chinese move up the economic ladder, and Beijing’s gradual easing of limits on cultural expression.

The 49-year-old cartoonist also steers clear of political themes. That’s somewhat unusual in Taiwan, which is known for its hotly contested, even divisive politics. But it’s a winning approach in mainland China, where the one-party, authoritarian government brooks little dissent.

© jleung for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cartoonists, Chu Teh-yung, Taiwan culture
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Because of the arbitrariness of police action and how unclear the rules about what constitutes a violation of the law have become, “we don’t know what to expect. We don’t know if we’ll be arrested.”

For many of them, such police action is new, as they were too young to remember when the nation was still under martial law.

“Look at the [anti Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)] demonstrations by the ‘Red Shirts’ last year,” one said. “They were allowed to demonstrate for months, to camp at [Taipei Main Station] and the police didn’t bother them.”

…

“We’re pretty pessimistic,” another said. “Maybe some of us want to be arrested. It feels like it’s martial law all over again. Perhaps what the Ma government is doing by cracking down on dissent and freedom of speech is preparing the terrain” for a Taiwan that is part of China.

In addition, Ma has also been accused of playing media favorites by only allowing certain media outlets to attend certain events. A group of pro-independence activists even inaugurated the Taiwanese Youth Anti-Communist National Salvations Corps who are worried about the direction Taiwan’s democracy is headed.

© jwu for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Taiwan culture
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Mao Zedong may have failed to conquer Taiwan, but this Monday, he will achieve a posthumous landing on the island, on the face of Chinese bank notes.

As part of comprehensive financial liberalization measures announced Thursday, Taiwan will allow the conversion of the yuan into Taiwanese dollars in banks across the island that Beijing still considers a renegade province.

It will be the first time that Chinese bank notes, many of which display Mao’s visage, will be officially available in Taiwan.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mao Zedong, Taiwan culture
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Taiwan is considering abandoning its long-standing policy of recognizing Mandarin Chinese as the island’s only official language, the premier said Tuesday, in a move that would likely anger rival China.

Su Tseng-chang said the Cabinet is examining a draft for a “National Language Development Act” to promote the use of local dialects and prohibit linguistic discrimination. “Taiwan is a plural society, and all languages should have equal standing and be respected and supported,” Su said, indicating an intention to confer equal status on the Taiwanese dialect of Chinese, as well as Hakka, another Chinese dialect.

Such a move would likely be renounced by Beijing, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes any efforts by the island’s leadership to loosen cultural and other bonds. [Full Text]

© Patricia Kim for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: language, mandarin, Taiwan culture
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After four years of renovations that closed two-thirds of the building, the museum housing the world’s most famous collection of Chinese art is reopening this winter and holding a three-month exhibition of its rarest works.

The National Palace Museum, home to the best of the 1,000-year-old art collection of China’s emperors, is often compared to leading Western institutions like the Louvre, the Prado and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But while this museum’s holdings are magnificent, the institution has been known for being a highly politicized place where priceless porcelain sat in poorly lit display cases and where invaluable paintings were kept in a damp manmade cave for fear of Communist attack from mainland China.

That has now changed. Heroic statues of Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan’s former leader, and of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China, have been banished. New lighting, air-conditioning, climate-controlled storage vaults and other features rival the newest museums in the West. Even the wall labels attached to the artwork are now written in clear and specific Chinese, English and Japanese.[Full Text]

© Mo Ming for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: National Palace Museum, Taiwan culture
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Cloud Gate Dance Theatre(云门舞集), the legendary Taiwanese company, returns to Melbourne this week with its much feted Songs of the Wanderers, the work that is closest to the heart of its founder, Lin Hwai-min.

“It’s a very special work,” Lin says. “It marks the turning point of my life and creative career.”

Speaking from Taipei, the founder, artistic director and choreographer of Cloud Gate says he never tires of this work. His only regret is that he’s not returning to Melbourne with his company, which won several awards at the 2003 Melbourne Arts Festival. [Full Text]

© Sophia Cao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: arts, dance, music, Taiwan culture
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