Summer Universiade, Indigenous Rights, Paralyzed Painter: Taiwan Uniquely

Summer Universiade Gets Underway in Taipei

• The long-anticipated Summer Universiade 2017 finally gets underway in Taipei this weekend. With over 8000 athletes from more than 140 regions and countries participating, Summer Universiade marks the biggest international event that Taiwan has ever hosted.
• As the host country, Taiwan put together a delegation of 371 athletes, its biggest ever, and Lin De-Fu, the Director General of Taiwan’s Sports Administration, estimates that Taiwan could win around 11 gold medals, a record-breaking goal.
• More than 320,000 tickets to 22 different sporting competitions have been sold, and all opening and closing ceremony tickets are sold out. Can Taiwan break its Universiade record this year at home?

Recognizing Indigenous Rights or Making Them Second-Class Citizens?

• The Presidential Office announced on August 17th that the Executive Yuan has proposed amendments to the Indigenous Rights Act, extending the recognition of indigenous identities to the pingpu indigenous peoples, roughly meaning people with indigenous ancestry but has been assimilated by Han migrants long ago .
• The Presidential office claims the draft bill fulfills President Tsai’s promise to respect pingpu indigenous tribes’ self-recognition and is a significant progress towards historical justice.
• However, pingpu indigenous rights groups pointed out that while the draft bill creates a new legal category for the pingpu peoples, it does not detail the rights for this new category. This, the groups argued, could spark potential conflicts and fears between indigenous peoples of different categories.

An Artist’s 45 Degree View of the World

• A paralyzed artist finally fulfilled his lifelong dream when his art exhibition kicked off in Taipei on August 15. A car accident 23 years ago changed Jin Gen-Hong’s life forever. Apart from his wrists, he was paralyzed from the neck down. After his parents came across the story of a paralyzed painter, they decided to encourage Jin to learn painting. After unsuccessful attempts in the beginning, Jin was introduced to artist Shen Ting-Wei, and began to learn painting with him.
• After years of hard work, Jin finally masters the art of painting and is now about to introduce himself to the world through his exhibition. According to an interview he gave in 2016, he plans to keep painting until he can no longer move any part of his body.

Tainan’s Night Time Glamour

• We took a tour through Tainan’s historic sites and learn about why Tainan is the perfect place to witness Taiwan’s architectural traditions. This week, we take a trip through Tainan’s glamorous nightlife with Taipei Love Notes.