This weekend in Taipei was a nonstop one- constantly following my mother and uncle around to their various daily appointments. We were there to share my uncle's last weekend in Taipei before he returns to Canada.
There were fascinating discussions on heady topics:
Whether Taiwan is a U.S. territory and what that could mean for the sovereignty of Taiwan? For more on this argument click here .
Brainstorming ideas for a documentary film project focused Taiwan, but also bringing Canada into the fold of the story (Put your money where your mouth is: funding for this pending project is expected to come from Canada, but first a concept and proposal need to be drawn up)
The next generation of rising Taiwanese women human rights activists
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A silent protest of China's "Anti-Secession Law"
The protest was initiated by one of Taiwan's oldest independence activists, the author of "400 Years of Taiwan's History", 86 year old Su Ming. He and other like-minded supporters have been sitting in front of the main entrance of Tai Da University in Taipei daily, from 9:00am-12:00 midnight since Tuesday, March 15 and will continue until Saturday, March 26. For more about Su Ming you can check out his website (which is in Mandarin Chinese, but includes a link to an abridged English translation of the "400 Years of Taiwan's History").
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Visits and dinners with family...
Some close and distant in relation, some frequently contacted, others seldom visited, but amazingly, with all of them I felt an instantly warm, unpretentious rapport... the kind where you tell it like it is, really speak your mind, laugh at yourselves, help yourself in the kitchen, and get down to the "good stuff"- like talking about what's up with those "bad apple" relatives who are such a disgrace to the family...
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And of course amidst this flurry of activity I also found time for get togethers with some of my dear friends in Taipei- both old and new!
As we ran from one meeting to the next one at a SOGO department store, we got stuck in traffic. The SOGO department store we were headed for was right on the route of a protest that day, Saturday, March 19, 2005 - so we got an eyeful of the procession of protestors who passed by the front of the department store.
One year after President Chen Shui-bian was shot, on the eve of Taiwan's 2004 Presdidential election, it was amazing to see the thousands of people who turned out in Taipei to protest the suspicious circumstances of the shooting and to question the legitimacy of President Chen's re-election.
There were fascinating discussions on heady topics:
Whether Taiwan is a U.S. territory and what that could mean for the sovereignty of Taiwan? For more on this argument click here .
Brainstorming ideas for a documentary film project focused Taiwan, but also bringing Canada into the fold of the story (Put your money where your mouth is: funding for this pending project is expected to come from Canada, but first a concept and proposal need to be drawn up)
The next generation of rising Taiwanese women human rights activists
========================================================
A silent protest of China's "Anti-Secession Law"
The protest was initiated by one of Taiwan's oldest independence activists, the author of "400 Years of Taiwan's History", 86 year old Su Ming. He and other like-minded supporters have been sitting in front of the main entrance of Tai Da University in Taipei daily, from 9:00am-12:00 midnight since Tuesday, March 15 and will continue until Saturday, March 26. For more about Su Ming you can check out his website (which is in Mandarin Chinese, but includes a link to an abridged English translation of the "400 Years of Taiwan's History").
========================================================
Visits and dinners with family...
Some close and distant in relation, some frequently contacted, others seldom visited, but amazingly, with all of them I felt an instantly warm, unpretentious rapport... the kind where you tell it like it is, really speak your mind, laugh at yourselves, help yourself in the kitchen, and get down to the "good stuff"- like talking about what's up with those "bad apple" relatives who are such a disgrace to the family...
========================================================
And of course amidst this flurry of activity I also found time for get togethers with some of my dear friends in Taipei- both old and new!
As we ran from one meeting to the next one at a SOGO department store, we got stuck in traffic. The SOGO department store we were headed for was right on the route of a protest that day, Saturday, March 19, 2005 - so we got an eyeful of the procession of protestors who passed by the front of the department store.
One year after President Chen Shui-bian was shot, on the eve of Taiwan's 2004 Presdidential election, it was amazing to see the thousands of people who turned out in Taipei to protest the suspicious circumstances of the shooting and to question the legitimacy of President Chen's re-election.
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