Taiwan Soft Power
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Taiwan

                      Taiwan

 poor creativity, "soft" diplomacy  
　
♣  BBC (2023-10-16): A spooked and lonely Taiwan looks for new friends. Increasingly Taipei relied on its chequebook to hold on to a dwindling list of allies, mainly in the form of aid and investment. But today China's cheque book is bigger than Taiwan's.   Foreign Policy (2023-4-24): Taiwan Isn't Playing Dollar Diplomacy Anymore. Taipei can't outspend Beijing to win friends. But it's got other things going for it.  ABC News (Australia) in Sept. 2022 reported Taiwan was trying to reconnect with the world by Cultural creativity  -  films, etc.
　

♣  the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, 2023 Edition

Cultural Influence No.1 US , No.2 China, No.3 Japan, No.4 India, No.5 Australia,  No.6~No.12 Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Rus, Indonesia, Vietnam,  No.13 Taiwan (ROC)
Comprehensive Power  1.US, 2.Chn, 3.Japan, 4.India, 5. Rus, 6. Aus, 7. S. Korea, 8. Singapore, 9.Indonesia, 10.Thailand,  11.Malaysia, 12. Vietnam, 13. NZ, 14. Taiwan (ROC)
Diplomatic Influence   No.22 Taiwan (ROC), No.1 China, No.3 Japan, No.6 S. Korea, No.10  Singapore
Economic Relationships  No.12 Taiwan (ROC), No.1 China, No.3 Japan, No.4 Singapore,  No.5  S. Korea

power.lowyinstitute.org/countries/taiwan
　

　

 
pic. :  This website-group was ranked No.1  "Taiwan soft power" on Yandex of Russia, 2024-8-6, 2024-5-13, 2023-11-18, 2023-9-4
 "台灣軟實力"排名Yandex第 1, 2024-8-6, 2024-4-23, 2024-2-9, 2023-11-18


No.1  "Taiwan soft power" on Microsoft Bing at 2024-8-6,  2021-6-24, 12-3-2020, 9-5-2020

　

　

♣  ISSF's Global Soft Power Index 2023
Ranks countries ranks countries
1 US 14 Australia
2 France 15 Sweden
3 UK 16 Denmark
4 Japan 17 Norway
5 Germany 18 UAE
6 Swiss 19 Holland
7 S. Korea 20 Turkey
8 Spain 21 Belgium
9 Canada 22 Austria
10 China 23 Saudi Arabia
11 India 24 Finland
12 Singapore 25 Qatar
13 Italy img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/905bb114-a609-4bd0-a33b-dabe335781b0/downloads/ISSF-WSPI-2023-FINAL.pdf?ver=1692105020621
　
♣  THE WORLD'S TOP 20 SOFT POWER NATIONS IN 2023      04/15/2023
Association of Accredited Public Policy Advocates to the European Union
aalep.eu/world's-top-20-soft-power-nations-2023
Ranks country Ranks country
1 US  (74.8) 11 Sweden
2 UK (67.3) 12 Spain
3 Germany (65.8) 13 Russia
4 Japan (65.2) 14 Australia
5 China (65) 15 S. Korea
6 France 16 Nederland
7 Canasa 17 Norway
8 Swiss 18 Denmark
9 Italy 19 Saudi Arabia
10 UAE 20 Belgium
The Global Soft Power index  incorporates a broad range of measures, which in combination provide a balanced and holistic assessment of nation’s presence, reputation and impact on the world stage. These include familiarity, influence and reputation as well as performance on eight soft power pillars, including Business & trade, Governance, International Relations, Culture & Heritage, Media & Communications, Education Science, People & Values, Sustainable Future
　
　

♣ ISSF's  Global Entertainment & Media Penetration

ranks

countries
1 US
2 S. Korea
3 Japan
4 India
5 UK
6 France
7 Spain
8 Mexico
9 Turkey
10 Italy

♣ ISSF's Global Tourism
ranks countries
1 Spain
2 France
3 USA
4 Italy
5 Thailand
6 Swiss
7 Turkey
8 China
9 Germany
10 Australia

♣  AFP, 2023-11-26: after a Taiwanese director voiced support for the island's independence in an acceptance speech in 2018's  Golden Horse Film awards, There were no mainland films in the 2019 nomination list and several Hong Kong movies dropped out that year, while big commercial productions were conspicuously absent at both the 2020 and 2021 awards.

♣  Variety, 2023-11-26:  After Chinese industry to boycott Golden Horse, parts of the Hong Kong industry have stayed away too. Many Hong Kong film folks find themselves torn between the developing political and financial realities back home and Taiwan's indie-spirited film industry. Tsai's government has unveiled a succession of policies seemingly designed to use culture and entertainment to give the island territory a larger profile on the world stage.  It remains to be seen if more of the TAICCA-seeded projects come to fruition. And if Taiwan's film and TV companies are willing and able to fill the gap in the market created by Hong Kong's production slowdown and by mainland Chinese entertainment's inward turn of the past five years... brief msn.com/en-us/news/other/taiwan-drifts-towards-cultural-power-as-golden-horse-film-awards-cap-month-of-industry-activity/ar-AA1kvpBA  Patrick Frater

♣  Reuters (Filed: December 24, 2021, 8 a.m. GMT  reuters.com/investigates/special-report/taiwan-china-tsai/ ): Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is wielding a mixture of soft and hard power as she seeks to fend off a more assertive China under President Xi Jinping.   "Diplomatically, politically, and in the Sino-U.S. relationship, the two sides are at war", Senior KMT lawmaker Johnny Chiang says to Reuters,“This has not benefited Taiwan.”

♣  Taiwanese movies ranking:

On <IMDb>  "Greatest Chinese Movies of All Time" ,  only one Taiwanese movie 《Yi Yi》selected. Most winners are movies from Hong Kong and China.

　

♣  abc news (Australia), 2022-9-8: Amid China's military and diplomatic isolation, Taiwan turns to films and games to reconnect with the world.  Taiwan was still "in its early days" of building soft power.  While Taiwan's government had been aware of investing in soft power for a long time, there was a lack of coordinated strategy between different ministerial departments. "The DPP did put more of a focus on things like multiculturalism and democracy, whereas the KMT focuses a little bit more on the Chinese base to Taiwanese culture" ; In 2020, Taiwan reported $44.7 billion in revenue from its creative industry, with a 9.83 per cent increase in overseas sales on the previous year.  msn.com/en-au/news/australia/amid-chinas-military-and-diplomatic-isolation-taiwan-turns-to-films-and-games-to-reconnect-with-the-world/ar-AA11zOGi

 ♣ United Daily (Taiwan 經濟日報), 2022-12-21:  Taiwan's film industry has been fettered by politics , prosperity no longer exists.(影視作品受到政治羈絆，榮景已不復存焉)。udn.com/news/story/7338/6853439?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7338_pulldownmenu_v2

♣  Asia Nikkei (Japan), 2022-5-30: Taiwan makes soft power grab for Europe's Mandarin learners -  Push comes as China's Confucius Institutes face global headwinds.   asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Taiwan-makes-soft-power-grab-for-Europe-s-Mandarin-learners

♣  Taiwan Plus, 2022-12-21: Taiwan Aims To Match South Korea's Film and TV Success / Leading local media executives want to turn Taiwan into a film and TV powerhouse like South Korea to boost the country's soft power  msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/taiwan-aims-to-match-south-koreas-film-and-tv-success-taiwanplus-news/vi-AA15v4Y1?category=foryou
　

　
 pic. :  This website-group was ranked No.1  "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Yandex, 2024-5-13, 2024-2-9, 2023-11-18, 2023-9-4

　

    
● pic. left:  This websites group was ranked No.1  "Taiwan soft power" on Microsoft Bing at 2024-8-6,  2021-6-24, 12-3-2020, 9-5-2020;  No.2  "Taiwan soft power" on US Bing at 2023-9-4, 2022-12-12; No.3  "Taiwan soft power" at 2022-5-31; No.4 at 2022-10-9
● pic. right:   This websites group was ranked No.1 on US Bing  by keyword "Taiwan soft power" at  2021-6-23, 7-6-2020, 4-24-2020, 10-23-2019, 2-5-2019, 11-28-2018

　

         
● pic. left:   This websites group was ranked No.1 on Baidu of China by keyword "Taiwan soft power" at 2021-11-1, 2021-8-9, 2021-6-24,  2021-5-9, 2021-4-18, 12-3-2020
● pic. right:   This websites group was ranked No.1 on Baidu of China  by keyword "Taiwan cultural creativity" at 2021-11-1, 2021-8-9, 2021-6-24, 2021-5-9, 2021-4-18,  12-3-2020

　


 ●   No. 1  "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Google, 2021-11-1, 2021-8-9, 2021-6-24, 2021-5-9, 2021-4-18, 2-18-2021, Dec. 3, 2020; top 5 "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Google,  2022-5-31

　


● pic.:  This websites group was ranked No.1 on Yahoo search engine
 by keyword "Taiwan soft power" at  12-3-2020,  7-6-2020, 4-24-2020, 10-23-2019,  2-5-2019, 11-28-2018; No.2 at 2021-4-18

　


● pic.: No.1 "Taiwan soft power" on QWANT of France (most well-known French search engine), 7-6-2020

             
　
　
　

 Taiwan's soft power  vs.  Asia's soft power

 Generally speaking, Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's "world top 20" nations , including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE.     for details : click Soft Power
　

world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top 25~30 list		 comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries
Brand Finance -  Global soft power Index 2023 failed top 10 1. US, 2. UK, 3. Germany, 4. Japan, 5. China, 6. France, 7. Canada, 8. Swiss, 9. Italy, 10. UAE
ISSF's World Soft Power 2023 failed top 25 1. US, 2. France, 3. UK, 4. Japan, 5. Geramny, 6. Swiss, 7. S. Korea, 8. Spain, 9. Canada, 10. China, 11 India, 12. Singapore
2022 Monocle's
Soft Power survey		 failed top 10 1. US, 2. Denmark, 3. France, 4. S. Korea, 5. Swiss, 6. Japan, 7. Germany, 8. UK, 9. Italy, 10. Ukraine
Brand Finance -  Global soft power Index 2022 failed top 10 1. US, 2. UK, 3. Germany, 4. China, 5. Japan, 6. France, 7. Canada, 8. Swiss, 9. Russia, 10. Italy
ISSF's World Soft Power 2022 failed top 10 1. US 2. France, 3. Germany, 4. Japan, 5. UK, 6. Swiss, 7. Italy, 8. S. Korea, 9. Spain, 10. China,11.India,12. Sweden, 13. Canada, 14. Australia, 15. Denmark
Brand Finance -  Global soft power Index 2021 failed 1. Germany,  2. Japan, 3. UK, 4. Canada, 5. Swiss, 6. US, 7 France, 8. China, 9. Sweden, 10. Australia, 11. Korea, 12 Holland, 13.  Russia, 14. Norway, 15. Denmark, 16 NZ, 17. UAE, 18. Iceland,    19. Italia, 20. Singapore
US News: 2021 Best Countries Overall failed top 10 2. Japan,  5. Australia   7. New Zealand
2020 Brand Finance -  Global soft power Index ,
 top 60		 n/c https://brandirectory.com  No. 4 Japan, 5 China, 13 Aus,  14 Korea,  18 UAE,  20 Singapore,  22 NZ,  26 SA 27 India
 2019/2020 
Top 30 SOFT POWER by Portland		 failed No. 8 Japan, No.9  Australia, No. 17 New Zealand,  No. 19  S Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China
2021 Monocle's
Soft Power survey		 included 1. Germany, 2. S Korea, 3. France, 4. Japan, 5. Taiwan, 6. Swiss, 7. New Zealand 8. Sweden, 9. Greece, 10. Canada
2020 Best Countries Overall
 The Best Countries in the World		 n/c No.3 Japan, No.5  Australia, No. 11 New Zealand,
No. 15 China, No. 16 Singapore , No. 20  Korea,
No.22 UAE , No.25  India,  No. 26  Thailand,
No. 30  Qatar
2018/2019 Monocle's Soft Power survey failed No. 3 Japan, No.8  Australia, No. 11 New Zealand, No.15 Korea, No. 19 China,  No. 21  Singapore,  No. 25 India
2018/2019 Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy failed No.5 Japan, No. 10 Australia, No. 18 NZ, No. 20 S. Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China
2017/2018 Monocle's Soft Power survey failed No. 4 Japan, No.9 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.17 Korea, No. 19 China,  No. 22 Singapore, No. 24 India
2017/2018 Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy failed No.6. Japan,  No. 8. Australia,  18. NZ,  No. 20 Singapore, No. 21 S. Korea,  No. 25.  China
2016/2017 Monocle's
Soft Power survey		 failed No. 3 Japan, No.6 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.17 Korea, No. 20 China,  No. 23 Singapore, No. 24 India
2015/2016 Monocle's
 Soft Power survey		 failed No. 4 Japan, No.6 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.15 Korea, No. 21 China,  No. 23 Singapore
　

　
　

★  According to a survey of 2020, Singapore ranks No.1, Japan No.7, Korea No. 9 on "enterprise",  Japan ranks No. 5, China No.10 on "engagement", Korea ranks No. 5 on "digital", Japan ranks No.6, China No. 8 on "culture", No any Asian country ranks top 10 on "education" and "govt."
　

★ Best Countries overall in 2020:  1 Swiss 2 Canada 3 Japan  4 Germany  5  Australia  6  UK  7 USA  8 Sweden  9 Nederland  10  Norway  11 NZ  12 France  13 Denmark  14  Finland  15 China  16 Singapore  17  Italy  18  Austria  19 Spain  20  Korea  21  Luxembourg   22 UAE  23  Russia  24 Portugal  25  India  26  Thailand  27  Greece  28  Brazil  29  Israel  30  Qatar  31  Saudi Arabia   32 Malaysia   33 Mexico  34  Poland  35  Turkey


　
　 　

　

　

ISSF's World Soft Power Index 2022
Brand Recognition
1 USA
2 Japan
3 Germany
4 S. Korea
5 UK
6 France
7 Italy
8 Swiss
9 China
10 India

img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/905bb114-a609-4bd0-a33b-dabe335781b0/downloads/ISSF_s%20World%20Soft%20Power%20Index%202022.pdf?ver=1660547924817

ISSF's World Soft Power Index 2022
Entertainment & Media Penetration
1 USA
2 Japan
3 India
4 S. Korea
5 UK
6 France
7 Turkey
8 China
9 Italy
10 Spain

img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/905bb114-a609-4bd0-a33b-dabe335781b0/downloads/ISSF_s%20World%20Soft%20Power%20Index%202022.pdf?ver=1660547924817

　

Brookings (https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/increasing-soft-power-is-a-low-cost-high-return-strategy-for-taiwan/
)  1-22-2018:  Increasing “soft power” is a low-cost, high-return strategy for Taiwan,  “soft power ”— may prove every bit as valuable for strengthening Taiwan’s standing over the long run.  The Diplomat 10-5-2020 (https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/us-presidential-elections-2020-the-taiwan-factor/) advises that Taiwan’s strategic calculus could double down on its use of soft power,  e.g., Taiwan made its donations quietly to avoid Beijing’s ire.   Financial Times (UK) 12-3-2020: Anxious Taiwan launches US charm offensive to win Biden’s backing.  This is sort of soft power applications.  The Diplomat, 2021-4-30 (thediplomat.com/2021/04/how-the-biden-administration-can-support-taiwan/): Taiwan’s soft power is one of its greatest strengths...makes Taiwan a formidable opponent.  Lowy Institute (Australia), 2021-4-30:  The next phase of the New Southbound Policy should focus on the opportunities with South Asia, particularly in the soft-power and education areas; The complementarity between Taiwan and India is obvious . (lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/taiwan-renewing-southbound-vision) .   Bloomberg 11-2-2020: Women Are Leading Taiwan’s Public Relations War Against China. Taipei’s representative in U.S. makes use of soft-power edge. The women running Taiwan are looking to boost a soft-power edge over Beijing and promote an inclusive democratic system. (www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-01/women-are-leading-taiwan-s-public-relations-war-against-china?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google) Washington Post, 5-20-2020: There's a limit to what this soft power can achieve ...  Taiwan was unable to compete with China's economic and political clout, Taiwan has seen its already small list of diplomatic backers diminish ...  Apple Daily, editorial, 10-3-2020: Taiwan president Tsai said "The power of design is the nation's power".  From today on, "design" is no longer just an actor, but a "leading actor".  Hope so !   https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20201003/Y3KEHXF4CRDRLJNNY2ZOJUMZ3I/
How is Taiwan's soft power ?? 
Till 2020, Taiwan has not been included in Portland (PR company Portland Communication) or USC ( University of Southern California.) Soft Power survey ranking list, which values each country's "enterprise",  "engagement",  "digital",  "culture",  "education" and "govt.".  We can say Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's top 30 nations , including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE, etc.   In 2019/2020, Asian's winning countries include No. 8 Japan, No.9  Australia, No. 17 New Zealand,  No. 19  S Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China.  In 2018, Asian countries Japan(No.5), S. Korea(20), Singapore(21), China(27) won top 30 .  The world top 30 are 1. UK, 2. France, 3. Germany, 4. US, 5. Japan, 6~30 are Canada, Swiss, Sweden, Nederland, Australia, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Austria, NZ, Ireland, S Korea, Singapore,   Portugal, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Czech, China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina.  Another survey, the UK based Monocle's Soft Power Survey ranks nations according to their culture, politics, business, diplomacy and education rather than their financial or military power, drawing on US academic Joseph Nye's notion of applying power by persuasion and attraction rather than coercion or force.  Taiwan always failed Monocle prior to 2019.

In recent years, Taiwan volunteers to be America's tool or pawn whatever to frustrate and contain China in exchange of some political benefit, therefore some westerners may give better score to Taiwan's "soft power" in politics and diplomacy, in spite of Taiwan's average performance on high education and bad cultural creativity.  ( ref. to The LOWY Institute, a think tank in Australia, 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan’s security )
　

2019/2020  THE SOFT POWER by Portland

　
1  France 16 Austria
2 UK 17 New Zealand
3 Germany 18 Belgium
4 Sweden 19 Korea
5 USA 20 Ireland
6 Swiss 21  Singapore
7 Canada 22 Portugal
8  Japan 23 Poland 
9 Australia 24 Czech
10 Nederland 25 Greece
11 Italia 26    Brazil
12 Norway 27    China
13 Spain 28    Hungary
14 Denmark 29    Turkey
15 Finland 30    Russia

In 2010, Dr. Joseph Nye said hard & soft power enable Taiwan to deal with China and expand its international space. (Dec. 8, 2010)   In 2010 Annette Lu, former vice-president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), advocated the ROC's use of soft power as a model for the resolution of international conflicts.  However, in 2013 a series of food safety scandals in Taiwan has hurt consumer confidence, and now there are worries they could dent the island's economic growth and damage tourism (BBC, 11.19.2013).  Food safety issues continue till 2018.   USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 4-20-2018:●the justice ministry was insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated investigations of politicians.  According to Taiwan's national Chung Cheng university survey 2-23-2016, about 80% Taiwanese don't believe the impartiality of Taiwan's judiciary (prosecutors and judges).     At Jan. 29, 2015,  Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je in <Foreign Policy> commented Taiwanese democracy: "Does Taiwan have democracy? Real democracy means politics belongs to the people. Taiwanese politics belongs to corporations and is controlled by political parties".   

Economist, EIU, THE GLOBAL LIVEABILITY INDEX 2022

Biggest movers down the ranking in the past 12 month

Taipei (Taiwan) ranks world No. 53 

　 City Location Rank Index Rank Move Index Move
1 Wellington New Zealand 50  85.7  -46  -8.0
2 Auckland New Zealand   34  89.2 -33  -6.8
3 Adelaide Australia 30  90.7 -27 -3.3
8 Taipei Taiwan  53 85.1 -20  1.2
　

 
 world's most livable cities  ... includes Taiwan ?

Till 2020, Taiwan has not been included in the top ranking list of the world's most livable cities 
　
world's most livable cities
world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top list		 comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries
EIU's Global Liveability Ranking 2022 failed top 10 1. Vienna 2. Copenhagen 3. Zurich 4. Calgary 5. Vancouver 6. Geneva 7. Frankfurt 8. Toronto 9. Amsterdam 10. Osaka
The World's Best Cities to Live In 2022 failed top 10 1. London, 2. Tokyo, 3. Shanghai, 4. Singapore, 5. Melbourne, 6. Sydney, 7. Paris, 8. Beijing, 9. NY, 10. Amsterdam
The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking   2021 failed top 10 　
The World's Best Cities to Live In 2020 failed top 10 1. Tokyo Japan, 3. Singapore, 5. Melbourne Australia, 8 Seoul Korea, 10. Sydney Australia
Monocle's Quality of Life survey 2021 9 Taipei 1. Denmark, 2. Swiss, 3. Helsinki, Finland, 4. Stockholm Sweden, 5. Tokyo, Japan, 6. Vienna  7 Lisbon, 8. Auckland, 9 Taipei, 10. Sydney
 The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking   2019  failed in the top 50 No.2  Melbourne,  No.3  Sydney,  No.4 Osaka (Japan), No. 7 Tokyo,  No.10  Adelaide,  No.12 Auckland (NZ),   No.15 Wellington (NZ),   18 Brisbane  (Aus) ,    No. 38 Hong Kong,  No. 40 Singapore,   No.57  Seoul (Korea),  Taipei behind   
Monocle's Quality of Life survey 2019 failed in the top list

https://monocle.com/film/affairs/quality-of-life-survey-top-25-cities-2019/

 No.2 Tokyo (Japan),  No.11 Melbourne (Australia), No.13 Sydney,  No.16 Hong Kong,  No.17 Kyoto (Japan),  No.21 Auckland (NZ), No.22 Fukuoka (Japan),  23 Brisbane  25 Singapore
Deutsche Bank Liveability Survey
not included in the top list https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RPS_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000494405/Mapping_the_world%27s_prices_2019.pdf
　		 No. 2 Wellington (NZ),    No. 7 Melbourne ( Australia ),  No.10 Sydney,   No.14 Tokyo  No.16 Auckland (NZ),  No.17 Dubai (UAE), No. 23 Singapore,   No. 26 Saudi Arabia Riyadh,  No. 29 Seoul (Korea),  No. 33 India Bangalore,  No. 39 Malaysia  Kuala Lumpur,   44 Hong Kong,   46 India Delhi,  No. 48   Shanghai (China), No. 55 Beijing
Safe Cities Index (SCI)  2019,   EIU (Economist UK), NEC failed in the top 20 No.1  Tokyo, No.2  Singapore, No.3 Osaka (Japan),  No.5 Sydney (Aus), No. 8 Seoul (Korea), No10 Melbourne, No. 20 Hong Kong 　
ArchDaily / The World's Most Livable Cities in 2019 failed in the top 20 No. 3. Auckland, New Zealand, 11. Sydney, Australia,  No.15. Wellington, New Zealand , No.17. Melbourne, Australia  
 The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking   2018  failed in the top 50 No.2 Melbourne (Australia),  No.3  Osaka (Japan),  No. 7  Tokyo (Japan) ,  No.10       Adelaide  (Australia),   No.12 Auckland (NZ)    Wellington (NZ) ... ... (omitted),  Taipei 58
 The EIU's Global Liveability Index Ranking   2017  failed in the top 50  No.1  Melbourne,  No. 5  Adelaide,  No. 7  Perth,
No. 8 Auckland (NZ),  No.11 Sydney,  No.13  Tokyo,  No.  14  Osaka,  No.16 Brisbane,   No. 20 Wellington (NZ),  No. 35 Singapore,  No.45  Hong Kong,  No.58  Seoul (Korea),  No.60   Taipei  


EIU (Economist UK)'s  Global Liveability Index evaluates stability, healthcare, culture&environment,  education,   Infrastructure

　

 US News & World Report 2021,  Asian countries' world influence top 30 rankings  
Cultural Influence No.5  Japan   No. 7  S Korea   11. China  12. UAE   15. Singapore  16. Australia   19. NZ  22. Thailand    25. India Cutting-edge centers of art, entertainment and fashion
Quality of Life 6. Australia   10. NZ   13. Japan  16. Singapore  18. S Korea   23. China   24. UAE    28. Malaysia   29. Thailand Through all phases of life, these countries treat their citizens well
Heritage 6. India   7. Thailand    10. Japan   12 China   23. Australia  25. Vietnam  26. Indonesia   28. NZ A deep vein of history courses through these countries
Adventure 5. Thailand   7. NZ   8. Australia  17. Philippines   18. Singapore  25. Malaysia  28. Japan popular travel destinations to fulfill your wanderlust
Agility 2. Australia   5. Singapore  6. S Korea   7. Japan   9. NZ  13. China  21. UAE   27. Qatar  30. India adaptable, dynamic, modern, progressive, responsive
Open for business 6. NZ   11. Malaysia  12. Australia   14. Singapore   17. Thailand   20. Sri Lanka   21. Vietnam   22. Indonesia   25. Philippines  26. Japan market-oriented countries
Social Purpose 1. Canada  2. Denmark  3. NZ   4. Sweden  5 Nederland  6. Norway   7. Finland  8. Australia  9 Swisss   10. Austria   11. Germany  12. Belgium   13. Ireland  14. UK  15. France  16. Portugal  17. Italy  18. Spain   19. US   20. Japan Residents of certain countries can often come together to support certain causes they feel strongly about: human rights, the environment and  freedom
www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/influence-rankings

　

In 2007, Yale published a book ""Charm offensive: How China's soft power is transforming the world".    Taiwan also stated "Taiwan is small, but our 'soft power' is big ! " , "Culture makes Taiwan great ! "
The true answer is : Taiwan's soft power needs to be improved  !

Monocle's soft power survey:

2018/2019 Monocle's Soft Power survey

1  France 16 Nederland
2 Germany 17 Finland
3 Japan 18 Norway
4 Canada 19 China
5 Swiss 20 Belgium
6 UK 21  Singapore
7 Sweden 22 Ireland
8 Australia 23 Austria 
9 USA 24 India
10 Portugal 25 Brasil
11 New Zealand ps: Asia & Pacific countries marked
12 Italia
13 Spain
14 Denmark
15 Korea

　

2017/2018 Monocle's Soft Power survey

1 Canada 16 Nederland
2 Germany 17 Korea
3 France 18 Finland
4 Japan 19 China
5 UK 20 Belgium
6 Swiss 21 Austria
7 USA 22  Singapore
8 Sweden 23 Ireland
9 Australia 24 India
10 Italia 25 Brasil
11 Denmark ps: Asia & Pacific countries marked
12 Portugal
13 New Zealand
14 Spain
15 Norway

　

2016/2017 Monocle's Soft Power survey

1 USA 16 Norway
2 Germany 17 Korea
3 Japan 18 Finland
4 UK 19 Brasil
5 France 20 China
6 Australia 21 Austria
7 Canada 22 Belgium
8 Sweden 23 Singapore
9 Swiss 24 India
10 Danmark 25 Poland
11 Italy ps: Asia & Pacific countries marked
12 Spain
13 New Zealand
14 Holland
15 Portugal

★

2015/2016 Monocle's Soft Power survey
1 Germany 16 Norway
2 USA 17 Austria
3 UK 18 Finland
4 Japan 19 Portugal
5 France 20 Belgium
6 Australia 21 China
7 Sweden 22 Brazil
8 Swiss 23 Singapore
9 Danish 24 Poland
10 Canada 25 Turkey
11 Spain 　
12 Italy
13 New Zealand
14 Holland (Neitherland)
15 Korea

Taiwan is not included in soft power survey as well as 2015/2016 Quality of Life survey.

　

2014/2015 Monocle's Soft Power survey
1 USA 16 Norway
2 Germany 17 Finland
3 UK 18 Belgium
4 Japan 19 China (better than 2013/2014)
5 France 20 Austria
6 Australia 21 Ireland
7 Swiss 22 Brazil
8 Sweden 23 Singapore
9 Danish 24 Portugal
10 Canada 25 Poland
11 Spain 26 Turkey
12 Italy 27 Mexico
13 Holland 28 Greece
14 New Zealand 29 Russia
15 Korea 30 Argentina

Taiwan is not included in soft power survey as well as 2014/2015 Quality of Life survey ―  No any city in Taiwan is included in the list, some cities in Asia are ranking top, those are No.2 (Japan Tokyo)  No.3(Australia Melbourne), 9(Japan Kyoto), 10 (Japan Fukuoka), 11(Australia Sydney ), 12(NZ Auckland), 13 (Hong Kong), 16 (Singapore), No.25 (Australia Brisbane)
◎

2013 Monocle's Soft Power rankings
No. countries ranks in 2012
1 Germany 3
2 UK 1
3 USA 2
4 France 4
5 Japan 6
6 Sweden 5
7 Australia 9
8 Swiss 8
9 Canada 10
10 Italy 14
ps:
     The Guardian, UK (6.19.2013) : ...Over the last few years, China has attempted to salve its soft power angst with hard cash, pouring money and manpower into the movie industry, the culture-promoting Confucius Institute and the foreign-language output of state broadcaster CCTV. ...Last year, the outgoing Chinese president, Hu Jintao, wrote an essay bemoaning his country's poor performance in the cultural arms race. "We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernising and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration," he wrote, somewhat dramatically, adding "the international culture of the west is strong while we are weak."
◎

 2012 Monocle's soft power rankings

  2011Monocle's soft power rankings
1 UK 11 Korea 1 USA 11 Norway
2 USA 12 Norway 2 UK 12 Denmark
3 Germany 13 Finland 3 France 13 Spain
4 France 14 Italy 4 Germany 14 S Korea
5 Sweden 15 Netherlands 5 Australia 15 Finland,
6 Japan 16 Spain 6 Sweden 16 Italy
7 Denmark 17 Brazil 7 Japan 17 New Zealand
8 Swiss 18 Austria 8 Swiss 18 Austria
9 Australia 19 Belgium 9 Canada 19 Belgium
10 Canada 20 Turkey 10 Netherlands 20 China
ps: In 2012 China soft power fell to no. 22,
      in 2011 China - it's a matter of freedom and control - and the scales are out of balance.
      In 2012, Britain ousts the U.S. as world's most influential nation: Country tops rankings for 'soft power'
◎◎

 2010 Monocle's soft power rankings
1 France 14 Norway
1 UK 15 Japan
3 USA 16 Italy
4 Germany 17 China
5 Swiss 18 Israel
6 Sweden 19 Korea
7 Denmark 20 S. Africa
8 Australia 21 Brazil
9 Finland 22 Mexico
10 Netherlands 23 India
11 Spain 24 UAE
12 Canada 25 Turkey
13 Singapore 26 Russia

According to Monocle's soft power survey, each top-20 country has its special or stronger part, e.g., Korea soft power - A wizz with technology and now the pop powerhouse of Asia,  Japan soft power - Goodwill to all Japanese , thanks largely to a dynamic pop culture, Australia - Smart thinking has added to vast natural reserves of soft power, and China - Chinese government's continuing poor treatment of artist Ai who was prevented from travelling outside the country despite his growing global popularity and a successful year, USA -  continues to lead the world in investment in world food and health initiatives, plus tackling climate change, but it's military reputation of 2012 was further tarnished following reports of secret drone attacks in Pakistan, and its overseas occupations and unmanned drone strikes, plus an insular outlook during the recent election, lost the US its top spot..

　    In world media's eyes, Taiwan is  ~ 　
　 　


◆ "a conduit (tool)"  /    The LOWY Institute( think tank in Australia ) , 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan’s security... and then the United States abandons Taiwan to deal with the consequences.

◆  "a dog under control"  /  Eurasian Times  7-9-2020: The Tsai authority ... turns to Washington and is willing to be used.  Taiwan Now Under ‘Deep Control’ Of The US.

◆ "meat on chopping blocks" /  New York Times , 9-18-2020: Taiwan has become completely dependent on the United States,... Many people are saying that Taiwan has become the meat on others’ chopping blocks”

◆  "human bomb"  /  Global Times, 9-8-2020: US sets Taiwan up as a 'human bomb'  ( drive the little to poke the big  )

◆  "food on the menu"  /  SCMP, 10-7-2020: "If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” When the great powers sit at the geopolitical table, Taiwan has long been on the menu."

◆  "a bargaining chip"  /  Forbes, 10-5-2020:  It would be a mistake for the U.S. to pursue an FTA as part of its China policy or to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip, and Taiwan has reasons to be wary as well.

◆  " a tradable pawn", "a useful chess piece"  /  Global Times, 8-23-2020: Taiwan is a useful chess piece for the US only because of the US strategy to suppress the Chinese mainland. On the one hand, Washington exploits the Taiwan question to contain China, on the other hand it is inciting tensions and making money by selling arms to Taiwan...Taiwan is a tradable pawn.  Taiwan for the US is only a tradable chess piece, but for the mainland, reunification of the mainland and Taiwan is priceless.

◆   "dispensable  irritant"  /   Asia Times, 11-16-2020;   Washington Post 1-18-2019: Trump abandoned the Kurds in Syria. Could Taiwan be next ?  WP, 7-14-2020: Trump's policies are undermining the security of Taiwan's democracy ...

　

 

 　
　 　

　

 　

　

★ Taiwan's soft power  :  artists―shortage of creativity & vivid imagination ! government―lacking of forward thinking; see Taiwan creativity

　

　


pic.1 Taiwan VS Korea, in Publications, Movies, TV, Ads., Pop music , CTN 12-24-2017 (Korea -red bar, Taiwan - blue bar )

Humor vs creativity

Shanghai's EXPO

 WorldGames & Deaflympics
Asia Games

 comment world events
However, Taiwan's cultural & creative industry has nothing but slogans and many argues. The total value of Taiwan's cultural & creative production was far behind of that of Korea, Korea's value in publication is about 6 times larger than Taiwan's,  Film industry 6 times, TV 3.5 times, Advertising 3 times, Pop-music 6 times bigger than Taiwan's, according to statistics by Taiwan government and  reports by headline news of the China Times at 12-24-2017.  

 CTN comments that Taiwan lacks of updated related laws and policy ― no focus, no direction, no institute, original creativity is not encouraged, the industry field is divided, without integrated marketing.   Taiwan's De-Sinicization policy gave up rich Chinese cultural background and history ......  so as to lose advantage in cultural-creativity battlefield.  

 
The output value of Taiwan's cultural & creative production in '12 - '13 declined 9.28%, in contrast, Taiwan's neighbor countries increased, China 14.27%, Malaysia, Philippines 8+%, Korea 0.65% ... Taiwan's cultural & creative industry even failed to create a "bubble", the reason is lacking of original creativity. / The China Times, 8-15-2017 

     
◎

★ Taiwan's cultural power - see this webpage,
★ Taiwan's other soft power -  please click  !  

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Tourism    Full analysis pls. click  Taiwan Tour&Travel

"Formosa" means "a beautiful island", however, some media of both Taiwan and China (新週刊New Weekly) comment top 1 point of interest in Taiwan is Taiwanese people itself. (an ambassador from S. America said so too)  

◎ World Economic Forum (WEF)  <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> released at 9-4-2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness from 30th down to 37th.   In the overall ranking list, Asian country Japan got No.4,  China No.13,  Hong Kong No.14,  Korea No.16, Singapore No.17,  Malaysia No.29,  Thailand No.31,  UAE  No.33,  India No. 34,... (ps: secret hackers attacked while my updating WEF report of 2019)

category Taiwan's rankings and/or score comparison
prioritization of travel and tourism   No75  Singapore No.6 ,  Hong Kong No. 11
Natural & cultural resources No.58  score 2.6 China  No.1, score 6.0 , France No.2,  5.0,  Spain  No.3, 5.7,   Japan No.7, 5.3,   Indonesia No.18,  Thailand No.21,  Korea No.24,  Vietnam No.26,  Malaysia No.31,  HK No.40,  Philippines No.46,  Sri Lanka No.52,  Nepal No.56
Natural resources  No. 87 Hong Kong No. 42, Singapore No.120
　
cultural resources & business travel No. 36  score 2.6 China No1, score 7.0
price competitiveness No. 78 China 5.7
Health & Hygiene  No.43,  score 6 score worse than Korea, Japan, Mongolia
international openness No. 60 only better than China, Mongolia
Safety & security No. 26 human resource & labor market: Taiwan No.18
 ps: Compared to the report of 2017,  Taiwan significantly tightened visa requirements (37th down to 119th), waning cultural resources and business travel (26th to 36th) and recalibrated figures showing a drastic reduction in protected areas (20th to 118th).

For full details :  http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf

◎ World Economic Forum (WEF) 2017 <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> (released at 4-6-2017), Taiwan's most important indexes for promoting tourism, like "Attractiveness of Natural Assets" (parks, beaches, mountains, wildlife, etc) ranks world No.87, "Natural Resources" ranks No.55,   "Environmental Sustainability" ranks No.75 (No.69 in 2015), "Price Competitiveness" ranks No. 46, "Hotel Price Index" ranks No. 89 (82 in 2015), Taiwan got "n/a" on China's strong indexes such as "World heritage natural sites" as well as "World heritage cultural sites" (world top 5).   Taiwan has excellent scores on "Mobile Network coverage", "ATM", etc, but those least likely are main attractiveness to international sightseers that Taiwan needs most.   Taiwan is not be included in top 30 countries in <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> from 2011 till 2015, In 2015's report, Japan No.9, Singapore 11th, HK 13th,  China No.17 ; 2011 ranking - No.10 Singapore, no.12 HK, no. 13 Australia, no. 19 New Zealand, no.22 Japan, no.32 Korea, no.35 Malaysia.

◎ <the China Times> 5-26-2015: "We should pay attention to a poll on the net in Hong Kong, it says Taiwan is the most disappointed place for the tour, because Taiwan's night market is the only place worth visiting." (<media commentary> scholar's view "掉漆的文創")

◎ UK's Economist Intelligence Unit ― ● "Liveability Cities" report (Aug. 2015) ranks Taipei world No.60 (Taipei's Tourism leader 簡余晏 8-20-2015 expressed the ranking will go up in next year, hopefully), ● Mercer's "Quality of Living" ranks Taipei world No. 83, and gives another city Tai-Chung world No.99, ● Monocle's "Quality of Life" top list includes no Taipei.   According to 2009 ●  ECA int'l "the Best Place to Reside"，Taipei ranks No.57,  Asia top 3 are Singapore 、HK、Tokyo( both world No.15)。● 2010 rank :  Taipei No.55、 Singapore is still global No. 1.

　

 ◆  2015 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report

Taiwan's weakness :
Index Taiwan's world rankings
Country Brand Strategy No.125
Prioritization of Travel & Tourism No.82
Hotel price index No.82
Tourist service infrastructure No.77
Environmental Sustainability No.69
Natural Resource No.62
Purchasing power parity No.64
World heritage cultural sites the last position, n/a (China No.5)
World heritage natural sites the last position, n/a (China No.3)
major car rental companies No.120
Travel and tourism industry development No.53

 ◆  Country Brands Index 2014/2015

Taiwan's score : Taiwan's score location - "Countries" (left lower place)
Taiwan locates in "Countries" category, a lowest area  ―   having below average perceptions in both the Status and Experience dimensions.

Critera :
 ◎tourism / Value for money, Range of attractions, Resort & lodging options, Would like to visit for a vacation, Food ;
 ◎HERITAGE & CULTURE / Historical points of interest, Heritage, art & culture, Natural beauty;
etc.

　
◎“Country brands” – Countries that have above average perceptions across both the Status and Experience dimensions and have measurable competitive advantages over their peers as a result.
◎ “Experience countries” – Countries whose perception strength is biased towards dimensions relating to Heritage & Culture, Tourism and Made In.
◎ “Status countries” – Countries whose perception strength is biased towards attributes relating to Value System, Quality Of Life and Business Potential.     http://www.futurebrand.com/news/futurebrand-launches-the-country-brand-index-2014-15
◎ top 20 countries: Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Norway, United States, Australia, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Finland,Singapore, Iceland, Netherlands, France, Italy, United Arab Emirates, South Korea.

◎ top 20 most influential cities:  NY, London, Beijing, Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, Dubai,  HK, Singapore, New Delhi, SaoPaulo, Rio De Janeiro, LA, Rome, Toronto, Seoul, Mumbai

　
◎

　

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Visual Communication

Taiwan government logo, UN for Taiwan logo, state-run enterprises logo, Taiwan's universities annual event logo ......  etc,  suspiciously are cheap-copy works.  Similar visual designs're everywhere in Taiwan.

Some examples are listed as below:

(1) 　 (2) 　 (3) 　
     中央再保險公司 中央再保險公司

韓國 首爾( 漢城) logo 標誌

 中正大學 標誌
Taiwan government logo Western logo Western logo Taiwan government logo Korea Seoul logo logo by national univ.

◎

     (4)   Famous cultural unit

  knife as tree, lawn, mountain   knife as tree, lawn, mountain

left : Silk Cut ad. in UK, appeared earlier    right:  poster for Taiwan's cultural government and Eslite book store (ps)

ps:  Both are same ideas like "sharp knife tree, lawn"   
       right pic. is ad. for <Creative Ideas Exhibition of Taiwan Cultural Industry, Taiwan>, Eslite bookstore ( a cultural landmark of Taiwan)

● Government took the lead to plagiarize, and ignored copy-rights, Taiwan becomes "an island of Plagiarism" / Liberty Times 4-6-2016.

　

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Food -

◆ best restaurants    restaurants in Taiwan / Most of 5 star restaurants don't wash vegetables before cooking? pls. click to read details !
 ◎

      1. Luc Besson's movie "Lucy"  shooting in Taiwan particularly includes Din Tai Fung ―  which is not only the most famous Taiwanese restaurant but also even a landmark of Taiwan, however,              

 

● (1) Din Tai Fung admitted at 5-9-2012 having used  Monosodium Glutamate / sodium glutamate (M.S.G.)as addictive in some foods there -  and they won't change this policy so as to keep major cuisine (e.g., steamed bun/bao (小籠包), chicken soup) delicious (according to United Daily News 5.9.2013).  According to  National Health Research Institutes and United Daily News (8-15-2015) "Horrible foods for dining out": Taiwan's food (in restaurants, cafeteria, etc) problems include using MSG.  Taiwan's 5 star restaurants like Sherwood Hotel announced any chefs using MSG will be fired.   According to int'l medical studies, using Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is controversial. (ref to "The Dangers of MSG" : http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/facts/the-dangers-of-monosodium-glutamate.htm)  Some claimed it may causes asthma, headache, even brain damage. )
　

● (2) Din Tai Fung was suspicious of being involved in Taiwanese food scandal, Apple Daily (蘋果日報)10-10-2014 reported that one Taiwanese Dept. of Health found out Din Tai Fung imported some oil products from King's Cook which bought  lard oil (mixing animal feed with cooking oil) from Ting Hsin Int'l. ( http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20141010/485241/   台中市衛生局調查發現，鼎泰豐曾向購買頂新正義油品的台中金品調理(KingsCook) 公司進貨，恐中鏢。)
　

● (3) Din Tai Fung admitted having used G.M.(genetic modified) soy material(豆類) for a long time (until July 2015).   The China Times, (3.29.2013) reported professor Kuo H. J. (National Taiwan University, Department of Agronomy) comments - Taiwan using G.M.(genetic modified) is "national scandal" (「國家級醜聞」), French scholar Seralini found G.M. foods may cause cancer with higher probability,    BBC (6.6.2013)<Taiwan diet danger everywhere>: Taiwan is the only country eating cured products made by animal-feed, G.M.(genetic modified) soya beans.  (主妇联盟说台湾是世界上唯一直接食用饲料级基改黄豆加工 的豆制品国家。)  But Din Tai Fung still used the "scandalous" G.M. stuff for 2+ years after the news being spread island-wide.  Recently, CNN (7-24-2015) dropped Din Tai Fung down to No.20 position  in Taiwanese foods list.

　

　


Brand personality

 Din Tai Fung's Hong Kong branches were just eliminated their
Michelin star  title at Oct. 31, 2014,
Taiwan's Din Tai Fung never won any Michelin star title, but it is advertising itself
a Michelin star restaurant by posters at front of largest Japanese mall,
Mitsukoshi Dpt. Store in Taipei. (photo Aug. 22 2015)

Din Tai Fung USA website (http://DinTaiFungusa.com) has also been
 advertising a similar one in its front-page. (tests till present at 9-17-2015)

 ps: the China Times analyzed losing Michelin most likely it's because of
inconsistent quality problem.
  (http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20141031001358-260405) 

　

     2.  Michelin Guide Taipei was released at 3-14-2018, Taiwanese cuisine was not valued high, The number of stars Taiwan obtained is much less than those of Shanghai, HK, Macao, and Singapore.   Furthermore, unlike those in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taiwan's night-market, street food failed to won any Michelin star.

      3.   According to  "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" (2018) , Thailand Bangkok's Gaggan consecutively got in the first place,  the number of Japanese restaurants selected is 11, Hong Kong & Macao 10,  Thailand 9、Singapore 7,  Korea and Taiwan both are 3, but Korea won the 11th grade, the best ever position that Taiwan got in this year is the 15th  (RAW, 18th MUME,  47th Shoun Ryugin),  China got the 8th position.  https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/asia-50-best-restaurants-2018/index.html

     4.   According to The World's Best Restaurants (2017) , Taiwan is not included in the list, Thailand got No.7, Singapore No.14, Japan 18th, HK 24th, Shanghai 41th.  In total, 5 Japanese , 4 Chinese, 3 Singapore, 2 Thailand, 1 Korean, 1 India restaurant(s) entered top 100.   http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners#t51-100.

      5.  Miele Guide (2012) :  No any Taiwanese restaurant is included in top 20 Asian restaurants list.

◎
 ◆ Food - night markets    Taiwan Night Markets, street foods / small-eat / cuisines

     Best night-market-food in Taiwan : oyster omelet (introduced by Discovery channel of USA) ―  it is most typical Taiwanese food( street snack everywhere in night markets), but not exquisite & elaborated food.  a TV program expressed many oyster omelets use peanut (fatal aflatoxin was usually found in this kind of food) powder and some unknown ingredients/addictives.  

◆ Food - scandals

      ●  5 star hotel restaurants scandals - A book (Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taiwan Veterans General Hospital's physician Jiang So-San M.D. 江守山 "食在安心" (10-2014)) said many 5 star hotel restaurants don't wash vegetables ...  some 5 star hotels made sashimi raw fish slices by using fresh-water fishes, this may increase the probability to get cancer  (for details 台灣餐廳  or  台灣美食Taiwan Night Markets ) ; Epoch Times (大紀元, 3-14-2017):Okura Prestige Tpe (大倉久和, a 5 star hotel) sold expired frozen shrimps, molded taro (vegetable 芋) etc;   SETN news ( 三立新聞 5-16-2016): Some 5 star hotels in northern Taiwan sold black-hearted expired seafoods ;  LTN (5-17-2016): 5 star hotels Ambassador and Howard (國賓、福華) clarified this news;   Apple Daily (蘋果日報 6-7-2016): Sheraton (喜來登) 's white shrimps contained bleaching agent (漂白劑)，4 times higher than the legal standard，Ranina (Spanner crabs 旭蟹) contained heavy medal Cadmium poisoning (重金屬镉) 14% higher than the standard...;  Apple Daily (蘋果日報 7-2-'13): Taiwan's tourist hotels' food ingredients expired 2 years,  only 3 out of 21 hotels passed the security check and sanitary examination etc conducting by Taiwan Administration, e.g., Shangri-La's (tnn) did not separate their cutting tools for cooked foods and raw foods;    FTV news, 5-18-2017: 13 ingredients / materials expired in a 5 star hotel in Taiwan;  CTI TV news (5-17-2017, 19:33): What can we eat in Taiwan? people are uneasy for food here...    ○

       ●  Taiwan administration's Dioxin ("poison of the century") control system crashed completely / FTV news, 4-22-2017.
        Major world media like The Economist (11.29.2014) comment a series of food safety scandals is one of few main factors causing the KMT, Taiwan's ruling party, has suffered one of its worst electoral defeats since Chiang Kai-shek and his forces fled to the island at the end of Chinese civil war in 1949.

       ●  Chang Gung Mem. Hospital professor Yin M.D. (殷宗海, Doctor, Univ. of London ): Minimize the times of dining out to protect your health ! ( ref. to book <食品不安全的年代如何自保>("how to survive in this bad food-security time", April 2016)) 

     ●  Dean of National Taiwan Normal University - graduate school of Chemistry,  Dr. Gaston J. C. Wu (化學所長吳家誠教授)'s book <Those black-heart products toxin-experts never buy ("毒物專家絕不買的黑心商品")> (Nov. 2013): Most of the time I eat at home, and has never dined out in street-side shops / small-eat markets (路邊攤), because those small-eat shops usually/always do not meet the minimum standards of cleanliness. 

     ●  Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taiwan Veterans General Hospital's physician Jiang So-San M.D. : Most 5 star hotel restaurants in Taiwan don't wash the vegetables ...  ref. to the book "食在安心"  

◎
◎ Taiwan's Food safety scandals
TW food
　

◎ 2015 :
 Since its worst ever electoral defeats, Taiwanese government never does some soul searching and corrects the wrong,  "It's weirdo !!, Taiwanese government only focuses on 3 dried products - dried daylily, dried radish, and preserved fruits (snacks)", NTU professor Wu K.Y. stated "Completely evading the crucial point", "those 3 items are very low risky products".
 ● Apple Daily 8-28-2015: The incidence rate of Taiwanese people suffering colon/rectal cancer was ranked world No.1 (2nd is Korea, 3rd Slovakia) , Taipei Medical University Hospital's director of surgeons expressed Taiwan's food scandals constantly happened in recent years, many black-heart tainted foods containing Carcinogen (cancer producer) is a factor causing high incidence rate.

◎ 2014 Taiwan food scandals
        ● The New York times (9.8.2014): The authorities in Taiwan are scrambling to control a tainted-cooking-oil scandal that has affected hundreds of manufacturers and raised fears about health risks posed in many commonly consumed food items... the new scandal shows that there is still not enough being done to eliminate lawbreaking production lines,” The Taipei Times said ...
          ● TIME (9.8.2014): Gutter Oil' Scandal Raises Food-Safety Fears Once Again in Greater China.  A Taiwanese food-safety scare has spread to Hong Kong...
          ● Bloomberg BusinessWeek  (9.8.2014): Tainted Lard: China's Latest Food-Safety Scare Comes From Taiwan       The case is the second major food-safety scandal by a Taiwan-based company in the past year,...The new gutter-oil scandal has “shocked local consumers” in Taiwan who expect more from their government, ...“I hope the law could be revised to impose tougher punishment on those who breach food safety regulations,”...   
        ● The China Times (9.5.2014, head-page headline news): Disgusting ... Even pigs don't eat those tainted oil we Taiwanese ate !     

ps:  For full text pls. ref. to Taiwan food scandals.

　
◎ Taiwan's Food safety scandals 2013, 2014

 

   Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Universities (higher education)

Taiwan's university rankings in Asia, 2020

Times High Education ,  World University Rank 2020 
ranks Taiwan China Korea Hong Kong Singapore
1~100 　
23   Tsinghua University Beijing
　

24  Peking University Beijing
　

　

80  University of Science and Technology of China Anhui

　
 64   Seoul National University Seoul
　
 89   Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) Seoul

　
35  University of Hong Kong

47  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
　
57  Chinese University of Hong Kong

　
25   National University of Singapore
　
48   Nanyang Technological University

　
100~200 120   National Taiwan University

(台灣大學)
107   Zhejiang University Zhejiang
　

109   Fudan University Shanghai
　

144  Nanjing University Jiangsu
　
157   Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai

　
110  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon
　
146  Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) Pohang
　
179  Korea University Seoul
　

197  Yonsei University (Seoul campus) Seoul

　
126  City University of Hong Kong
　
171  Hong Kong Polytechnic University
　

　

 　
200~300 　 251 ~ Sun Yat-sen University Guangdong  201–250   Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) Ulsan
　		 　 　
300~400  351–400  National Tsing Hua University

(清華大學)

　

　

351–400  Taipei Medical University


301–350  Beijing Normal University Beijing
　
301–350  Huazhong University of Science and Technology Hubei
　
301–350  Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Guangdong

351–400  Nankai University Tianjin
　
301–350  Kyung Hee University Seoul
　
351–400  Hanyang University Seoul

　

 　 　

see  Taiwan Education  

　

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Animation (comment Taiwan's best awards in world's best contests)

Taiwan's Top Institution(ps)

animation

World's top contest, prize & honors

this site's comments
National Taiwan University
of Science & Tech.		 Cubic Tragedy
　

ACM SIGGRAPH  
   People' Choice Award 

                        
 experts won't feel the idea - girl face-lifting results in Picasso's cubism <weeping woman> unexpected .  details

　
National Yuan-lin University
of Science & Tech.		 Cubic Tragedy

graduate school paper: "Picasso-inspired idea ..... contrary to our expectation"

  experts won't feel this idea "un-expected".
 ( details &  pic. below)
National Taiwan Univ. of arts A fish with a smile

Berlin international Film Festival, children's section, Special Prize of jury committee

  (1) a story for children.
 (2) elegant drawing style, but doesn't look like any city in Taiwan.
National Tainan Univ. of arts After the rainy day

 winning in UK

  Just like most Taiwan's films,  boring obscure-meaning codes, so that most people are hard to understand or may make over-interpretation.   details
　
National Palace Museum Adventures of NPM (1) grand prize, 2008 Tokyo International Anim. Fair.
(2) anim. goal : " bridging the gap  between ancient artworks and modern audiences.		  (1) it's a story for children, not for modern adults.
 (2) the film is showing in children's center of National Palace Museum, Taipei Taiwan.   click to see details

Tamkang Univ.'s paper concludes Taiwan animation's 1st problem is "short of creativity".    Very few Taiwan's researches 're working on this subject. (Taiwan  animation currently is only expert at drawing tech.)

◎   comment Taiwan's international winning animation films in 2011.

　

  Picasso cartoon Cubism       Picasso cartoon Cubism
 

2 examples among Picasso-Cubism inspired cartoons

More clever Picasso-inspired  ideas have already been developed long time ago, please click to see 

◎

　

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Advertisement

My article in <the United Daily News> (Oct. 2007) mentions Taiwan's ad. creativity has been lousy for a long time.   In the past 10 years, Taiwan is about in the last place in Cannes Ad. festival, world best ad. contest.   (Even Vietnam, Philippines, red China are bit better than Taiwan) 

    

Taiwan's most important ad.

 Take Taiwan's national ads : "UN for Taiwan" (Taiwan to join the UN ) , as an example :

who said ?

 said what ?

This site's comment

2007Taiwan government :

UN for Taiwan ad. is "un-limited creativity"

(1) This series in recent years are quite old ideas.

(2) click to read details

National ChenChi University, ad. professor book

using puns in UN series is " very creative and witty idea"

　

    

Taiwan's int'l winning ads.

As for Taiwan's business ads. or TV commercials obtaining winning records in int'l ad. festivals , are not all so original,..... or not very sharp-witty  , i.e., making love with an insect symbolizes insecure sex, or stick out (very out) the tongue to make a funny face, ...... are students level ideas.

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      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Music/songs

An essay <China Tames Rebellious Side of Rock "n" Roll> in <New York Times>, likened today's Red Chinese pop music culture to the politically enforced conformity  of the Cultural Revolution, the core of songs is "have fun", culture has become an empty vessel, there are few hints of angst, alienation , or any but the mildest expression of teenage rebellion.

Taiwan's pop music was tamed by political pressure in the past, the "opposition culture" in Taiwan's music field was almost eliminated.

Today's music is in a money-oriented environment.

Very few people notes an usual case :  two most popular singers, Wu-bai and S.H.E. (hottest in China too) sing 2 same-name songs, namely all the same as Chinese translation of "Brave New World" - a classic literature regarding man-handled white-terror tyranny.   S.H.E. seems so happy and exciting while singing this song.

In contrast, Apple Computer's famous commercial <1984> comes from another white-terror literature  "1984" written by Orwellian.   Ad. research papers mention one reason it succeeds ( the most remarkable US ad campaign, although aired only once ) is that people are curious about the mystery/puzzle -  a tyranny in a free country.

Certainly, the <1984> despises human-controlled tyranny.

 Apple <1984> TV commercial

 <Brave New World>

 <Brave New World> Chinese translation book

1984, Apple TV commercial

Brave New World, Chinese translation book


everybody in a blue-smog (mock IBM CIS color) "jail" are under control by big-brother in a big screen . try http://Youtube.com !
　

  (1) A literature by A. Huxley
 (2) http://futuresteve.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/brave-new-world/  

book cover

   ◎

　

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Arts

United Daily 10-31-2019: Plagiarism again in Taiwanese design field !!  an art-work in Tai-Nan art festival copied UK's, another art-work on train (government's project) copied Russian's ...... All Taiwanese designers should respect themselves and take these cases as a lesson.

Critiques in UDN (10-24-2019) :  Design field thinks culture & arts are nothing but decorative, fine arts belittle commercial arts, etc ... the arts should take the lead for the fusion of tech. and culture ( for details pls. read https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4122342 ) .

Apple Daily, opinion, 7-20-2018 :  Taiwan ( Taiwanese everywhere) lacks of aesthetics accomplishments,  particularly those in power can allocate resources have "really turn me off" taste (倒盡胃口),  Taiwan's public art works are too vulgar to be endured (俗不可耐), and some are sort of cheap-copy works (仿冒竊).

Dec. 8, 2012 : To everyone's surprise, 2 out of 3 artists in Taiwan government's selection for participating Italia Venice Biennale are foreigners !  This means Taiwan does not have talented artists??

Many Asian countries have great ambition to do city-marketing by arts expo.,  there're 8 arts biennales will be taken place in Sept. 2008.

Taiwan is one of them -   <Asia Arts Biennale > was held till Feb. 2008.

Taiwan's largest news introduced (with a large-sized picture) an expo.  artwork  -  world brand's logos are spread on human bodies, this work seems to symbolize "Globalizing" phenomenon.

However, the idea "logo body" already appeared a number of times in,  i.e., <Your Logo Here, photos from S. Cal. 2004-2006>, and some logo tattoo works .......

More sharp-witty and more difficult ideas appeared in cartooning field at least 13 years ago, i.e., Japanese Yomiuri international cartoon contest  (see pic. below).

  logos body

pic. : "number" logos on athletes

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      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Architecture

◆   Taipei Performing Arts Center was selected as one among "the transformative buildings set to shape the world" in 2021, in that the eye-catching building has a planet-like sphere protruding from one side - will undoubtedly serve as a contemporary landmark for the Taiwanese capital;  however, some look-alike sphere buildings were already designed earlier  ― all "plug" into a central cube. 

　
 Taipei Performing Arts Center

www.world-architects.com/en/architecture-news/insight/year-in-architecture-2020

slideshare.net/manishkhageeshrestha/desing-concept

ge.com/news/reports/sphere-of-turbulence-whats-hiding-inside-a

◆ Taiwanese architects were forced to be "construction supervisors" instead of "designers" by the government's policy,  this  finally rouse architects' angers after enduring 10 + years,  most major public architecture projects went to international architects for "unjust treaties" made by the administration. / head-line news of The United Daily, 7-17-2017

　 　
　 pic. United Daily : Taiwanese architects protest "unequal treaty" which benefits foreigners

UDN (聯合報) 10-23-2019: Taiwan is far behind in urban construction, in contrast, some metro in Asia always have astonishing architectures ...  (brief)

below are Taiwan's "Face" buildings :

architecture

This site's comment

Taipei 101 building

Ugliest skyscraper in the world  - NOT very aesthetic & exquisite appearance    

Tao-yuan international airport

   1st Hall : copied U.S. airport.
  2nd Hall :  shortage of spirit breadth and arts atmosphere.

  3rd Hall: Taiwan fails to design, and fails to build the design by UK team

An article by VIP professor in Taiwan major newspaper 2002 asserted  :  " Copy is humanism spirits" 、 " How can we enjoy & bear those original designed  architecture by Taiwanese !? "

ps1:  Taiwan's Pavilion at Shanghai's World Expo. 2010 (China)  ―   an ordinary architecture, far worse than UK's Pavilion (with same construction cost and space).

ps2: another contrast :

 Can you tell which is US  Washington Dulles int'l airport, or Taiwan Taoyuan int'l airport ?

US Washington Dulles international airport

Taiwan Taoyuan international airport

US Washington Dulles international airport

Taiwan Taoyuan international airport

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ps: TaoYuan int'l airport just modified its appearance.

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      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Film/movie

●  Taiwan's film industry got 3 major troubles :

(1)   Taiwan government used to do political propaganda/comm. by using movies,  besides, Taiwan government's movie policy already gave up to WTO, U.S., Hollywood.

(2)   Taiwan can only makes some abstract/obscure symbols that attracts very very few people.  Using Eastern exotic flavor's another very useful strategy for attending world film contest.   No witty & creative idea led to Taiwan film industry's death.

         ☉  Taiwan's movie fail to create better humour like "Lost in Beijing" ( red Chinese film banned by CHN gov.) .
         ☉  Taiwan's all-time grossing film, <Cape No.7>, is not CREATIVE, is not a witty comedy (some world best media position this film as comedy), but attracts lots of Taiwanese by some simple ideas( i.e., sort of slapstick) and culture elements.  
         ☉  Taiwan's <You are the Apple of My Eye> of 2011 is very popular in TW, HK and Chn, but most of it's boyish humors are not witty & stylish, this film attracts audiences by stoking collective memory of their youngsters age.
PS: Taiwan's films only won 2 awards in Taiwan's Golden Horse film festival (China and HK won most awards), which is the worst in latest 20 years.

(3)  Taiwanese are rich, but spent little on arts, and taste not too good - many people prefer real things, like money.    International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported 2010 Taiwanese GDP (USD 35,604) ranked world no. 21.(news 9/23/2011)

　 per person per year
movie NT470 (about US 15)
drama NT91 (US 3)
dancing show  NT65 (US 2) 

● TV soap opera series : Taiwan's TV opera series focus on "charming leading-actors/actress" (not content) to attract audiences, so Korean, Japanese, red Chinese TV series are better & more popular.  United Daily (12-28-2014): Taiwan's TV opera are not original.  UDN (critique C2, 6-21-2015): Taiwan's drama crisis/ lacking of budge, passion, actor/actress.
● Variety show/program of assorted entertainment: this sort of shows were the reason or excuse that Taiwanese people don't like going to theater watching movies, but till now (2013), those stuffs were already behind China's, some paper even questioned Taiwan's variety show/program of assorted entertainment : "Are they incurable?" (4/7/'13 UND).  United Daily (12-26-2014):  Taiwan needs creativity. Apple Daily (8-31-2015) : Taiwan's entertainment show from bad to worse, the gap between Taiwan and China becomes bigger, Taiwan's TV field in risk !

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      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Cartooning

About 10 years ago, ROC on Taiwan government together with <The United News> system organized a Taiwanese team to participate in Euro's largest humour contest, ＜Kokke Heist Humour & Cartoon Festival ＞，only 3 artists (including Zola Zu) were selected.

Recently Taiwanese cartoon artists have shown little talents on Taiwan International Cartoon Contest sponsored by Taiwanese government,

Almost all juries withdrawn from <Courage World Cartoon Contest> (ranking world No. 1 for some years) , due to "seems political" reasons .   

Both animation and cartooning need creativity, but at present Taiwan doesn't have that environment.   

Taiwan youngsters like "Kuso" stuffs, however, formula/routine mind is not good enough for cartoon creativity.  

◎

　

Japanese winning art in Knokke Heist, Belgium                1st prize work in contest held by MinSen Daily

　

pic. left:  Knokke Heist winner, appeared earlier.      
pic. right: Taiwan's 1st prize cartoon was sent to Knokke Heist and lost.

ps: Taiwan has (only a few) world class cartoonists : i.e., T.Y. Ju (Ron Chu) . 

  ◎

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Product Design

(1 )  Taiwan's best-selling cultural creativity :

Recently, Taiwan's best-selling & widely known product , "Chinese Fortune(or Rich) God figure toy", is based on Taiwanese superstition (Apple Daily: 88%of college students believe ghost existing ), and eagerness for money,

Taiwan's figure-toy design just simplified Chinese Gods' complicated appearance to little cute mascot, in contrast, int'l designs for gods are more witty, i.e.,

　 　
☉ Europe, Belgium rug Co.     installed a special compass in each product, its needle points to Islam's holy land instead of pointing South/North  －  this created a lot of business.
☉ Japan      made a watch converting 114 world major cities' time to Islam holy land's time, with time-alarm function for Muslims' prayer.

  ◎
　

( 2 )  best-selling cultural products for int'l tourists

A major design periodical comments:  <National Palace Museum>'s rich treasures is the key to success of Taiwan's Cultural & Creative Industry.

However, <NPM> seems to look down upon the talent of Taiwanese designers.

<NPM>   product

comments

 　

Alessi "the Chin Family"

 (1) <NPM> cooperates with Japan, Italy, hence, NPM's products are not purely Taiwanese or Chinese flavor.
(2)  Mr. Chin got  slant eye (or "raising eyebrows"), it's western view-point, the Oriental usually don't draw that way.

Chinese creativity vs Taiwan creativity
Taiwan's tourists guidebook/ pamphlets (pic. above)   
calls 5000 yrs treasures
  "Chinese Creativity" .

How about "Chinese Creativity" in today's Taiwan ??

"Jadeite Cabbage" tray-pillow for
 chop-sticks to rest on

(1) most products directly use antique-art shape.
(2) At least 20 years ago, various assorted dedicated vegetables and fruits  glass chopsticks tray-pillow already were made-in-Japan (best-sellers too) .

Don Dynasty ladies picture slippers

  just directly applied antique pictures on products.

<NPM> should designs Chinese treasures, and makes witty, humorous artworks  to represent Taiwan's modern arts.   Western tourists suppose like to buy souvenir with Chinese culture & flavor created by ourselves.    "Mercenaries" cannot represent Taiwan to Olympics.

◎

<NPM>merchandises：

 slippers, mugs, etc with Don Dynasty Ladies Picture


Zola Zu's design ：

 (1) expo. in Europe like Holland, Turkey, and was printed in best-collection albums.
(2) printed in <the China Times>.
　

 directly use antique pictures（or simplify a little bit）

I choose the theme : When the East encounters the West,  Fine arts meets Cartooning, to integrate 2 major cultures.  

NPM slippers, National Palace Museum

art cartoon, slippers

ps: "tech. oriented" product design like <idea> contest, <if> contest is not discussed in here

◎

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Medical

● FTV (4-16-2017) comments medical Doctors' social status is lower than before.  
● The book "Exposing the truth of modern medical circle in Taiwan" ("誤診誤醫", published by the China Times, 2012; by Xu Da-Fu  ) criticizes : Taiwan's hospitals focus on profit/benefit and ignore patients' rights , The whole medical circle already went the wrong route...

◎ Surgery / Taiwan's excellent surgeons perform many operations simultaneously - happened quite often in Taiwan...
 ◎ Medicines /  the quality of prescription medicines in Taiwan is from bad to worse...
◎ Bribery / the institution needed to be paid bribery most is judiciary system, second is Taiwan's medical and health services ...
 ◎ full text pls. ref. to http://Courageworld.ch/TaiwanHospitalsMD.htm

◎

　

 

      Taiwan's cultural & creative soft power ?

 

Sports/Athletics

●  In 2016 Rio Olympics medal tally statistics, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) only got 1 gold, 2 bronze, ranks world No. 50, compare to previous years, 5 medals in 2000, 2004, 4 medals in 2008, 2 medals in 2012；Other Asian nations -  China ranks No.3, Japan No.6,  Korea No. 8,  Australia No 10,  N.Z. No.19,  Iran  25, North Korea No. 34, Thailand No. 35, Indonesia No. 46, Vietnam No.48, Taiwan No. 50

●  Taiwan just held 2 world scaled athletic events that have ever seen in Taiwan's history :

World Games Kaohsiung Taiwan & Deaflympics Taipei : comments/critics  click to see how they showed Taiwan's culture and creativity.

◎

other Soft Power

As for other items of Taiwan's soft power, according to Reporters without Borders (RSF), Taiwan's press freedom (speech freedom) ranks No. 45 (always behind No. 45 since 2008), Taiwan's human rights, judicial system, high-ranking officials' corruption, women's rights, abuses of international/foreign workers, death penalty ( capital punishment ) etc need to be improved. 

◎

 

          Taiwan needs medicine, not cosmetic

 

Summary

(1) Not easy to upgrade "Made in Taiwan" to "Create in Taiwan",  since Taiwan has very few experts in creativity. (government does not think highly of them)

(2) Most Taiwanese professors (PhD) do theoretical studies, don't have talent (some even are not interested ) on witty creativity/design. 

(3) Ph.D usually is required for college teacher position, it's one criterion for Taiwan government to evaluate all schools.  Un-talented teachers can't train students to be talented.

(4) Taiwan's society and people don't think important of arts, culture, creativity, etc.  

(5) Taiwan government official in univ. paper said Taiwan doesn't have that kind of environment for creativity.  
     Creativity needs freedom,  democracy, and people's independent personality,  government officers don't like creativity, which means extra risk.

(6) Taiwan should fight "diamond cut diamond" with western nations in major fields , instead of going backdoor (or side-door) by exotic local culture, Eastern mysterious flavor, obscure codes, etc.

(7) Taiwan government used to give less budget to cultural field, and use e.g., movie as propaganda/comm. tool.   Taiwan needs int'l friends, but uncreative films won't attract enough audiences.

(8) Taiwanese government kicks cultural creativity to the corner , in that creativity seems no use for political election, but requires extra efforts on social controls/adm.

(9)  Taiwan's government prefers to use his own men.

(10) Taiwanese youngsters love heavy slapstick 、silly "Kuso" stuffs ("young-designers" policy is wrong).
     Taiwanese adults' imaginative power  is bounded, thinking in a roundabout/evasive way,  their tastes are lousy .......  pls. see 2 examples as below :

　

artworks introduced by Taiwan's largest news:

western artwork earlier

 
　

Merging Mao's photo  &  Tian-an-men Square
of Beijing
with "Miki mouse"
(to symbolize Red China's westernization  )

Morphing Mao
with "Miki mouse"
(to symbolize China's westernization  )

　

 is Biro Mihaly: A haboru borzalmai ellen, Plakat Budapest, Europe, at 1912. http://www.hnm.hu/utils/Gallery.php?ItemID=213&PicNum=9

fighter planes pass
Tian-an-men Square, and
drop
human-beings as bombs

ps: this painting price 10 times from 2005 to 2008
　


using youngsters as artillery bullets

(appeared earlier)

to be continued, if necessary

◎

Taiwan's Creativity       

comment Alessi Mr Chin & NPM of Taiwan printed in <United News>, one of largest media in Taiwan, Aug. 2008  :  Chinese language version

　

　

 part of my critic article printed in <United Daily News> of Taiwan

　

 Taiwan Soft Power  
        ★   this site's world No. 1 in  2020~22,   2017~19,  2016,  2015,  2014,  2013,  2010~12     ★ 		　

    animation    ad.     music     product design    arts     cartooning     movie     architecture     visual comm.      tour     politics     home

 

ps:  Soft Power's definition by Harvard U. professor  Dr. J Nye ;   As the term indicates, soft power is the opposite of hard power. “Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments.  Soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies.

ps:   professor's and team-mate's name are omitted.      ps: some art-works' author name remain unknown, pls let us know.

　

　

　

 

          Taiwan needs medicine, not cosmetic

 

ps2:  Other researches : finger-pointing moon results in that ear will be cut (28.3%) , chopstick knock bowl results in being a beggar (22.3%),  swimming in July (Lunar) results in un-luck (64.7%), whistling after sunset will encounter ghost (37%), pregnant woman using scissors will give birth to an abnormal baby(32%)  - reported by <Apple Daily>5.29.2005  (largest and best news evaluated by university) 

PS: Taiwan Animation,  int'l contest winners  

anim

　

  ★  <Adventures of National Palace Museum>

NPM web-site (English version)

This site comments
the winner of the prize "animation of the year" Tokyo Int'ernational Anim. Fair of 2008. (1) The NPM Chinese version web-page mentions: the film obtains "grand prize exhibition",  a weird grammar sentence. 
(2) Japan's web-pages: "Animation of the Year" award goes to <1.0: You are (not) Alone>
I have no idea which is right ...
describes this animation as  "an exciting story of their (the leading actor, "ceramic child pillow")  search for a katydid that has flown away from another of the NPM's treasure, Jadeite Cabbage".

 (1) Not an exciting story.
(2) The NPM is in Chaos after night, it can be an exciting story, why was the child only interested in that insect? 
(3) Suggest readers to compare with some other films like <Night at the Museum>, or classic animation ＜Statues Que＞.
This film "bridges the gap between modern audiences and ancient artworks". 

 (1)  It's for kids, not for modern audiences.  The film is showing in children's centre of NPM.    Almost all audiences are children when I was there at July 4, 2008.
(2)  Children usually love vivid colorful film, not like this film .
　

　

 

    

 

★  <Cubic Tragedy>:  ACM  SIGGRAPH  Peoples' choice no.1

(1) About 10 years ago <TIME>'s article stated Japanese comic strips show a sense of inferiority  about their Eastern face ( many Japanese hero-characters look like western person's feature & body structure ), Cubic Tragedy's Oriental face-lifting story may interests Western audiences.

(2) Attendees might feel "proud" when recognizing (or figure out) it's a Picasso's painting, so as to vote this film as People's Choice award winner.

(3) The author's strategy is smart, however, the Picasso-inspired idea won't surprise creativity experts, because lots of fine-arts inspired and Picasso inspired ideas have already been developed long long time ago, in both West and Asia.   ( see pic. below)

(4)  The author tried to "design" the girl's face (to  avoid "yellow skin") and the Asian eyes (described in the book "Survival of the Prettiest" , or  any look like soap "Ugly Betty" ), <Cubic Tragedy> gives the girl a polygonian (square,cubic), pink face just same as certain background.

(5)  Americans invest more money in their looks (beauty) than in education,  around 1/2 the number of global M.D.s in plastic surgery are living in USA, the surgery may be treated as just a make-up or hair-coloring in the near future.   Hence, the pink color may be  sarcastic on that girl and many females, however, changing background-color may broaden the theme.

(6)  In 1990, there's a widely-known concept arts : a French artist did a plastic surgery on face, and live show to world arts museums, people can buy this DVD or some skins cut ......  is it an art, a stunt, or a tragedy with various hidden meaning ? 

Lots of fine-arts and Picasso inspired ideas're already published long time ago.

　

 

    

 

★  <After the rainy days>   winning in UK

(1)  A western saying : "Chinese are inscrutable", and many western juries, audiences favor stereotyped image of Eastern world -  so, many Taiwan's films are on purpose full of exotic flavor, mysterious atmosphere, etc, or go even further :  obscure/abstract codes,  philosophical  arts,  poetry like a dream .........

(2)  The "arts" are usually decoded to various meanings, depending upon audiences' knowledge and life experience .......    Picasso and a kid both can create same "art-work" i.e., displaying a M. Duchamp toilet, but the kid doesn't mean too much.   An empty museum is a concept art, randomly shooting in the street is a Surrealism art. (quoted by John Carey, Oxford U. professor, to comment arts)

(3) Famous Ad book <Visual Persuasion> (U. Penn. USA) mentions Surrealism is sometimes thought of as a representation of dream (lack of logic) imagery and a source of various hidden meanings.  However, attempt to read these hidden meaning may run into a problem of over-interpretation.    It's mainly an art of eye-grabbing visual paradoxes.

(4)  Most audiences only want entertainment, instead of spending efforts in taking a boring philosophy class, or in escaping from a maze.

(5)  Great arts can be understandable and popular, i.e., Polish <fallen art>, Canadian <Special delivery>, Korean <Birthday Boy>,  are easily understood, and may touch many people's hearts.

(6)  Some symbolic tokens seem not so fresh, i.e., a flying graffiti, or fish soaring to the sky.  Many times it seems to be easy : for instance, "graffiti" symbolizes rebellion, "flying" symbolizes set to free (or release from tyranny), so, combine both to get a flying graffiti. 

(7)   Sometimes lyric stuffs may needs obscure (but not too obscure) codes, but, why does mocking-politics kind of film need camouflage?

(8)  <After the rainy day> is sort of "arts" animation.  

(9)  For so many years, Taiwan government loves to do some political propaganda/comm. by attending int'l film festivals with this kind of obscure-meaning films, so that Taiwan fails to communicate with million times of world audiences, this style of movie already led to Taiwan film industry's death.   

　

 

    

 

★  <A Fish with a Smile> (10 min. short film)   Jury Committee Special prize, Children's Jury Short Film,  Berlinale int'l film Festival 2005

(1) director : C Jay Shih, Alan Tuan, Poliang Lin

(2) brief   -  "I once had a fish that was as loyal as a dog, as amicable as a cat, as attentive as a lover".   This animation is kind of surrealism  languages -  deconstructed, inconsistent, hallucinatory, etc.

(3) If you like this anim., also try "EEL", a Japanese made Cannes award winner. 

(4)  The drawing style is elegant, however, this city looks like Euro's more than Taiwan's.

(5)  The nature of animation is closely related to poetry, poetry is related to thinking in nature.   I feel university should produce  great themed art-works.

(6)  I guess "fish is crying" is a more witty phrase than "fish is smiling". (because fish is in water)

ps: a few other winning anim. can't be found in Youtube, or their school sites

　

　

 

    

 

　

Summary:

Taiwan is struggling from OEM to OBM (for Pixar 3D films and China's cheap labor),  Taiwan's animation is skilled in drawing tech., but is short of creativity.  

1.  Taiwan's society :
     Taiwanese people don't think important of arts, culture, creativity, etc.  

2.  Taiwan government :
     Taiwan doesn't have that kind of environment for creativity.  
     Creativity needs freedom,  democracy, and people's independent personality.  Government officials don't like creativity, which means extra risk.

3.  Taiwan's universities :
     They made very few research on creativity, produced very very few sharp-witty or entertaining animations.

Wikipedia encyclopedia concluded that Taiwan government has not worked a lot on cultivating college potential ones in animation field, currently is far behind Japan, S. Korea, and even Red China. 

　

 

　

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