Taiwan’s Olympic Athletes

Over three consecutive issues, Taiwan Panorama has published an extensive record of Taiwan’s participation in this year’s Tokyo Olympics (please see our September to November domestic edition and October to December international editions). Our journalists and photojournalists interviewed Taiwan’s Olympic athletes in disciplines such as weightlifting, badminton, archery, boxing, table tennis, and taekwondo, and captured many memorable moments, from medal-­winning performances to the victory party at the Presidential Office Building. These stor­ies document a thrilling chapter in Taiwan’s Olympic history.

This month’s reports on athletes are especially interesting. We talk with gold medalist weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun about what her sport means to her, and have a lively exchange with the men’s archery team. We also bring you the story of the badminton men’s ­doubles team, and a report on rising table tennis star Lin Yun-ju, currently ranked fifth in the world among male players. We draw on the personal experiences of these Olympic medalists to bring you into the atmosphere of sport’s most revered competition and explore the inner world of the athletes.

We also have a special report on pencil carving artist Lee Chien-chu and diorama artist Hank Cheng. We look at how they express their artistic skills and integrate local elements from Taiwan into works that earn an enthusiastic international response.

We start a new series on ethnic Chinese living overseas with Charles Liang, president and CEO of Super Micro Computer, Inc. Chiayi-born Liang, named by Forbes maga­zine as one of the 25 most accomplished Americans of Chinese ethnicity, talks about the global information industry and especially green computing. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of Taiwan’s accession to the Asia－Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. We look back at Taiwan’s history in APEC and the outlook for the future.

The expression “rooted in Taiwan, open to the world” aptly describes the GuoGuang Opera Company’s transition from traditional performances to building a new Peking Opera aesthetic in Taiwan. It also describes the beauty and sadness of Taiwan’s second generation of ethnic Chinese from Burma, as well as Taiwan’s status as a “fern kingdom,” with more than 650 fern species.

Badminton Olympian Lee Yang’s comment that in the face of defeat, all one can do is not give up, exemplifies the resilience of Taiwan’s athletes. Wang Chi-lin’s remark that there is inevitably friction with his partner Lee, but that they always work together to overcome it, demonstrates the rapport between these gold medal winners. Even where there are conflicts and differences of opinion, let us seek common ground amid diversity and come together to meet the challenges of the future.