Vice President Annette Lu enjoyed a very cultural and artistic afternoon in meeting with director Ang Lee and a group of men and women of letters, respectively, on May 2 at the Office of the President.
"Shu Lien," a leading female character in director Ang Lee's acknowledged movie titled "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," is one thing the vice president and the director shared in common, for the vice president and the heroine of the movie bear the same first name in Mandarin.
Besides "Crouching," the director's recent Oscar success, "Brokeback Mountain," also wins the vice president's heart. "Successfully and subtly tackling a controversial yet focused issue, this movie [Brokeback Mountain] has expressed deep tenderness and human mercy," the vice president told Ang Lee while referring to the operation of her Human Rights Committee under the Office of the President.
Meanwhile, the vice president called for an incorporation of technology into culture, saying that the director's international visions and experiences could shed new light on Taiwan's cultural industry.
In another meeting with Taiwan's writers, the vice president said that Taiwan's culture should rather be organic than absolutized, and emphasized the importance of combining the local with the global points of views. The vice president also revealed to these Taiwanese writers that currently she is writing on Taiwan's history from both the local and the international perspectives.
Fourteen established local writers, including novelists, poets, and theoreticians, attended the meeting and shared their cultural observations with the vice president.