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President
Chen Shui-bian addressing
world poets from 18 countries on 25 March 2005
Mr. President, who looked elegant in his dark blue
suit, had arrived from Taipei to inaugurate the historical
2005 World Poetry Festival in spite of latest political
developments due to China's "Anti secession"
Law, reminded the audience "Taiwan is blessed
and richly endowed by nature, an island known as Formosa.
Most places on the same equatorial latitude as Taiwan
are part of the desert belts, but Taiwan is a beautiful
island with splendid mountains and rivers and abundant
natural resources. Due to its unique geographical
characteristics - consists of the tropical, the subtropical,
the temperate and the frigid zones - Taiwan is indeed
"a land flowing of milk and honey", complemented
by the multiculturalism embedded in its society. Taiwan's
richly diverse characteristics have given poets inexhaustible
sources of inspiration, which become manifested in
the uniquely diverse, inclusive, and broad-minded
poetry written and created on this land."
The
learned President, who himself must be a poet, welcoming
the poets from all over the world said "Here,
in front of our fellow poets from different parts
of the world, we would like to humbly welcome you
to share with us your poetic perspectives, thoughts
and artistic experiences - valuable insights that
poetry from Taiwan can draw lessons from. In the mean
time, we would also like to exhibit the achievements
of our Taiwan poetry and ask for your opinions and
input."
Most
imaginative, energetic and articulate President Chen
concluded his informative speech With, " Lastly,
I would like to share with you a poem written by poet
Ji-Shien in 1945; it is called "My Voice and
My Existence":
I
must let out my voice,
For that it is the only evidence of my existence.
…
Otherwise, what will be negated must be me,
A squall from any direction will obliterate my existence,
So effortlessly, just like putting out the flicker
of a match.
…
My
voice is the evidence of my existence,
Incessantly I must, let out the voice in me.
It is my sincere hope that oppressed people from all
over the world, as well as those who have been subjugated
to unfairness and injustice, would shout out their
voices loudly and with courage and determination;
for that we know silence and inaction will invariably
fuel the force of the oppressor."
Before ending his thought-provoking speech Mr. Chen
said "In the March 26 Parade that will be held
tomorrow, I call upon all of you to rise to the occasion
and let the world hear our voice of democracy and
peace. Like what the Writer Yang Kuei had once said:
let all the elderly and the young support one another
in each other's arms as we walk on towards the garden
of a hundred flowers in full bloom."
Taiwan
Set The Ball Rolling With
"2005 Taiwan Poetry Festival"
Towards World Brotherhood, Love and
Peace Through Poetry!
The
beautiful port city of Taiwan, Kaohsiung was transformed
into paradise of Art and Culture in March 2005 and
spread a red carpet to 115 world poets from 26 countries
by publishing a monumental world poetry anthology
in English and Chinese.
The 2005 World Poetry Festival in Kaohsiung was funded
by Council for Cultural Affairs and sponsored by Bureau
of Cultural Affairs of Kaohsiung City Government and
National Museum of Taiwanese Literature. The Literary
Taiwan Foundation was honoured to organize such a
significant international event of poetic exchange.
For such a wonderful occasion, the organizers edited
and published a handbook that included the papers
presented and Anthology of the 2005 World Poetry Festival
In Kaohsiung.
The Anthology encompasses the poems by 115 poets from
26 countries. Some of these poets were unable to attend
the festival but sent their poems to be included.
In the Anthology, the surnames and personal names
of the poets in Taiwan were romanized according to
the Wade-Giles system for the sake of uniformity of
editing. The organizers say that the publication of
such a book would be impossible without the help from
Professor Hsu Wen-hsiung and Dr. Lee Kuei-shien, who
translated most of the poems from Chinese into English
and from English into Chinese respectively.
