（NOTICIA)National Geographic puts Taiwan under a new light

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/int%27l--community/2009/06/14/212181/National-Geographic.htm
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- When you say you live in 'Taiwan' to people outside Asia, they often look empathically at you, accompanied by a "Do you mean to say Thailand?"

Soon, there won't be misunderstanding any more about Taiwan's unique culture, history and environment, thanks to a new series of documentaries to be broadcast with this year's "Taiwan to the World" series on National Geographic Channel (NGC).

The innovative concept was inaugurated to show more documentaries about the Asia-Pacific zone and Taiwan in particular, explained May-yi Lee, regional producer for National Geographic, who noted that the award-winning channel has long noticed the great talent of Taiwanese television makers.

While American production teams face problems with the language and high traveling costs, the NGC combined the Taiwanese production teams with foreign directors for the occasion, she said.

In his documentary, titled "Typhoon Hunters," director Jose Miguel Garcia Sanchez shows how Taiwan and American scientists fly into hurricanes in order to drop sensors that can predict the strength and the direction of a storm.

"I just want people to know, that while they cower indoors when a typhoon comes, out there is a group of people who will risk their life to save them," Sanchez told The China Post in an exclusive interview.

According to the director, the most beautiful part is to see the international cooperation and the preparations that the hurricane hunters take.

"Taiwan is the second country in the world to launch airplanes to actually fly into the hurricanes after the U.S. However, they are still the first country in Asia, earlier than Japan and earlier than China. That is what counts here," Sanchez said.

It is quite a prestigious thing, as it is very difficult to fly into a typhoon, remarked Sunny Han, producer of the documentary. "You have to know in which areas you can fly in which direction, and which areas to avoid. Also you need to decide the best place to drop the sensor in order to have good results."

She stressed that this method can determine the strength and direction of a hurricane 20 percent faster than satellite observation, which can only observe the storm from the top. "If with a satellite you can spot it 100 kilometers before the coast line, then with this method it can be forecast 120 kilometers upfront."

Impressed by the beauty of the island, the Spanish director also unveiled that he is currently shooting a documentary about Danshui in Taipei County. The area was formerly colonized by Spain—followed by the Dutch—and the influences of the European nation are still noticeably present in both the Red Hair Castle, as well as the area around it, he said.

Another foreign director is Marti Bercaw, who filmed "Hip Hop Nation." In her documentary, she makes a comparison between the hip-hop culture in Taiwan and the U.S., by bringing Taiwanese hip-hop dancers to competitions with their American counterparts.

"You can clearly see the open and accepting atmosphere in hip-hop, because the Taiwanese dancers were cheered as enthusiastically as the American performers," she said.

Bercaw, who is a hip-hop dancer herself, perceives hip-hop as a dance, and doesn't care so much about the music or bling-bling rap culture. "I can dance on any music, even classical sometimes," she said. "And as for rap, it's just all complaining. To me that's not in the spirit of hip-hop."

The American director was positively surprised by the size and support of the dance in Taiwan. "Just as in the U.S., hip-hop has become a really huge in Taiwan. People set up schools, or become teachers, and actually make a living out of hip-hop," she concluded.

In addition to “Typhoon Hunters" and "Hip Hop Nation," "Tomb Raptor" and "River Tracing" will premiere from June 21 on, every Sunday at 10 p.m.


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Updated Sunday, June 14, 2009 1:52 pm TWN, By Paul Nieman, Special to The China Post