OLYMPICS/Taiwan Pavilion opens at Paris Cultural Olympiad to great fanfare

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Nearly 4,000 spectators from different corners of the world braved the torrential rain on Saturday to celebrate the opening of the Taiwan Pavilion, which aims to showcase the country's soft power, at the Paris Cultural Olympiad.

Queues began to form at the venue an hour before the 6 p.m. opening, with many fans eager to get their hands on one of the 500 unique gift bags dubbed "Taiwan's Louis Vuitton," according to the Ministry of Culture, the event organizer.

The bags, which contained Taiwanese beer, puffs, and bubble tea-flavored ice cream among other souvenirs, were all snapped up in an hour, the ministry said.

In addition, attendees were treated to performances by the creative chamber orchestra "3 People Music," the Eye Catching Circus, DJ QuestionMark, and singer Abao.

"Starting today, Taiwan will reintroduce itself to the world through its cultural and artistic achievements," Deputy Culture Minister Sue Wang (王時思) said in her opening remarks.

Taiwan's representative in France François Wu (吳志中), who also attended the ceremony, expressed hope that the event would demonstrate to the world that Taiwan is not only a nation of freedom, democracy, and semiconductor technology, "but also a country rich in culture."

Echoing Wu, French representative to Taiwan Franck Paris said Taiwan is the best place in the world to learn Mandarin and about semiconductors and AI technologies.

In addition, Taiwan shares the values of freedom, equality, and fraternity with all democratic countries around the globe, Paris said, concluding his speech with a cheer: "Go Taiwan!"

The Taiwan Pavilion, in the Parc de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement of Paris (Pont-de-Flandre), is free to visit and will be open to the public until Aug. 10 between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.

The Taiwan Pavilion will showcase four themed experiences to shine a light on the nation's freedom and multiculturism -- "Voice of Freedom," "Island Elegance," "Cultural Exchanges Between," and "Taiwan and France"-- the ministry said.

Visitors will have the chance to see Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), Taiwan's first drag queen crowned this season's "Next Drag Superstar" on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul's Drag Race.

The ministry said the Taiwan Pavilion will also project images and videos from a catalogue featuring around 300 Taiwanese artists who have works archived with the Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank.

The ministry added this will help promote Taiwan's values of freedom and equality to different races, ethnicities and gender identities.

For more information, go to https://cotpe.tw/