hello brian, See here ...
taipeitimes.com
"Taiwanese taekwondo star Chen Shih-hsin (???), a hero at home for winning the nation's first ever Olympic gold medal, has taken a coaching job at one of China's leading martial arts academies, a school official said yesterday."
... what is happening? Is everybody who is anybody in Taiwan moving to the Mainland, where things are happening with a bit more ... how shall we say? energy?
I understand that Freedom restricting Taiwan local authorities are trying almost everything to put the hero under island-arrest (I guess desperate times require terrible measures) china.scmp.com
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Taiwanese taekwondo star 'can't take job in Shanghai'
JACKY HSU in Taipei
Plans by Taiwanese Olympic gold medalist Chen Shih-hsin to teach taekwondo on the mainland were thwarted by the island's authorities yesterday.
"She must obtain prior approval from the Mainland Affairs Council [MAC] and the National Council of Physical Fitness and Sports [NCPFS] before she can go to the mainland to teach," said NCPFS chairman Chen Chuan-shou.
He was referring to an offer from the Shanghai-based Qingpu Martial Arts Institute for Chen to coach mainland taekwondo athletes.
The 26-year-old Taiwanese athlete and her coach and father, Chen Wei-hsiung, were invited by the institute to visit Shanghai on December 11 for three days, during which she was given a contract as head taekwondo coach in Shanghai. Her father was also given a contract to serve as a technical adviser.
But reports of their contracts drew an immediate backlash from Taiwanese authorities.
The NCPFS demanded that Chen clarify her intentions, saying teaching taekwondo on the mainland was against Taiwanese regulations.
MAC chairman Joseph Wu Jau-shieh pointed out that under the Mainland Relations Act, all paid employment by Taiwanese for mainland authorities required prior approval.
The NCPFS chairman yesterday said taekwondo was Taiwan's best hope of a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
"The mainland is our big competitor, and so we have to be cautious in this kind of employment issue," Mr Chen said during a meeting of the legislature in Taipei.
The NCPFS chairman said Chen and her father had told him that it was all a "misunderstanding".
"She told the council she was given the contract without being informed beforehand, and she was surprised too. In the end, she did not bring the contract back," the chairman said.
Chen was not available for comment yesterday.
But Sun Jianqun , head of the Qingpu Martial Arts Institute, said the school still hoped to have her on its staff.
Additional reporting by Minnie Yang
Chugs, Jay |
