By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 11th January 2018)- The Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and national media entity ZBC (ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation) have teamed up to showcase a 24-epiosde Taiwanese television drama series called ‘The New World’ come next week.
On Tuesday 8th January, a media luncheon ceremony was held at the conference room of Ocean Terrace Inn (OTI) located at Fortland whereby local journalists, editors and other media personnel were treated to highlights of the show as well as a scrumptious meal.
Episodes are expected to be air on ZIZ Television on Thursdays-starting 17th January- at 8:30PM with a rebroadcast on Mondays at 1:30 PM.
‘The New World’ is described to be a show which tells an intriguing story of a young woman dragged into a mysterious case with a secret hidden for five decades.
Resident Taiwan ambassador Tom Lee, during his remarks, commented that “Watching Taiwanese TV series is like making a journey to Taiwan.”
Lightheartedly, he also shared that: “If you watch all the episodes , you will feel like you have been to Taiwan 24 times and another time you will know Taiwan better than I do” whilst adding “ and most importantly you would be inspired and dare to dream.”
He informed that members of the Embassy experienced part of the recently concluded Sugar Mas 47 (St.Kitts-Nevis National Carnival) by looking on at J’ouvert while members of the Technical Mission participated in Glow Parade.
According to Ambassador Lee: “It is through cultural exchanges we can form a very good foundation to further deepen our relations. That’s why today I’m very happy to introduce one Taiwanese series ‘The New World’ to all of you.”
Acting General Manager of ZBC Vere Galloway touched on the long-standing relationship with the Taiwan Embassy.
“The relationship between ZIZ and the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has been an exceptional one which has benefitted both partners. ZIZ has benefitted, in the past, through material support in order to meet our objectives and we have afforded the Embassy a platform to showcase the beautiful country of Taiwan to the citizens of St.Kitts and Nevis.”
Galloway talked about the company looking forward every year to “the simple but impactful video features” such as National Day celebrations and videos highlighting the various cultural groups that have visited the Federation.
Galloway pointed out that in recent years ZIZ was privileged through the Taiwan Embassy to have a radio link up, an initiative which lasted a few months whereby DJs engaged in the sharing of cultures.
He said that programme “was enjoyed by both audiences” who tuned in.
The ZIZ official further spoke about such media partnership which included the showing of the Taiwanese TV series called ‘The Good Wife’- aired in November 2017- which was enjoyed by viewers. He expressed anticipation that the new series is expected to be well received likewise.
“When we came up with the idea of broadcasting for 24 hours a day, we realised that this could be mutually beneficial opportunity for us and the Taiwanese Embassy; we showcase their culture and they assist us in our role of 24-hours programming,” he stated.
Galloway went on to say: “ ‘The Good Wife’ was shown on ZIZ Television on Thursday evenings at 8:30 with a repeat broadcast on Monday at 1:30 in the afternoon. Viewers responded well to ‘The Good Wife’ to the point where we received many requests for the series to be repeated because people were saying that they missed some of the episodes. We are therefore confident that this new series ‘The New World’ which is a duration of 30 minutes is an action-packed romantic drama geared towards the younger viewers than ‘The Good Wife’ but that will be just as received.”