Before the lunch reception, each student club was asked to prepare a brief report and speak on three topics: the most successful event(s) that the student club hosted; possible events or activities they could co-organize with other student clubs, and finally suggestions for improvements and ideas for next year’s events.

The student clubs already have many events in place to broaden the general understanding of Taiwan and its culture locally. For example the very well-established annual Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival (TWFF) was begun by UBC’s Literature Etc. student club and is now in its 8th year. The student club is in charge of everything: selecting the six films to be screened each year, chosen based on that year’s theme, film copyright inquiries, publicity, opening and closing events, and so on.

The student club members are part of the younger generation and are highly motivated to get involved in increasing Canadian people’s awareness of Taiwan. The clubs already have several events lined up for people to enjoy in 2015, including the Taiwanese Graduate Students Association’s Taiwanese film night, featuring KANO, UBC’s New Taiwanese Generation’s NTGx Taiwanese student exchange program, and UBC Reality Club’s Annual All-you-can-eat Night Market event.

The Taiwanese Graduate Students Association has successfully invited the film KANO, the 2014 popular Taiwanese baseball film based on a true story, to come to Vancouver as one of the stops in its North America screening tour. The film screenplay artist Wei Te-Sheng (魏德聖), who directed the infamous Taiwanese films Cape No. 7, and Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, agreed to give a short talk analyzing this particular film in January, 2015.

UBC’s New Taiwanese Generation planned to host their 2nd NTGx Taiwanese Student Exchange Program starting in January, and lasting approximately 3 weeks. It brought 16 students from Taiwan to UBC, almost double the number of students compared to last year. The program gives students opportunities to fully immerse themselves in an English-speaking environment. The club’s goal is to inspire students and develop their views of the global market, intercultural society, and overall life experience.

The UBC Reality Club members are the veterans of the night market event! As well as recreating Taiwanese cuisine treats and the bustling night market atmosphere typical of Taiwan, they also planned to incorporate elements of Chinese New Year to introduce different facets of Taiwanese culture to more attendees.