Lu Ming Square drew a crowd of nearly 1,000 excited visitors for the colorful opening ceremony of the NTU World Carnival Festival on April 30.  Organized by the Office of International Affairs and the Office of Students Affairs, the 2-day festival revolved around an international food fair that gave visitors the chance to sample a variety of traditional and innovative cuisines while experiencing the cultures which the delicacies represented.

The festival was part of the 2016 Break and Fuse Fest, which was jointly organized by the three members of the recently-established NTU System—National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.  The event was aimed to highlight the growing international makeup of the three campuses as well as to create more interaction opportunities for international and local students outside of the classroom.

The opening ceremony was led by Vice President for Student Affairs Tsung-Fu Chen, Vice President for International Affairs Luisa Shu-Ying Chang, Deputy Vice President for International Affairs Bennett Yu-Hsiang Fu, and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Jo-Shui Chen.  Many high-level dignitaries from abroad were also on hand for the celebrations, including representatives from the Korean Mission in Taipei, Manila Economic and Cultural Office, Embassy of the Republic of Nicaragua, Embassy of the Republic of Panama, and Mexican Trade Services Documentation and Cultural Office.  Director I-Ping Liang of the NTNU Office of International Affairs and Section Chief Su-Miao Liu of the Ministry of Education’s Overseas Chinese Students and International Students Service Section were also in attendance.

The international food fair featured booths designed and run by some of NTU’s international students from around the globe and 29 Indonesian and Malaysian students from NTUST.  Among the delicious offerings were freshly baked Swiss-style cheese bread, Malaysian kebabs and bak-kut-teh pork rib soup, Korean fried cakes with a Panamanian flavor, Mexican tortillas, and Turkish chicken wraps.

In the past, the booths had been operated solely by student clubs.  This year, the organizers decided to allow students to set up booths regardless of their club affiliations to encourage greater openness and creativity.  Besides enhancing cooperation among student clubs as well as increased  cross-cultural interaction, this approach fulfilled the Break and Fuse Fest’s goal of breaking down the old models and creating an amalgamated, vitalized version of the original event.