Fan Wei Qi's song: Na Xie Hua Er (Those Flowers)

Since we haven't been able to upload Grandpa's slideshow yet, I wanted to at least link you to the song that was used for Gramp's slideshow. It's a pretty emotional song sung by Blackie's gf, that really reminds us of Grandpa's life. Everytime we hear this song now, we always think of all the happy moments. Enjoy!

Day Out at XinMenDing District Part 2

(The above: Bee,Tom,Grandma,Katherine,Jessica,Patricia,Christine,Blackie,Joseph, Uncle and 1st Aunt)

Here's the Chen Tribe going from DimSum Lunch to the screening room to see "I Wish." We're clearly having a jolly ol' time taking over the streets of Taipei! We love to flash the "peace" sign which in Chinese, really means, "YAY!". So lots of YAY'S out to all of the Chen's! The photos below are of us in the screening room, at lunch with our lil niece/nephews (adorable), with grandma, aunts and uncles and plenty of cousins. Blackie shared an emotional speech as did Grandma - who started crying intensely making her speech which made all of us tear up as well. We love your Grandma and Grandpa! Wo me do hen ai ni men!

The significance of XinMenDing: Grandpa used to work in XMD because he's been a partner in one of the nightclubs for years. While all of us were growing up or spending summers in Taipei, Grandpa would always bring back to the house treats from the XMD area after a day's work - he'd always bring back all the grandkids' favorites - potstickers, egg tarts, noodles, oyster noodle soup, oyster pancakes, you name it, he brought it home for all of us to enjoy. He always went to the same DimSum restaurant that was nearby to the nightclub and he'd bring the grandkids too eat dimsum. The restaurant pics here are inside that restaurant.

XinMenDing:
[Theater Street - Ximending became a famous theater street in Taipei in the 1930s and grew even more prosperous after the defeat of Japan. In the 1950s, every theater was full to capacity and scalpers ran wild. Gradually, more theaters opened one by one; At one point, WuChang St Section 1 had over ten theaters opening. However, in the 1990s, as Taipei City developed toward the Eastern District and away from Ximending, it began to lose business. In the late 2000s, the city government and local stores established Ximending as a pedestrian area, prohibiting the entrance of vehicles on weekends and national holidays, a move that attracted young consumers and brought back business. Today, Ximending has over twenty theaters and six thousand vendors, and is a popular area for small concerts, album debuts, and street performances.
Popularity:
Ximending is now called the “Harajuku” of Taipei. The local bookstores sell Japanese magazines, books, CD albums, and clothing, making it a heaven for the "Harizu", or Japanese culture adorers. Individual vendors gather in the streets as well as the large business buildings, such as Wannien Department Store and Shizilin Square in the early days, and Wanguo Department Store and Eslite 116 in the later period.]

BLACKIE'S movie, I WISH..... out in theatres in Taiwan

Blackie's new movie came out in Taiwan at the end of November and here's the link to the "I WISH" movie website. http://spring.com.tw/iwish/

While we were back in Taiwan in November for Grandpa's funeral, Blackie rented out a screening room for the entire family to watch his movie together. This was a very generous gesture for him to do for our family as our family had the chance to share in something he's worked so hard for and a project of Blackie's that Grandpa wasn't able to live to see. The picture above is of all of us taking a walk through the XinMenDin District as our Chen Tribe walks from our dimsum lunch at one of Grandpa's favorite restaurants to the Screening Room to see "I WISH".

Below is a clip from the movie, "I Wish".

Thanks, Blackie!

Joseph Chen's Flight Demo in Taiwan in 2004 - Taiwanese ROC AirForce Fighters Takeoff/Land on National Highway!

This is older news but I wanted to add this clip because it's a big deal! Because it's Chen related of course. Joseph (Chen Jien-Liang) was one of only 4 fighters who flew Mirage 2000 fighter jets during a Flight Demo in Taiwan in 2004. Here's the YouTube Video of him in his jet - he's in the 2nd jet #2054. In more recent news, Joseph has just be promoted to Major Jien-Liang Chen. Congrats!!!!

On 2004-07-21, two Mirage 2000-5s from the 2nd TFW landed on the wartime reserve runway located at the Jenteh section of Highway No. 1 as part of the annual Han Kuang No. 20 Exercise. Mirage 2000-5DI 2051, piloted by Maj. Wei-Kuang Chang and Lt. Col. Juei-Chi Duan, and 2054, piloted by Lt. Col. Bin-Fu Wu and Capt. Jien-Liang Chen, took off from their home base Hsinchu Air Base at 0540 hrs. 2051 landed on the highway at 0620 hrs, followed by 2054 at 0622 hrs. The two jets then taxied to the other end of the reserve runway to be refueled and re-armed with two Magic air-to-air missiles, respectively. At 0712 hrs, 2051 took off again and 2054 followed one minute later. Both landed at Hsinchu at 0736 hrs.

Patricia came to visit a few weeks ago, so me and ed and ed's wife alison went to chinatown for some dim sum. Luckily we had patricia because she could order in chinese and that gave us an advantage.











Here's a pic from last year, when the whole Chen game came to new york. this one was taken at Russ and Daughters, a bagel place that is known for the spreads and fish. good times.