Annual Mei-Chu Tournament takes place in Taiwan's Hsinchu

一年一度的梅竹賽在台灣新竹舉行

This year’s tournament held back by controversies




HSINCHU (Taiwan News) — The annual Mei-Chu Tournament between rivals National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) kicked off on Friday (March 5).

Since students from both schools failed to reach a consensus over tournament rules, NTHU ended up withdrawing from eight out of ten games at this year’s competition, according to an announcement on its Facebook page.

To support the decision of the students, not only did NTHU faculty refuse to show up at Mei-Chu’s opening ceremony, but the school’s president, Hong Ho-cheng (賀陳弘), was absent from both the opening and the gong striking at NYCU’s Chung Cheng Auditorium.

In response to the controversy, Hsinchu Deputy Mayor Shen Hui-hong (沈慧虹) canceled her scheduled attendance at the opening as well, reported UDN.

The dispute between the schools escalated a few days before this year’s competition as students and netizens fought fiercely online.

The unresolved controversies included NTHU’s disappointment with NYCU for bringing in badminton athletes from the National Defense Medical Center and a schedule conflict regarding a baseball game.

Despite the last-minute withdrawals, NYCU still carried out table tennis and badminton games with its own players. Basketball games were also able to take place.

The two remaining games that occurred as planned were contract bridge, which NYCU won, and Chinese chess, which NTHU won.

In addition to the 10 official games, exhibitions of billiards, fencing, go, archery, and darts also occurred.

Established in 1968, the Mei-Chu Tournament, also known as the 'Plum versus Bamboo Tournament,' is a three-day event meant to promote relations between students from the two schools in Hsinchu.

For more information about the games or a livestream, check out the Mei-Chu Tournament’s official website.