TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Photos of children dressed as Taiwan's president and epidemic prevention czar went viral on social media as Taiwanese celebrated Halloween over the weekend.
Although Halloween fell on Sunday (Oct. 31), many of the biggest costume events for kids were held Saturday (Oct. 30), such as the 13th annual Tianmu Halloween Festival in Taipei's Shilin District and the annual costume party in the Fuzhong Commercial Area of New Taipei's Banqiao District. On Saturday evening, photos of children dressed as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) quickly went viral.
On their Facebook pages, authors Lisa Liu (劉宗瑀) and Mr.柯學先生 posted photos of a girl dressed as Tsai and a boy wearing a Chen costume. The "Mini-Tsai" was dressed in a white T-shirt, gray suit jacket, black pants, and black sneakers and sported wireframe glasses, a blue mask, and Tsai's bob haircut.
(Facebook, Lisa Liu photo)
To make it extra clear who she was dressed as, the child also carried a sign showing photos of Tsai wearing the same outfit. Meanwhile, the miniature Chen could be seen with wisps of gray hair, a furrowed forehead, and the obligatory gray-and-yellow vest worn by all CECC officials at press events.
The boy also held a giant Styrofoam syringe labeled "Medigen," a reference to Taiwan's domestically developed COVID vaccine, in his left hand. In his right hand was a sign that read "Today's local (COVID cases)" and the number zero, representing the long stretches without local cases the country has seen over the past month.
(Facebook, Lisa Liu photo)
Fans of the Tsai costume were struck by the remarkable similarity to the president:
"Mini-Tsai Ing-wen."
"Carbon copy."
"Tsai's successor."
"Waiting for her to be elected."
Netizens were also impressed with the Chen costume:
"That forehead."
"I want to know what Chen's response to this will be."
"Chen's grandson."
"They should call him Chen Shih-hsiao (little)."
(Facebook, Lisa Liu photo)
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) also posted a photo of the little girl on Saturday evening and wrote, "This is probably the most creative Halloween costume I've seen this year!" She described her as "Mini-Tsai" and said the president will "probably melt like me when she sees this."
In addition, another child was seen wearing an outfit mocking former Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜). The costume included a faux bald head, Kuo's trademark blue button-down shirt, and black pants.
On the back of the child's shirt was a play on words: "Put yourself in others' shoes and sleep until noon."
(Facebook, Lisa Liu photo)
