May 2, 2006, 17:00 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday conferred a medal on Taiwan-born director Ang Lee in recognition of his cinematic achievements.
The medal, the Order of the Brilliant Star, is issued to Taiwanese people and foreigners who have made a special contribution to Taiwan.
At the medal-presentation ceremony held in the Presidential Office Building, Chen called Lee the light of Taiwan and all Chinese and the pride of Asia.
Chen also congratulated Lee on being named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the latest issue of Time magazine.
Lee said a quarter of the world population speaks Chinese, so the Chinese have many opportunities in the field of film-making. He hoped that Taiwan could learn from France and South Korea and produce good films to show the world.
Lee, 51, returned to his hometown of Tainan in the south of Taiwan last week to celebrate his mother's 80th birthday. Tainan welcomed him by declaring April 28 - his mother's birthday - as 'Ang Lee Day.'
Lee grew up in Tainan and embarked on the road of film-making in 1973 when he enrolled in the Film and Drama Department of the National Arts School near Taipei.
At 23, he went to the US to study film-making at New York University and has lived in the US since then.
Though he is a US citizen, Taiwanese people still consider Lee a Taiwanese director and take pride in his cinematic achievements.
After Ang Lee won best-director for Brokeback Mountain on March 5, President Chen called Lee 'the pride of Taiwan' and said 'all Taiwanese rejoiced in Lee's success.'
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