Taiwanese and Norwegian Students Connect via Radio, Exchange Snack Boxes to Continue Old-Fashioned Friendship
Taiwanese and Norwegian high school students established a friendship through shortwave radio communication and exchanged snack boxes, fostering an old-fashioned cultural exchange. This initiative, driven by high school students, highlights youth diplomacy and the importance of traditional communication methods.
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- 📰 Published: May 1, 2026 at 22:53
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Wu Qi-lin, Helsinki, 1st) From the Arctic Circle to the subtropics, a friendship spanning 8,000 kilometers was forged. Bilingual experimental class students from Yilan High School and students from Vardø Upper Secondary School in Norway first connected via shortwave radio, then exchanged snack boxes across the sea to deepen their bond. This exchange, not relying on official channels, was spontaneously driven by high school students from both ends, serving as a concrete practice of youth national diplomacy.
The story began with radio waves. At 4 PM Taiwan time on January 21, Taiwanese and Norwegian students successfully communicated via shortwave radio, entirely without relying on the internet. Geomagnetic disturbances in the polar region caused the signal to be intermittent at one point, but it stabilized after several retries.
After successfully connecting, students greeted each other in English, and once the conversation started, it wouldn't stop. They chatted about everything from pop diva Taylor Swift to K-pop idols and their connection to social media, trends that transcend borders and cultures among the new generation. Even when the teacher announced that time was up, the students were still reluctant to disconnect, shouting that they didn't want to hang up. Finally, they exchanged Instagram accounts, eager to gain followers from each other.
Post shared by Digital Diplomacy Lab (@digidiplolab)
Vardø Upper Secondary School, at one end, is located in the easternmost part of Finnmark county, adjacent to the Russian border. The town has a population of only about 2,000 people, and the polar night lasts for two months in winter. A century ago, it was famous as a fishing hub, once known as "Little Paris of the North."
At the other end were students from Yilan High School's bilingual experimental class, led by teachers Li Wan-chen and Hsu Fang-chi.
On the day of the call, a temporary call sign BV0NTCR was also applied for, an abbreviation of "Civil Resilience."
The Taiwan-Norway radio project was initiated by Wang Hsiang-hsiang, a Taiwanese landscape architect living in Norway, and collaborated with Brona Keenan and Bertine Tønseth, co-founders of the Vardø art organization Komafest, as well as Kuo Chia-yu, chairman of the Taiwan Digital Diplomacy Association, and received funding from the Nordic Culture Fund.
Tønseth pointed out in an interview with local media that the starting point of the project was a reflection on "total digitalization"; she hoped that through the traditional technology of radio, teenagers would be guided to think: when cyberattacks, military conflicts, or power outages occur, do humans still have the ability to maintain contact?
In the days following the connection, Vardø students enthusiastically engaged in learning about radio. They listed items on the blackboard, preparing to send a box of snacks to their new friends in Yilan; they even handmade "cod floss" from freshly smoked cod and included it, and agreed with the Taiwanese side to exchange handwritten QSL cards, continuing the warmth of old-fashioned communication.
Taiwanese students also sent back a table full of snacks, with Kuai Kuai, pineapple cakes, and Peacock biscuits all packed into the box. Each package was labeled with English instructions and allergy warnings. This box full of Taiwanese flavors arrived in Vardø on April 30, just before the last day of class before Norway's Labor Day holiday. Students celebrated by unpacking and having a party at school, with strawberry puffs and Kuaiguai being their favorites.
Wang Hsiang-hsiang recently told the Central News Agency that Vardø's local newspaper, "East Coast Daily," featured the project extensively in early February, directly quoting screenshots of the Central News Agency's report from the Yilan site and mentioning that Taiwanese TV stations and newspapers also paid attention to this Norway-Taiwan exchange. For a small town with a sparse population, seeing Taiwan's national news agency convey their story to Asian readers made the local community deeply proud and strengthened their local identity with the project.
This exchange project's successful realization was truly difficult, not only bringing together the efforts of many people but also being influenced by natural factors such as weather changes and even the angle of the sun's rays.
She emotionally said that Vardø High School has many refugee students who came to the area due to the war in Ukraine. One of them, while watching a video introducing Taiwan, saw the national flag and images of Taiwan aiding Ukraine, and specifically asked her: Are Taiwanese and Chinese food very similar? Wang Hsiang-hsiang explained that there are indeed some common origins between the two. This student patted her shoulder and sighed: "I understand, our food also has a similar situation."
A Taiwanese student later told Wang Hsiang-hsiang that he had originally planned to travel to Korea with his parents during the summer vacation, but after checking online, he found that traveling to Vardø required four transfers and took more than 19 hours. He said that such a distant but warm place is a place he must visit once in his lifetime. (Editor: Tien Jui-hua) 1150501
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(Central News Agency reporter Wu Qi-lin, Helsinki, 1st) From the Arctic Circle to the subtropics, a friendship spanning 8,000 kilometers was forged. Bilingual experimental class students from Yilan High School and students from Vardø Upper Secondary School in Norway first connected via shortwave radio, then exchanged snack boxes across the sea to deepen their bond. This exchange, not relying on official channels, was spontaneously driven by high school students from both ends, serving as a concrete practice of youth national diplomacy.
The story began with radio waves. At 4 PM Taiwan time on January 21, Taiwanese and Norwegian students successfully communicated via shortwave radio, entirely without relying on the internet. Geomagnetic disturbances in the polar region caused the signal to be intermittent at one point, but it stabilized after several retries.
After successfully connecting, students greeted each other in English, and once the conversation started, it wouldn't stop. They chatted about everything from pop diva Taylor Swift to K-pop idols and their connection to social media, trends that transcend borders and cultures among the new generation. Even when the teacher announced that time was up, the students were still reluctant to disconnect, shouting that they didn't want to hang up. Finally, they exchanged Instagram accounts, eager to gain followers from each other.
Post shared by Digital Diplomacy Lab (@digidiplolab)
Vardø Upper Secondary School, at one end, is located in the easternmost part of Finnmark county, adjacent to the Russian border. The town has a population of only about 2,000 people, and the polar night lasts for two months in winter. A century ago, it was famous as a fishing hub, once known as "Little Paris of the North."
At the other end were students from Yilan High School's bilingual experimental class, led by teachers Li Wan-chen and Hsu Fang-chi.
On the day of the call, a temporary call sign BV0NTCR was also applied for, an abbreviation of "Civil Resilience."
The Taiwan-Norway radio project was initiated by Wang Hsiang-hsiang, a Taiwanese landscape architect living in Norway, and collaborated with Brona Keenan and Bertine Tønseth, co-founders of the Vardø art organization Komafest, as well as Kuo Chia-yu, chairman of the Taiwan Digital Diplomacy Association, and received funding from the Nordic Culture Fund.
Tønseth pointed out in an interview with local media that the starting point of the project was a reflection on "total digitalization"; she hoped that through the traditional technology of radio, teenagers would be guided to think: when cyberattacks, military conflicts, or power outages occur, do humans still have the ability to maintain contact?
In the days following the connection, Vardø students enthusiastically engaged in learning about radio. They listed items on the blackboard, preparing to send a box of snacks to their new friends in Yilan; they even handmade "cod floss" from freshly smoked cod and included it, and agreed with the Taiwanese side to exchange handwritten QSL cards, continuing the warmth of old-fashioned communication.
Taiwanese students also sent back a table full of snacks, with Kuai Kuai, pineapple cakes, and Peacock biscuits all packed into the box. Each package was labeled with English instructions and allergy warnings. This box full of Taiwanese flavors arrived in Vardø on April 30, just before the last day of class before Norway's Labor Day holiday. Students celebrated by unpacking and having a party at school, with strawberry puffs and Kuaiguai being their favorites.
Wang Hsiang-hsiang recently told the Central News Agency that Vardø's local newspaper, "East Coast Daily," featured the project extensively in early February, directly quoting screenshots of the Central News Agency's report from the Yilan site and mentioning that Taiwanese TV stations and newspapers also paid attention to this Norway-Taiwan exchange. For a small town with a sparse population, seeing Taiwan's national news agency convey their story to Asian readers made the local community deeply proud and strengthened their local identity with the project.
This exchange project's successful realization was truly difficult, not only bringing together the efforts of many people but also being influenced by natural factors such as weather changes and even the angle of the sun's rays.
She emotionally said that Vardø High School has many refugee students who came to the area due to the war in Ukraine. One of them, while watching a video introducing Taiwan, saw the national flag and images of Taiwan aiding Ukraine, and specifically asked her: Are Taiwanese and Chinese food very similar? Wang Hsiang-hsiang explained that there are indeed some common origins between the two. This student patted her shoulder and sighed: "I understand, our food also has a similar situation."
A Taiwanese student later told Wang Hsiang-hsiang that he had originally planned to travel to Korea with his parents during the summer vacation, but after checking online, he found that traveling to Vardø required four transfers and took more than 19 hours. He said that such a distant but warm place is a place he must visit once in his lifetime. (Editor: Tien Jui-hua) 1150501
Choose to stand with facts, every sponsorship you make is a force to protect press freedom.
Download the Central News Agency "First-hand News" APP to stay updated with the latest news.
The text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.