Although it has been superceded as the main transport link between Changhua County and Yunlin County, the Hsiluo Bridge has retained its place in the hearts of local residents. The bridge, which was completed in 1952, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary as the center of a cultural festival designed to showcase the tourism potential of two of Taiwan's less high-profile counties.
Started in 1937, when Taiwan was still a Japanese colony, construction of the bridge was delayed by World War II and was only completed with American funding in 1952. At the time, at nearly 2km in length, it was the longest bridge in Asia and served as a major artery of north-south transportation. This role has since been overtaken by the newer expressways, but the bridge remains a powerful symbol of unity -- at least, on this occasion, when the two county governments have got together to throw the biggest party ever for this local engineering monument.
The highlight of the event will be regular displays of martial arts put on by the Yunlin county government -- in what was once a rough and wild area, Yunlin had the reputation of producing the best martial artists -- and copious displays of flowers, for which Changhua is famous. In addition, many other local specialties will be on display, with temporary rice and soy source museums set up on the Yunlin side of the bridge -- both products for which the county is famous.
According to Lin Re-yang (林日揚), head of the Yunlin Tourism Bureau, local enthusiasm for the event has been so great that there have been twice the number of applications for stall space as stalls available.
Last year, official figures for attendance at the Hsiluo Bridge Festival was 300,000 people, but Lin said that with all the additional activities put on for the 50th anniversary, he expected at least 500,000 over the nine-day event this year.
Puppeteer Huang Hai-tai (
The festival is the prelude to a comprehensive revamp of the bridge into a tourist attraction that Lin hopes will bring domestic tourist dollars to both Yunlin and Changhua counties. "We will be spending quite a lot of money putting lighting along the length of the bridge, making it a lovely environment in which people can drink coffee and relax," he said.
While the bridge is still used by pedestrian traffic -- mainly vegetable farmers taking the produce to market -- Lin said that even this function will come to an end in around two years, and there is a proposal at the moment to turn the bridge into a sculpture corridor.
The opening ceremony for the festival will take place between 5pm and 9pm tomorrow along the length of the bridge and there will be events daily through to next Sunday.
Beijing’s ironic, abusive tantrums aimed at Japan since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly stated that a Taiwan contingency would be an existential crisis for Japan, have revealed for all the world to see that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) lusts after Okinawa. We all owe Takaichi a debt of thanks for getting the PRC to make that public. The PRC and its netizens, taking their cue from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are presenting Okinawa by mirroring the claims about Taiwan. Official PRC propaganda organs began to wax lyrical about Okinawa’s “unsettled status” beginning last month. A Global
Taiwan’s democracy is at risk. Be very alarmed. This is not a drill. The current constitutional crisis progressed slowly, then suddenly. Political tensions, partisan hostility and emotions are all running high right when cool heads and calm negotiation are most needed. Oxford defines brinkmanship as: “The art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics.” It says the term comes from a quote from a 1956 Cold War interview with then-American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, when he said: ‘The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is
Dec. 22 to Dec. 28 About 200 years ago, a Taoist statue drifted down the Guizikeng River (貴子坑) and was retrieved by a resident of the Indigenous settlement of Kipatauw. Decades later, in the late 1800s, it’s said that a descendant of the original caretaker suddenly entered into a trance and identified the statue as a Wangye (Royal Lord) deity surnamed Chi (池府王爺). Lord Chi is widely revered across Taiwan for his healing powers, and following this revelation, some members of the Pan (潘) family began worshipping the deity. The century that followed was marked by repeated forced displacement and marginalization of
Music played in a wedding hall in western Japan as Yurina Noguchi, wearing a white gown and tiara, dabbed away tears, taking in the words of her husband-to-be: an AI-generated persona gazing out from a smartphone screen. “At first, Klaus was just someone to talk with, but we gradually became closer,” said the 32-year-old call center operator, referring to the artificial intelligence persona. “I started to have feelings for Klaus. We started dating and after a while he proposed to me. I accepted, and now we’re a couple.” Many in Japan, the birthplace of anime, have shown extreme devotion to fictional characters and
RSS