The renovation of Ximending's Red House (
However, a recent experimental two-day "fashion market festival" launched by the city's Department of Cultural Affairs last month in the Red House attracted more than 20,000 visitors and created revenues of NT$1 million (US$30,000), exciting city officials and inspiring them to try to revive the area by hosting a regular weekend fashion market and making it an urban hub for creativity and innovation.
A test-run period for the weekend fashion market in the Red House will be launched on Saturday and every weekend until November with hundreds of booths selling products from handmade accessories and T-shirts to art pieces. The market will also feature a bookstore, cafe and music performances, the department said.
"Setting up the fashion market in the historical Red House is a combination of new and old, and we believe the market will bring the area alive and make Taipei a more innovative city," department Commissioner Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said on Friday during a meeting with local community and business representatives regarding the renovation project.
Targeting younger generations and tourists, the department will also seek out private businesses to open stores in the north and south plazas around the Red House after the test-run period to make the area another popular tourist attraction in the city, Lee said.
Lee said that multiple operation sectors should be blamed for the failed Ximen market renovation efforts in the past. As the city government authorized the department to take full charge of the operation of the area since last month, Lee expressed confidence on the success of the renovation, as the fashion markets expected to attract younger crowds in Ximending, a popular gathering area for teenagers.
Welcoming the department's plan, Sheng Wen-wen (
Local borough chief Kao Tieng-fu (
"The Ximen market is the oldest existing traditional market in the city. We hope the fashion market will still carry the historical footprints of Ximending, instead of a place where teenagers shop and leave," Huang said.
The Red House is an octagonal structure built of red brick in 1908. Originally called the "Octagon Market," it was the neighborhood market of the Ximen area and later home to a previous "Red Theater." In 1997, it was declared a Class 3 historical site by the department, and was later designated to be used as a venue for spoken-word and vocal performances starting in 2002 when former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration initiated a renovation project.
In addition to boosting business in the area, Lee said the project also aimed at providing a permanent location for young designers and encouraging the cultural industry through relaxing regulations and opening up municipal space for establishing fashion markets.
Before the establishment of a regular fashion market in Ximending, there have been many similar markets held around the city in recent years, including Huashan Art District, Taipei Cinema Park and the Eslite Bookstore's Dunnan branch.
CAMPO, a civil association dedicated to organizing art and fashion markets around the country, lauded the department's efforts to find stable locations for designers to showcase their creativity, but called on the department to provide long-term assistance, as it would take a long time for designers selling products at booths to establish their own brands.
Lee said the department will have an evaluation mechanism to ensure the quality of the booths, and is seeking to open more municipal spaces to set up regular fashion markets in the future to encourage the cultural and arts industry.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon