The Tainan City Government will build an "exact replica" of a Ming dynasty armed commercial vessel, known by Westerners as a sailing junk.
Officials at the city's Cultural Affairs Bureau said on Monday that the plan is part of the city's program to commemorate Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), who expelled Dutch colonists from Taiwan in 1662 after moving his troops from China a year earlier.
Cheng is better known to Westerners as Koxinga, a title meaning "Bearer of the Imperial Surname," bestowed on him by the last emperor of the Ming dynasty.
The boat, expected to be completed in a year, is also intended to boost tourism, the officials said.
They said that Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp has agreed to cover the cost of building the boat, estimated at NT$100 million (US$3 million).
Officials said the boat will be 33m long and 8.9m wide.
The United Ship Design and Development Center was to begin examining the details of the blueprint for the boat yesterday. Construction will begin as soon as the center gives approval to the design, the officials said.
The Tainan City Government has taken other steps to honor Koxinga, including establishing a monument on a historical battlefield in Tainan to commemorate the nine-month war he fought to end 38 years of Dutch rule.
Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) will inaugurate the monument next May in memory of the first major war in Taiwan 's history.
There are several temples in Anping and Tainan dedicated to Koxinga and his mother. People admire him as a national hero as well as for the loyalty he demonstrated to his emperor after the Ming dynasty collapsed.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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