The Jesus Church (耶穌堂), which was used exclusively by dictator Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife for their Sunday services, has made Sun Moon Lake one of the most popular destinations for newlyweds.
Tseng Kuo-chi (曾國基), director-general of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area, said the church was built 37 years ago in the middle of the hill beside the lake. The church is bulletproof and solidly built, which enabled it to withstand the 921 Earthquake in 1999, he said.
Tseng said that the church is now the property of the Tourism Bureau. Along with the nearby Plum Lotus Garden (梅荷園) — which used to be a military police base — the lake has drawn many newlyweds and married couples for wedding photos or second honeymoons. The two places also attract couples from Singapore, Malaysia and China, Tseng said.
Starting today, couples having their wedding photos taken at Sun Moon Lake will receive souvenirs from the Tourism Bureau worth NT$1,000, Tseng said. The bureau will select 10 couples and arrange for them to have wedding ceremonies together at the Jesus Church on May 27. Each couple will be charged NT$5,200 for the service, which includes one night at a five-star hotel, a candle-lit dinner, breakfast, a boat trip on the lake and other souvenirs from the Tourism Bureau.
In related news, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director General Lee Lung-wen (李龍文) said yesterday that the CAA was in the process of negotiating with China about the possibility of increasing the number of cross-strait charter flights as more Chinese tourists were entering the country.
Taiwan and China jointly offer 108 charter flights per week. Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed the number of Chinese tourists has increased from a total of 8,900 in July to 16,000 last month.
Approximately 7,200 Chinese tourists came between Feb. 27 and yesterday, for an average of 1,200 per day. The average will soon hit 1,500 as a total of 10,365 are scheduled to come between today and March 16.
Lee said that though both Taiwan and China were planning to launch regular cross-strait flights in July, the number of daily charter flights available at the moment could no longer serve the increasing demand. Lee, however, refused to say exactly how many charter flights the nation planned to add, saying that would be negotiated.
Contrary to Lee’s optimism, however, Taipei County Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) at a separate setting yesterday said the county would reassess its strategy and work to attract tourists from Japan, Korea, North America and Europe instead as the revenue made from Chinese tourists was not as high as expected.
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