The Taipei Yangmingshan Flower Festival began yesterday, with cherry blossoms and various types of azalea welcoming visitors.
More than 2,000 cherry trees and about 80,000 azalea plants will blossom during the festival, which runs until March 23.
Yen Chun-cheng (顏春城), director of Yangmingshan National Park’s Management Office, said Japanese cherry blossoms would bloom early next month, followed by Formosan cherry blossoms later in the month.
PHOTO: CNA
During the festival, a photo exhibition featuring Yangmingshan’s scenery will be held at Yangmingshan National Park’s Guangfu Building (光復樓). There will also be martial arts and lion dance performances, concerts, puppet shows and Chinese painting.
Yen said visitors could also spend the day touring nearby attractions, such as the Lin Yu-tang House and the Shilin Presidential Residence, which is holding a show featuring various types of roses.
Fang Yang-ning (方仰寧), director of Taipei City’s Traffic Police Division, urged visitors to take public transportation to the park. Traffic controls will be imposed on Yangde Boulevard (仰德大道), the main route into the Yangmingshan area, starting today.
Private cars without a permit will not be permitted to use the road to enter the park between 6am and 4pm, or to exit the park from 2pm to 6pm, Fang said.
Visitors can take buses to the park from Jiantan (劍潭), Shilin (士林), Xinbeitou (新北投), Yuanshan (圓山), Shipai (石牌) and Taipei Main Station MRT stations.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
CASE: Prosecutors have requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants’ role in ‘undermining the country’s democratic foundations’ Five people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), including senior staff from the party’s Taipei branch, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. Those indicted include KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release. Prosecutors said the three were responsible for fabricating 5,211 signature forms — 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 for DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) — with forged entries accounting for