A group of Chinese officials conducted a ceremony yesterday in which they symbolically collected water from Penghu in preparation for China’s Maritime Day, which falls on July 11 this year.
Liu Jianmin (劉健民), head of the Chinese water-collecting group and the deputy chief of the organizing committee for Maritime Day in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, said at a ceremony in Penghu’s Makong City that Maritime Day was designated by China’s State Council in 2005 to honor Zheng He (鄭和), a Chinese navigator in the 14th century.
Liu said that Quanzhou, which will host this year’s Maritime Day celebration, is one of the Chinese ports from which immigrants departed for Taiwan in the past.
In order to show the close relations between Fujian Province and Taiwan, his committee decided to collect water from five places in Taiwan and from five places in Fujian Province.
In addition to the water from Penghu, the Chinese organizing committee will also collect water from the Keelung River, Jhuoshuei River, Danshui River and Sun Moon Lake.
In Fujian, the water will come from the Min River, Jiulong River, Jin River, Ting River and Sai River, Liu said.
The water taken from the 10 places will be poured into a vessel during a Maritime Day celebration and then poured into the Taiwan Strait as a symbol of integration.
Chen Shuang-chuan (陳雙全), secretary of the Penghu Association for Cross-Strait Exchanges, said the water was collected from the Four Eyes Well, dug more than 400 years ago, adding that the well is situated in the oldest part of Makong City.
Liu, who arrived in Penghu on Saturday, is scheduled to fly to Taiwan proper today.
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