Greater Taichung’s “love-locks bridge” will be preserved and moved to another location thanks to a campaign by scores of netizens to save it from demolition, the Railway Reconstruction Bureau announced last week.
Located next to the railway station in Fongyuan District (豐原), the fencing on the so-called “love-locks bridge” is covered with thousands of padlocks inscribed with wishes from couples hoping for long, loving relationships, as well as from family members hoping for a safe year.
About a decade ago, rumors began circulating that bridges that cross over railway tracks retain energy from the trains that pass beneath them and grant people their wishes.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen
Since then, throngs of people, especially couples, have inscribed all sorts of wishes on padlocks and attached them to the iron fencing, giving the bridge the name “love-locks bridge,” or “heart-locks bridge.”
However, in autumn last year, it looked like the bridge would be torn down to make room for an elevated railway project.
Following the news, Jen She Association chief Lin Hsuan-hung (林宣宏) and netizen Lin Shou-shan (林壽山) joined hands to launch a campaign and an online petition, calling for the bridge to be preserved.
On Monday, as several netizens arrived at the bridge hoping to attach their locks, Lin surprised the visitors with some good news.
“Officials from the bureau paid me a visit on Thursday and told me they have decided that public art funds will be used to preserve the ‘love-locks bridge’ by moving it to a different location,” Lin said.
“The officials also said they anticipate that the bridge will be transformed into public artwork for local residents,” Lin said.
It is the only “love-locks bridge” in the country, and is only one of five in the world, Lin said. The other four are in South Korea, Japan, Germany and Italy.
However, Yeh Jen-ho (葉仁和), stationmaster at Fongyuan Railway Station, said the bridge would lose its meaning if it were moved to a location away from the trains.
“Still, it’s the mighty power of the ‘love-locks bridge’ that fulfilled my wish to receive the much-needed funds to ensure its preservation,” Yeh said.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff Writer
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
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
RSS