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
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
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
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
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS