The Tourism Bureau yesterday unveiled the South Village in a bid to promote the many wonders hidden in Taipei’s nooks and crannies and added the city’s Dadaocheng area (大稻埕) as the latest item in its “International Spotlight” of the nation’s northern region.
Dadaocheng, which covers the area encircled by Chongqing N Road, Minsheng W Road, Zhonghxiao W Road and the Tamsui River (淡水河) and falls within the Datong District (大同) administration, was Taipei’s economic and cultural center during the Qing Dynasty as well as during the Japanese colonial period. It is home to many of the nation’s tourist attractions, including Dihua Street, Taipei Xiahai City God Temple and the Hsiao Hsi Yuan Stage.
Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General Wayne Liu (劉喜臨) said the International Spotlight project, launched in 2009, did not involve large construction projects and would focus on the lives of Taiwanese in presentations aimed at foreign tourists.
Photo: Chen Wei-tzu, Taipei Times
“In Taipei, for example, we do not need to develop new tourism resources by building another skyscraper,” he said. “Rather, we should use the lives of Taiwanese in the streets, lanes and alleys to touch international travelers. They can choose the buildings or the flowers they like and experience the history of the place and discover the stories that moved them.”
Liu said the project not only targeted foreign tourists, but local travelers who wish to explore the country’s rich history and diverse culture.
The South Village, which is part of the International Spotlight project, was launched yesterday to highlight the unique shops, traditional stores and other establishments hidden in the city’s nooks and crannies, the organizers said.
“Tourism is a big industry, but it can also be as small as an item or article used in everyday life,” Lulu Han (韓良露), head of the South Village said. “Visiting shops and stores are a good way to experience local life and learn about local culture.”
A tourist guidebook available at the South Village, which looks at Taipei’s Dadaocheng, Beitou (北投) and Da-an (大安) districts, gives detailed introductions to local history, the natural environment and attractions which lie off the beaten track.
Readers of the Beitou guidebook, for example, can find out about the old hot spring hotels built during the period of Japanese rule, including Longnaitang, as well as familiarizing themselves with local traditional markets, such as Beitou Market.
In addition to the guidebooks, the organizers also put together tourist maps of the three areas, containing dozens of walking routes that usually take about 90 minutes to complete.
All tourist information is available in Chinese, English and Japanese and can be obtained at the South Village, which is located in Taipei at 10, Lane 80, Shida Rd, Taipei and online through the project’s Web site: www.tteacafe.tw. To meet the needs of digital users, related applications are expected to be available for downloading in November, the organizers said.
Among other International Spotlight undertakings, the eastern region project (www.easternspot.com), managed by the Lovely Taiwan Foundation, offers comprehensive information on travelling in Chihshang (池上), Taitung, Hualien and Gangkou (港口) — an Amis Aboriginal village in Hualien County. Organized by iSee Taiwan Foundation, the central region project (www.lohaspot.com.tw) focuses on Taichung, while the southern station (www.nanspot.tw), which was recently launched by the 21st Century Foundation, starts the tourism venture in Greater Tainan.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods