The Greater Tainan Government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau yesterday condemned an event sponsored by Taiwan Volkswagen on Saturday that it says disrespected the Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城) after it turned into a wild party among bikers.
Taiwan Volkswagen and Niho Creative Studios co-hosted the “2014 Greater Tainan — Finding Nostalgia, the Harley Rock’n’Roll Concert” at the castle in Tainan’s Anping District (安平).
According to the bureau, the event was approved on the grounds that it was a charity event which feauturing the exhibition of vintage Harley Davidson motorcycles.
The bureau said that while there was no reason to deny requests by civic organizations to use public spaces to stage events, rules must be followed.
The reason the incident has received such attention is that the Eternal Golden Castle is a precious cultural and historic site that belongs to all Taiwanese, it added.
While drinking at the site does not harm the castle in any way, it is simply unbecoming, the bureau said, adding that it had told the organizers that there should be no eating or drinking at the event, no smoking inside the castle and that they should monitor the activity of participants to ensure that the site remained unharmed.
“We regret that the organizers failed to stop the few individuals at the event who decided to flout the regulations and party on the grounds of a national heritage site,” the bureau said, adding that it has sent an official inquiry to the company and Niho Creative Studios over the matter.
A Niho representative surnamed Chung (鐘) yesterday said that under the contract, Niho Creative Studios should have overseen the event and maintained order throughout, adding that the company was sorry the event had created public concern.
Chung said the company wished to extend its apologies to Greater Tainan’s government and its residents.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai