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.
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