The Kaomei Lighthouse (高美燈塔), on the bank of the Dajia River (大甲溪) on the northern side of the Port of Taichung, is set to become a new tourist attraction, after renovation work was recently completed by the Maritime and Port Bureau.
The lighthouse was officially opened to tourists on Saturday, becoming one of 10 lighthouses nationwide, out of 35, that are open to the public.
Previously, the lighthouses were managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Customs Administration. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications took over the management last year, and decided to turn some of them into tourist attractions.
Photo: CNA
Built in 1967 with steel reinforced concrete, the Kaomei Lighthouse has an octagonal structure and is the only one in the country painted with red and white stripes, the bureau said.
Visitors can see the wind power generators and Kaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) from the lighthouse, the bureau added.
The lighthouse stopped operations in 1982, when the lighting equipment was moved to the top floor of Far Eastern Silo and Shipping Corp, also known as the lighthouse in the Port of Taichung, the bureau said.
The Kaomei Lighthouse continued to exist without the lighting equipment, and many people have mistaken the 34m-high lighthouse as an incinerator chimney.
According to Yeh Luen-huei’s (葉倫會) Stories of Lighthouses in Taiwan (台灣燈塔的故事), the property on which the lighthouse was located also has a fountain, which is 1.5m deep and 6m in diameter.
His research showed that the water in the fountain used to shoot up about 3m because of the strong water pressure. Children were allowed to enter the property to play baseball and swim in the fountain.
However, after the 921 Earthquake in 1999, the groundwater stopped coming out of the fountain.
Aside from the lighthouse, visitors to the site can also see a rare flower called Chinese Spiranthes, a type of orchid.
When it is blooming, the flower will wrap around the stem like a dragon, the bureau said, adding that the flowers give out a light fragrance as well.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by