Recent photographs uploaded by amateur photographers finally decoded the mysterious adornment supposedly representing the “rise of Chiayi County” adjacent to the Siangho Interchange of National Expressway No. 82, which seemed for all intents and purposes to be intended for aerial viewing from its inception.
Viewed from the ground, the monument, which the county government said was a swinhoe pheasant, is a single length of blue-colored metal, curved slightly upward at either end.
The pedestal on which it rests is decorated with representations of Alishan (阿里山), the iconic Alishan Forest Railway trains and other tourist attractions, with pottery pieces made in Singang Township (新港).
Photo courtesy of the drone’s owner
It was finished at the end of 2013, and cost nearly NT$10 million (US$314,960 at current exchange rates), the county government said.
Visitors have been mystified as to how the piece of blue metal with a bird’s head on one end could be a representation of the swinhoe pheasant, an endangered species in the Alishan area and Chiayi County’s official bird.
However, recent pictures unearthed the wings, which are represented via landscaping art and can only be seen from a certain height.
The discovery, while exonerating the monument from some of the criticism surrounding it, also drew some new criticism from county councilors.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chiayi County Councilor Lee Kuo-sheng (李國勝) said that taxpayer-funded public art should be accessible to the public, and not everyone has the means to take a helicopter ride to gain an aerial view of the monument.
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