Kaohsiung’s Cijin Center for Preserving Sampan Boats, dedicated to Cijin District’s (旗津) traditional craft, on Dec. 30 invited students from the Municipal Cijin Elementary School to learn shipbuilding, marking the center’s participation in the city’s cultural heritage educational program.
About 150 students from the school participated in a do-it-yourself demonstration of building the wooden boats.
Kaohsiung Bureau of Education Director Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) also attended the event.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
The center, formerly a dormitory compound for naval technicians, was established by National Sun Yat-sen University’s Department of Sociology and received funding from the education department and the Urban Development Bureau, with Kuan playing an important role as the project’s chief promoter.
Kuan said that she encouraged department faculty members and students to get involved in community initiatives and lobbied for the military facility to be put to use.
“The sociology department surprised me with their ability in getting it done so quickly,” Kuan said, adding that the city government and university dean Yang Hung-duen (楊弘敦) were enthusiastic about the program.
“Taiwan is a maritime nation, and its maritime heritage should be a part of education,” Fan said.
“The faculty and students of the sociology department showed extraordinary initiative in preserving and promoting the craft of sampan building through education, and [Kaohsiung] elementary and middle-school principals responsible for cultural education will all come to observe [the work done] here,” Fan said.
An Urban Development Bureau representative said that it hopes the center will become a place of communal and recreational activity in Cijin District.
A Cijin Elementary School drumming team, who won the grand prize at last year’s National Drum Corps Championships, concluded the event by performing an original Taiko drum composition, The Ocean Trilogy.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS