Having completed a tour of six lighthouses where his late father served as a watchman, a man from Pingtung County said he hopes the new government respects heroes such as his father who quietly contributed to the nation by fulfilling their duties.
Nien Chi-cheng (念吉成) on Thursday last week visited Beiding Island (北椗島) Lighthouse to honor his father, who once served on the remote atoll in the Kinmen archipelago.
Nien said his father, Nien Hsing-pei (念興培) — a lighthouse watchman his whole life — passed away 30 years ago.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Nien Chi-cheng decided in 2011 to tour the lighthouses his father had worked in.
“Due to its remote location, Beiding Island Lighthouse was the last of the group I visited,” he said.
Maritime and Port Bureau Director-General Chi Wen-jong (祁文中) and Lighthouse Superintendent Chen Chien-kuo (陳建國) helped him with the travel arrangements, Nien Chi-cheng said, adding that it was important to him that he finished the tour the day before President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inauguration on Friday.
“Tsai once said that ‘it is the collective striving of the people that makes this nation great,’” Nien Chi-cheng said. “With this in mind, I hope the government respects and restores our history, so that the nameless heroes who have quietly contributed to the nation by manning their posts might not be forgotten.”
According to the bureau, Beiding Island is 0.08 km2 in size, and has no electricity or running water; its small group of lighthouse personnel, rotated every 15 days, are supplied with auto batteries, desalinated seawater and rations by sea.
Because transit to the atoll is dependent on the tides, Nien Chi-cheng arrived at the atoll by boat at 10am and had to depart within the hour.
He was tearful during the voyage, saying: “Visiting the island today helped me understand how lonely it was to be a lighthouse watchman on Beiding Island.”
Nien Chi-cheng said his father was transferred in 1945 from Niushandao Lighthouse in China’s Fujian Province to Beiding Island, and in the following year was transferred to a lighthouse in Penghu.
Nien Chi-cheng said that after his father was stationed on Beiding, he had no further contact with his family in Fujian.
Nien Chi-cheng said he plans to write a book about the history of Taiwan’s lighthouse watchmen.
The Beiding Lighthouse was built in 1882 and its original uppermost structure was destroyed by US bombers during World War II, the bureau said.
In 1996, when Chinese launched missiles into the Taiwan Strait, the lighthouse staff were ordered to “live and perish with the lighthouse” and to write their wills, the bureau said.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS