Changhua City’s former Railway Hospital could become a tourist attraction after the government spent NT$50 million (US$1.63 million) restoring the 80-year-old building, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said over the weekend.
Funding for the restoration was furnished by the Ministry of Culture, Changhua Cultural Affairs Bureau and the TRA, the railway operator said.
The Japanese colonial era building used to house a restaurant called Kaobinge (高賓閣), established in 1937, it said.
Photo: Chang Tsung-ciu, Taipei Times
After the Second Sino-Japanese War ended in 1945, the railways acquired the building and turned it into the Railway Hospital, it said, adding that it closed the hospital in 1984 after years of financial losses.
The railways then leased the property to a wedding studio and a cafe, it said.
In 2008, the TRA planned to tear down the building and turn the property into a parking lot, but civic groups launched an initiative to preserve it and Changhwa County in 2011 designated it a historic site.
The restoration of the building began in 2016 and is almost complete, the TRA said, adding that it would announce a winning bidder to manage the building by the end of next month.
The railways and winning contractor are to sign a contract by mid-November, it said.
“We invite hoteliers, restaurateurs, and cultural and creative industry operators to establish their businesses in the building,” the TRA said. “We also hope the restoration of a historic site will help increase traffic and help boost local business.”
Kaobinge used to be a gathering place for artists and intellectuals in the colonial era, it said.
Lai He (賴和) — known as the father of New Taiwanese Literature — and Taiwan’s first professor of medicine, Tu Tsung-ming (杜聰明), were among the guests who frequented the restaurant, the TRA said.
The building’s asymmetric design was inspired by large cruise ships, making it one of the most modern buildings of the era, the TRA said, adding that it is one of only a few modernist buildings left in Taiwan.
The former hospital is only a five-minute walk from Changhua Railway Station, making it suitable as a tourist attraction, the TRA said.
Old restaurants in the vicinity sell meatballs, noodles and shaved ice with rice gluten balls, it said.
The Changhua City Office plans to open a tourist information center in the building, it added.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS