The Hsuehshan Tunnel is to gain international visibility as a documentary on the construction of Asia's longest tunnel is scheduled to be aired on the Discovery Channel on Aug. 27.
A pre-release press conference will be held in Taipei on Tuesday, Government Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (
"The Hsuehshan Tunnel is regarded as the most difficult construction project by the Encyclopedia Britannica. So the documentary is a kind of testament to Taiwan's achievements in high-technology," Cheng said.
Fifteen years in the making, the tunnel, linking Taipei and Yilan County, opened on June 16. It is ranked as the world's fourth-longest tunnel.
"Lots of engineers pushed to speed up the construction 400 to 500 meters under the surface of the earth without rest, regardless of the political uproar in recent years, fully demonstrating the `spirit of Taiwan,'" Cheng said. "It is the accumulation of little dribs and drabs in the `spirit of Taiwan' that has made the country achieve progress all the time."
Cheng said the documentary, to be aired at 9pm, would introduce all aspects of the construction and help people understand the construction by presenting the facts and figures in an interesting way.
"The No. 1 shaft of the tunnel is 512 meters deep, which is higher than the building of Taipei 101. The total volume of excavated earth and stone was 5.090 million cubic meters, which is enough to build two Egyptian pyramids," the spokesman said.
The massive project began with a feasibility study in 1988. Construction finally began in July 1991. During the 15 years it took to drill 12.9km through a mountain, the ground collapsed 98 times, underground water inundated the tunnel 36 times, tunnel boring machines were trapped inside 26 times and 25 workers lost their lives.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu