Hsinchu Mayor Hsu Ming-tsai (許明財) yesterday issued a formal protest against the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) for reporting in last month’s edition of its T-Life magazine that betel nut girls are a must-see attraction when visiting city.
Hsu said he was baffled as to why visitors would come to Hsinchu just to check out betel nut ladies, because the city is not the only place in Taiwan where the phenomenon exists.
He asked his staff to send an official complaint to THSRC, asking the company to clarify the statement that he said “defiles the tourism environment in Hsinchu.”
The Hsinchu City Police Department said yesterday that 20 violations of the Public Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) reported last year involved inappropriately dressed betel nut girls. It also said it had identified 20 locations in the city where scantily clad young women sit in stalls to attract customers.
T-Life, THSRC’s on-board magazine, published a cover story in last month’s edition on tourist attractions in Hsinchu, Nantou County’s Puli (埔里) and Meinong (美濃), Kaohsiung County.
When writing about tourist attractions in Hsinchu, the author said there were five things that one must do to appreciate the Windy City, as Hsinchu is known.
Aside from visiting the Cheng Huang Temple (城隍廟) , checking out the Hsinchu Image Museum (影像博物館), strolling around the rice-noodle district (米粉寮) and touring Green Grass Lake (青草湖), visitors should also appreciate the sexiness of betel nut ladies along Jhonghua Road.
The Hsinchu Police Department, however, said there were few betel nut stalls on Jhonghua Road, adding that the women who sell betel nuts on the road dress normally.
The same article also upset Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Chin-chun (邱鏡淳), who asked why the article introduced scenic spots in Hsinchu City, given that the high-speed rail station for Hsinchu is in Jhubei (竹北), Hsinchu County.
Apart from blaming the staff for not promoting the county’s scenic spots, Chiu wanted an explanation as to why THSRC granted a special favor to Hsinchu City.
In response, THSRC said it outsourced the production of T-Life to a contractor. The company said it would closely review the articles in future.
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