The historical site known as the Red House (紅樓) has undergone a renovation and now plays a role in the community, drawing a varied crowd of artists, tourists, moviegoers and people with alternative lifestyles.
“The goal of the team assigned to manage the historical site is to establish it as a platform for the development of a multi-cultural environment and a center for cultural and creative industries in Taipei,” said Liu Wen-ting, vice supervisor of the Red House for the Taipei Culture Foundation.
The Red House is a Western-style brick structure in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area, built in 1908 during the period of Japanese occupation. The location originally served as one of Taipei’s earliest public markets.
Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs commissioned the Taipei Culture Foundation to manage the Red House in November 2007. Since that time, the area has undergone a cultural transformation, including the creation of a “Creative Boutique” marketplace for artists and designers in the Cruciform Building section of the structure, the opening of the Moonlight Movie Theater every weekend and reorganization of an outdoor cafe.
“After the renovation, we have received about 300,000 visitors every month, 40 percent of them from other countries,” Liu said, adding that most of the tourists come from Hong Kong or Japan.
The key mission of the management team now is to transition from helping young, amateur creators present their work to helping artists open their own boutiques and develop their careers, Liu said.
“Currently we have 16 boutiques inside the Red House and we have also started to hold exhibitions to present some of the artwork in the main area. The first of these showcases the works of Heidi Huang (黃海蒂) and this exhibit runs through the end of next month,” Liu said.
The foundation plans to take some of the artists to Shanghai next month to promote their works there.
Another development is centered in the south plaza behind the building, an area with many cafes and bars that became a popular hangout for the gay community.
“This area used to be called the ‘Rainbow Plaza’ because of its open and free attitude toward homosexuals … but now many people bring their families and tourists come here too. In future, I believe, the place will belong to everyone,” said the owner of Taipei Bear Bar, surnamed Lee (李).
A storeowner called Gaga agreed, saying that Ximending has traditionally been friendly to the gay community. He expressed optimism about the future development of the neighborhood.
“The area is convenient for public transportation and has many restaurants, cafes and gyms that attract people, not just the gay community, but also tourists from other countries and locals too,” he said.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS