A community in Hualien plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary next year by recreating the decor and atmosphere of the 1950s based on the theme of “Remember the Old Days.”
Dachen No. 1 Village (大陳一村) is a military dependents’ village in Hualien City that was founded after the evacuation of Republic of China forces from Dachen Island in February 1955.
Located off the coast of China’s Zhejiang Province, Dachen Island was evacuated, with the aid of US Navy ships, after China’s People’s Liberation Army gained control of the island.
According to media reports at the time, “Chinese fighter planes repeatedly made incursions on Dachen Island at the beginning of 1955. This little island, whose inhabitants were mainly dependent on fishing, had to endure the bombing raids... After the Lantern Festival, 170,000 island residents, young and old, locked the gates of their homes, as they waited for the evacuation... They retreated to Taiwan with the assistance of the US 7th Fleet.”
The reports touched on the helplessness and the resolve of the evacuees.
Some of them relocated to Hualien City and started the neighborhood settlement known as “Dachen No. 1 Village.”
With this history in mind, the local administrative office has organized the “Search for Memories of Dachen Island” project.
The project’s aim is to recreate the look and feel of the 1950s by reconstructing the memories of residents, officials said.
The community hopes the project will attract Chinese tourists visiting Hualien City, officials said.
One local official said that walking through Dachen No. 1 Village “felt as though time had stood still in the 1950s. The village square still has a bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石). The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) party emblem is still in prominent display on the stage of the village’s main temple.”
The official added that a rhyming couplet from one of the era’s patriotic theme slogans can still be seen on the main red pillars of the temple.
“Peace is at hand. It’s time to retake the Chinese mainland rivers and mountains. Implement the Three Principles of the People. It’s the clear path to happiness,” the couplet reads.
The local administrative office said it plans to solicit funding from other government agencies to help preserve this piece of 1950s culture and history.
Officials said the project’s main theme centers on “culture as the base, story as the tool and sustainable development as the goal,” to develop the village’s tourism potential.
“The project can inject new life into the old community. It can become another tourism bright spot for Hualien, and can breathe new life into the neighborhood,” an official said.
‘FRIENDSHIP FLEET’: A CGA official is scheduled to meet with the president of the Pacific nation, while one of the ships is to host a banquet and National Day event Two Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol vessels have docked at Malakal Harbor in Palau as part of an expedition exercise and diplomatic visit, during which a senior official is expected to meet with Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr, the agency said yesterday. The two vessels, the 4,000-tonne-class Chiayi and the 1,000-tonne-class Penghu, set sail for Palau from Taiwan last week and arrived on Tuesday at Malakal Harbor, the CGA’s Fleet Branch said in a statement. The journey marks the second time the CGA has dispatched a “friendship fleet” to another country, after it sent its first-ever goodwill fleet, comprising the Hualien and
A patrol vessel donated by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to the Philippines was commissioned into the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Friday, a Philippine non-governmental organization said. The CGA on Sept. 16 confirmed media reports that Taiwan had donated a retired 500-tonne patrol vessel to the Philippines. The Manila-based We Protect Our Seas (WPS) foundation, which served as an intermediary in the transfer, said that the vessel was formerly the CGA’s 500-tonne petrol vessel Kinmen (CG123). The WPS, in a statement issued on Friday, said the vessel, renamed as the BRP Sarangani, had been commissioned into the PCG the
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) today said that two of its patrol vessels have docked at Palau's Malakal Harbor as part of an expedition exercise and diplomatic visit, during which a senior official is expected to meet with the Palauan president. The two vessels, the 4,000-tonne-class Chiayi (嘉義) and the 1,000-tonne-class Penghu (澎湖), set sail for Palau from Taiwan last week and arrived at Malakal Harbor yesterday, the CGA's Fleet Branch said in a statement. The journey marked the second time the CGA has dispatched a "Friendship Fleet" to another country, after it sent its first-ever goodwill fleet, comprising the Hualien (花蓮)
Had I Not Seen the Sun (如果我不曾見過太陽), a coming-of-age mystery romance, yesterday won best series at the Seoul International Drama Awards in South Korea. The show's producer, Phoebe Ma (麻怡婷), accepted the award on behalf of the production team. "Telling this story was difficult," Ma said. "There were moments when I doubted my strength to keep going, but I never doubted the story itself." Ma went on to thank the cast and crew of the show for making the win possible. Released in two parts on Netflix at the end of last year, the 20-episode drama starred Tseng Jing-hua (曾敬驊) and Alice Ko (柯佳嬿). The
RSS