Glory Pier (光榮碼頭) led an online poll conducted by Internet portal Yam.com for the top 10 tourist hotspots in Greater Kaohsiung.
The poll was voted on by 110,000 netizens, with Glory Pier receiving 7,431 votes, the Pier 2 Arts Center (高雄駁二藝術特區) coming in second with 7,231 and the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center coming in third with nearly 7,000 votes, Yam.com said.
Originally named Pier No. 13, the Glory Pier was renamed when the military started using it as supply post for soldiers stationed on Kinmen and Matsu.
After its retirement from military use in 2005, the city government built a 500m-long path along the pier, turning it into a new scenic site with a view of the bay.
The pier rocketed to renewed fame after the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s giant yellow Rubber Duck was unveiled at the pier during the Mid-Autumn Festival last month.
Meanwhile, the Pier 2 Arts Center, just a short distance from the Glory Pier, was originally an old warehouse the city government decided to remodel into a center for artistic creativity.
In recent years it has been a important site for artists in southern Taiwan to show their works.
The E-Da World Mall, known for its New Year’s firework displays, which some say rivals the annual display put by Taipei 101, ranked fourth, while the Chiahsien District (甲仙), which was ravaged by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, came in at fifth place after the release of a documentary film — A Bridge over Troubled Water (拔一條河).
The district has recently experienced an influx of tourists who have been touched by the film about the area and how it coped with the ravages of Morakot.
Kaohsiung Metro’s Formosa Boulevard Station, which houses the world’s largest public glass art work — the Dome of Light — ranked sixth, according to the poll.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition