Greater Tainan Government on Tuesday selected the pheasant-tailed jacana, the delonix regia and the moth orchid to be the official bird, tree and flower respectively representing the city, after four years of tumultuous debates highlighting differences of opinions among residents.
The city’s emblem, resembling the Chinese character “south” (南), imitates the cornices of Chikahn Tower in the top half of the character while resembling the ancient gates of the city in the lower half, highlighting the ancient history of Greater Tainan, designer Yang Shih-hsien (楊士賢) said.
Yang said he also sought to incorporate elements of the black-faced spoonbill into the emblem, featuring parts of the spoonbill’s face and its beak, adding that together with the slightly upturned slopes of the upper part of the character, it symbolized hopes for the city to soar to greater heights.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
City government officials said the initial votes for the city’s tree, flower and bird in 2010 were suspended due to heightened tensions among residents, and designs for the emblem were delayed due to alleged plagiarism.
The original design for the city emblem in 2011 was highly similar to Hong Kong’s city emblem and drew complaints.
Greater Tainan Government Secretary-General Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said the emblem chosen was not the emblem that garnered the most votes on the Internet and was instead chosen by a committee from the original nine candidates.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
Department of Agriculture Director Hsu Han-ching (許漢卿) said the moth orchid received 31,200 votes, accounting for 31.84 percent of total votes, adding that the delonix regia received 52,900 votes, 53.99 percent of all votes, and the pheasant-tailed jacana received 43,935 votes, accounting for 44.84 percent of all votes.
Second in popularity were the flowers from the delonix regia with 22,000 votes, the camphor tree with 22,000 votes and the black-faced spoonbill with 36,000 votes.
The announcement was made by Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday.
“We hope that the presentation of the emblem and the city’s official flower, tree and bird brings city residents closer and unites them in a bid to develop the city further,” Lai said, adding that he hoped more people would notice Greater Tainan and that the city would progress in the future.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS