Transformed by the red glint of dawn, the concrete wave breakers in the middle of Hsinchu County’s Toucian River (頭前溪) are a favorite subject for local photographers.
Nicknamed the “tofu rocks,” the wave breakers have also received some unwelcome attention, with media reports on April 7 saying that police were investigating a case of alleged illegal dumping of waste in a nearby dike.
Visitors who express disappointment at the “ordinary-looking concrete blocks” are missing the point of their attraction for photographers, Hsinchu resident and amateur photographer Lo Chun-pin (羅浚濱) said on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of amateur photographer Lo Chun-Pin
Beautiful pictures of the rocks posted on the Internet are usually the product of careful low shutter-speed camera work during specific light conditions, which create the effect of a white mist rising, he said.
The best views are achieved at dawn, which gives a pleasing red tint to the breakers, he said, adding that those images are known as hongshao (braised) tofu to photographers, in reference to their color.
The Water Resources Agency’s Second River Management Office said the breakers were placed to mitigate the erosion of the area’s riverbed and should not be considered a tourist attraction.
Photo courtesy of amateur photographer Lo Chun-Pin
“In fact, the breakers are located in a river reservation zone and trails leading to the area are slippery and dangerous following heavy rainfall. Members of the public who want to explore the area should be very careful,” it said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
RSS