Year-long renovations at the former Japanese Imperial Sugar Factory’s Taichung sales office have been completed and the building would be reopened as the Taichung Story House in March next year, the Taichung City Government said yesterday.
The city government said it had transferred the 80-year-old building’s ownership to the Economic Development Bureau, adding that the building would become a new landmark in East District (東區).
The sugar factory in 1935 established the Taichung office, which became Taiwan Sugar Co’s Taichung branch office after the end of World War II, the bureau said.
Photo: Su Meng-juan, Taipei Times
The former factory sat on a 6-hectare plot and had been vacant since a failed development effort in 1998, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said, adding that the compound had hampered development in the district.
Operations at the factory gradually ground to a halt during the 1990s and its buildings were torn down over the years, the bureau said, citing Cultural Asset Division data.
The office is the only Japanese-era building in the area and has been designated as a historical heritage site on the grounds that it played a significant role in the early development of Taiwanese industry and the government monopoly system, the bureau said.
The city government has built a park around the building, including a pool, called Singchuan Lake (星泉湖), the bureau said, adding that the pool would “mirror” a lake in Taichung Park.
The story house would allow visitors to understand the history of Taichung’s industries — such as how the sugar and rice industries in the area caused the pastry and cake business to flourish in Fengyuan District (豐原) — and also their potential.
The steel and mechanical equipment left in the area supplied materials to make hand-crafted tools and other precision tools in Dadushan (大肚山) area, Lin added.
The story house is highly anticipated and is expected to attract many tourists, Lin said.
The management of the story house would be commissioned to a third party under an operate-transfer scheme, bureau Director Lu Yao-chih (呂曜志) said.
The story house would hold exhibits on old sugar-making methods and would work with a former distillery nearby, Lu said.
“We hope the story house will help visitors understand Taichung’s cultural surroundings and learn about the historical development of its industries,” Lu said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS