To attract domestic tourists, the Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau is promoting 26 sights around the city that have an “artistic flair.”
The sights include walking trails, cycling trails, railway lines and coastal spots that have public art installations, the bureau said.
The sights would be a welcome diversion for visitors, who have recently faced large crowds when traveling elsewhere in the country, it said, adding that it is promoting four different tours, each outlined on a map that it has published.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government Cultural Affairs Bureau
The bureau would hold eight public events to promote the tours, it said.
Taichung is known as the “cultural city,” as it has been promoting public art for more than 20 years, bureau Director Chang Ta-chun (張大春) said.
Throughout the city there are more than 500 public art installations, many of them in parks or on school grounds, he added.
The tours would enable the public to become more familiar with the city’s public art, and introduce people to some of the more outstanding small businesses, he said.
For example, tea shop Pah Ji Hue (百二歲茶食事), the Farmer’s Story House (農村故事館), patisserie Pao Chuan (宝泉百年餅舖) and the Taichung Fishermen’s Association are places where visitors can buy quality local products, he said.
One of the tours would pass through Situn District (西屯), which has the city’s highest concentration of public art, he said. The tour would start at the National Taichung Theater, pass through Charlotte Park, the New City Hall Park and by the Taichung City Council, with stops for people to enjoy the public art at each location, he said.
Another one is a bicycle tour that takes off from the Taichung City Zhongshan Land Office in West District (西區), where participants can examine the fixtures on the building’s exterior, before moving on to the Taichung Literature Museum to look at its historical architecture, and then on to the Taichung Fifth Market and nearby school campuses, he said.
One tour begins at the Taichung Railway Station before participants are whisked away by a charter bus to Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港) and the Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) to take in art fixtures inspired by coastline vistas, he said.
Registration for the tours began on Monday and runs through Friday next week. The bike and coastal tours cost NT$100. The walking tour in the city center is free.
More information can be found on the bureau’s Web site (culture.taichung.gov.tw), on the city’s Web site (publicart.taichung.gov.tw), or by telephone at (04) 2323-5656 extension 9, or 0905-166-106.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
‘EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE’: If the Biden administration suspends arms sales to Taiwan, the military could still ready a nimble fighting force for defense, an analyst said The “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” last week sparked debate among analysts after US President Donald Trump declassified the document 20 years ahead of schedule. Trump on Tuesday last week released the document that had governed US strategic action in the region since the US leader approved its use in 2018. The document, which outlines US priorities in the region, emphasizes the importance of defending Taiwan against military aggression and facilitating the country’s development of asymmetric strategies and capabilities. The overall directive of the document is for the US to prevent China from establishing sustained air and sea dominance inside the first
RSS