A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change.
On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County.
More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m, had a snow accumulation period of about two months every winter, with terrain perfectly suited for skiing, the council said.
Photo: Screen grab from the National Development Council’s Facebook
The government established the Wuling Winter Training Base (武嶺寒訓基地) on Hehuanshan, to train armed forces in skiing and survival skills, it said, adding that the decision laid the foundation for the winter tourism industry.
In 1963, with the support of the Forestry Bureau, the Chinese Taipei Ski Association was founded to promote snow activities, and Hehuanshan became a popular destination for the China Youth Corps’ winter camps, with skiing and snow-viewing camps bringing crowds to the cold mountain areas, the council said.
At the time, a 400m gondola lift was available between Hehuanshan’s East Peak (東峰) and Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), and a ski training center was built beside the lodge to train Taiwan’s athletes for international competitions, it said.
Today, many Taiwanese still remember having enjoyed their skiing vacation at Hehuanshan or the China Youth Corps’ camps to learn skiing, it said.
However, due to climate change, snow accumulation and the snow accumulation period on Hehuanshan have been reduced, and with international travel becoming more convenient, Taiwan’s first ski resort has gradually phased out and disappeared, the council said.
A person commented on the council’s post saying that traces of the abandoned gondola lift can still be seen in the Hehuanshan mountain areas, which serves as a reminder of the former glorious days of Taiwan’s ski resort.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening 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) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS