The Taichung flag has been redesigned, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) announced today, marking the end of the 80-year-old design that has been derided as the ugliest flag in the country.
The new flag says Taichung in both English and traditional Chinese characters, featuring a stylized representation of the city’s Mid-Lake Pavilion (湖心亭) on a white background.
Government offices currently displaying the old flag would change to the new one starting today, Taichung Civil Affairs Bureau Director-General Wu Shih-wei (吳世瑋) said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
The old flag, which only has the characters for “Taichung City” in red on a yellow background, was once voted the ugliest flag in the country in an online poll.
Former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) held a campaign to change the design, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Taichung has both a city flag and a government flag, Lu said.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
While the government flag has used the pavilion as a familiar symbol of the city, the red-and-yellow city flag has drawn “some criticism,” she said.
After discussions, the city government decided to merge the city flag and government flag into one, with minimal changes, Lu said.
This new unified design would serve as the symbol for Taichung, she added.
The red-and-yellow flag has been in use since 1945, when Taichung was reorganized into a provincial-level city, although the origins of the design are unclear.
Aside from use by government agencies, it is also flown by Taichung delegations at large-scale competitions such as the Taiwan National Games.
The flag is to make its first public appearance tonight at a signing ceremony for a sister-city agreement between Taichung and Hoboken, New Jersey, Wu said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS