Known for its historic mountain railway and misty forests, Alishan (阿里山) is now being introduced to global audiences through sound, as local authorities share recordings of its natural and cultural landscapes on an online platform.
People tend to overlook background sounds and soundscapes, but listening can be more powerful than sight in sparking the imagination, Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) told an event in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
The agency held the activity to present a yearlong sound recording project featuring 45 locations along the century-old Alishan Forest Railway, a major tourist attraction known for its spiral tracks and Z-shaped climbs through high-altitude mountain slopes.
"The project is not only a showcase of technical skill and artistic expression, but also a profound exploration of human perception, cultural depth and connection to the local land," said Wu Tsan-cheng (吳燦政), an artist commissioned by the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office to create the sound recordings.
From the metallic sounds of railway maintenance crews to the footsteps of early-morning hikers, birds chirping, insects buzzing and the wide variety of wildlife and natural sounds, the project captured the unique soundscape of the Alishan region, the participants said.
The hundreds of audio clips, each linked to a map showing where the sounds were recorded, have now been uploaded to Radio Aporee, a large international platform hosting field recordings from around the world, the agency said.
The project built on a local oral history program conducted from 2020 to 2023, in which 35 local elders shared stories about their communities, aimed at providing the public and researchers with additional ways to explore the region, the agency said in a news release.
The Alishan Forest Railway — which includes the main Alishan line and two tourist lines — and its stations suffered repeated damage from earthquakes and typhoons, including the 921 earthquake and Typhoon Morakot in 2009.
After years of repairs, the main line between Chiayi and Alishan fully reopened on July 6 last year.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
RSS