Playing the lilting and melodious notes on their ocarinas, a total of 11,551 Kaohsiung citizens last Saturday successfully set a new Guinness World Record. With Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (
"This is the moment that shows the determination of Kaohsiung City and the consolidation of Kaohsiung citizens," Hsieh said on Saturday, when signing the certificate of the new Guinness World Record.
PHOTO: HUANG SHOU-CHI, TAIPEI TIMES
With colorful confetti flying through the air, the participants celebrated their accomplishment after the event's sponsor announced that 11,551 ocarinas players arranged in the shape of Taiwan set a new Guinness World Record by playing two songs for seven consecutive minutes without stopping.
Most of the ocarinas players were elementary schools and junior high school students, but a number of disabled people also joined in the event. Hsieh, who promoted and popularized this small instrument in southern Taiwan, took part in the activity with his wife Yu Fang-chih (
"This year is Kaohsiung City's 80th birthday. I think this new record could be the best gift to the citizens and I anticipate that we could establish more records, which will help thrust Kaohsiung City onto the world stage," Hsieh said.
In fact, Hsieh is not only good at orchestrating record-setting ensembles, he also excels in coordinating people of different groups and political parties. With his diplomatic and flexible character, Hsieh facilitated a series of municipal construction and revamping works which surprised visitors to the city and also make the locals proud.
In the last five years, visible improvements have been made to Kaohsiung City, including the cleanup of the notorious Ai River and the Chienchen River, the beginning of construction of an MRT system and sports stadium, the purification of local tap water and the construction of a Wireless Internet infrastructure.
With a belief in the importance of giving Kaohsiung City its own identity, Hsieh launched a clean-up campaign for the Ai River and turned it into a popular scenic spot for tourists. The river will now become an art and cultural activities area that is modeled after the Seine River in Paris. People will soon be able to take boat rides on the Ai River, stroll along the bank or have an afternoon tea or coffee at a nearby shop.
"It's amazing how much Kaohsiung City has been made over since Hsieh took over as mayor. Whenever my friends visit Kaohsiung, I would take them to the Ai River or Kaohsiung Art Museum or the No. 10 Dock to enjoy the nice atmosphere that Kaohsiung City has," said 27-year-old Cheng Su-ling (
"Many Kaohsiung residents told me that they now have more places to spend their holiday and leisure time," Cheng said. "I think that Hsieh has made Kaohsiung an `ocean city' and turned it into a city that is gradually catching up with other major international cities."
"Sometimes I relax at the Ocean Park in front of Chungshan University and gaze at the Chichin Harbor. The scene always reminds me of Manhattan," she said.
Hsieh has successfully transformed Kaohsiung City from its "lower harbor" reputation into a progressive city that compares to Taipei City in some ways, Cheng added.
Meanwhile, as the young generation is also enjoying the city's revival and progress, older people show their satisfaction with Hsieh's performance with their votes come election time.
The result of the legislative elections a week and a half ago indicated that nine out of 10 candidates nominated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) were elected -- largely because of Hsieh's endorsements. One of those elected to the legislature, Kuan Pi-ling (
The pan-green camp's victory in Kaohsiung City was predictable, given the turnout at the massive DPP-organized march on Dec. 9 to commemorate the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979. The event attracted at least 50,000 people. One participant, a 58-year-old drug-store owner surnamed Wang, joined in the march and said he would vote for the DPP in the legislative elections because "Hsieh made Kaohsiung residents feel it is an honor to live in Kaohsiung."
"I recognize what Hsieh has done for Kaohsiung City," Wang said.
Apart from politics, Hsieh also aimed to give Kaohsiung residents a wide variety of culture and art. When Kuan served as the Cultural Affairs bureau chief, she extended cultural facilities and art programs and turned many historical sites into museums or libraries, which gradually wiped out Kaohsiung's reputation as a cultural desert.
Wong Ching-ting (
"I wish it could hold onto its true colors, and not just replicate Taipei City," Wong said of Kao-hsiung's development.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
China is likely to focus on its economy over the next four years and not set a timetable for attempting to annex Taiwan, a researcher at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday. In the article titled “Why China isn’t scared of Trump: US-Chinese tensions may rise, but his isolationism will help Beijing,” Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) wrote that the US and China are unlikely to go to war over Taiwan in the next four years under US president-elect Donald Trump. While economic and military tensions between the US and China would
RSS