“Right now, the Tung Blossoms in Tungshih [東勢], Taichung Township are in full bloom, and those in Nantou are coming right after,” the latest Tung blossom forecast report released by the Council for Hakka Affairs said on Thursday.
Although the Tung Blossom Hakka Festival has been held yearly for the last seven years, this year marks the first time a Tung Blossom forecast has been provided so that visitors can know exactly what to expect before leaving home for the nation’s Tung Blossom areas across 15 townships.
Tung Blossoms are considered a symbol of Taiwan’s Hakka culture as the flowers are found mostly — though not confined to — regions inhabited by Hakkas.
“Tung oil trees have been in Taiwan for several hundreds of years, but we never really studied the tree,” council Chairman Lee Yung-teh (李永得) said.
As the weather conditions vary at each location and every year, visitors can never be sure if they will see the beautiful little flowers dotting the countryside or paving the hiking trails after they fall.
To avoid disappointing visitors, “we started working with the Council of Agriculture three years ago on a detailed study of the tree, especially its blossoms,” Lee said.
Now, the council has a better understanding of under what weather conditions the Tung trees are likely to bloom, and how long it takes to reach each phase of the blossoming process.
“With the information and a little help from the Central Weather Bureau, the council is now able to make a blossom forecast,” Lee said.
But being able to make the forecast is not enough.
“We’ve asked each of the townships to send out people each week to check the Tung blossoms, take pictures and report back to us, so we can make a complete Tung Blossom forecast and update reports,” vice-chairwoman of the council Chuang Chin-hua (莊錦華) said.
Information in the Tung Blossom report includes the percentage of trees that have already blossomed, and the percentage of trees that are still budding in each of the 15 townships.
The report will be released weekly until May 8, and it will also be broadcast on ETTV and FTV every Friday and Saturday at 7:30am and 7:30pm until May 10.
For more information on the Tung Blossom Hakka Festival itself, visit www.hakka.gov.tw/tung.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS