“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.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS