Starting on June 25 the Taipei City Government is inviting sunbathers to pull up a beach chair and relax — right by Taipei City Hall.
The city government is creating a 400m² beach with white sand, umbrellas, beach chairs and palm trees at the southeast plaza of Taipei City Hall.
“Beachgoers” may need a little imagination, though, to enjoy the one missing ingredient: the sea.
The NT$1.07 million (US$35,000) project, which will be open until November, is intended to attract Taipei residents yearning for a bit of beach relaxation, city officials said, but the government will also use the beach to sell advertising space.
“The idea to set up an artificial beach downtown is meant to create a beautiful spot in Taipei and a relaxing atmosphere where residents can hang out,” Emile Sheng (盛治仁), commissioner of Taipei City’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, told reporters at Taipei City Hall yesterday.
If this year’s beach debut is a hit, the city government hopes to make the white sands an annual summer feature.
The commission proposed the idea last July, seeking a way to make better use of the plaza. The concept, Sheng said, was borrowed from Germany and France, which have created such beaches in various locations to provide getaways from the urban grind right at the heart of a city.
“Hopefully the artificial beach will become a place where residents and visitors can go to enjoy sunshine and take a short break as people do in other countries,” he said.
Sheng said some members of the public had expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the project. In response, the commissioner said the city government had asked meteorologists whether wind could blow the sand out of the beach area.
Sheng said a 24m² spot would be reserved for private companies to buy advertising space. Companies will also be invited to bid for the right to name the beach.
The city’s Parks and Street Lights Office said the beach would have seven palms, large beach umbrellas, a wooden patio and sinks to wash off sand.
As many Taiwanese are averse to getting a tan, however, the umbrellas may be the key to the beach’s success.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
RSS