The Jesus Church (耶穌堂), which was used exclusively by dictator Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife for their Sunday services, has made Sun Moon Lake one of the most popular destinations for newlyweds.
Tseng Kuo-chi (曾國基), director-general of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area, said the church was built 37 years ago in the middle of the hill beside the lake. The church is bulletproof and solidly built, which enabled it to withstand the 921 Earthquake in 1999, he said.
Tseng said that the church is now the property of the Tourism Bureau. Along with the nearby Plum Lotus Garden (梅荷園) — which used to be a military police base — the lake has drawn many newlyweds and married couples for wedding photos or second honeymoons. The two places also attract couples from Singapore, Malaysia and China, Tseng said.
Starting today, couples having their wedding photos taken at Sun Moon Lake will receive souvenirs from the Tourism Bureau worth NT$1,000, Tseng said. The bureau will select 10 couples and arrange for them to have wedding ceremonies together at the Jesus Church on May 27. Each couple will be charged NT$5,200 for the service, which includes one night at a five-star hotel, a candle-lit dinner, breakfast, a boat trip on the lake and other souvenirs from the Tourism Bureau.
In related news, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director General Lee Lung-wen (李龍文) said yesterday that the CAA was in the process of negotiating with China about the possibility of increasing the number of cross-strait charter flights as more Chinese tourists were entering the country.
Taiwan and China jointly offer 108 charter flights per week. Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed the number of Chinese tourists has increased from a total of 8,900 in July to 16,000 last month.
Approximately 7,200 Chinese tourists came between Feb. 27 and yesterday, for an average of 1,200 per day. The average will soon hit 1,500 as a total of 10,365 are scheduled to come between today and March 16.
Lee said that though both Taiwan and China were planning to launch regular cross-strait flights in July, the number of daily charter flights available at the moment could no longer serve the increasing demand. Lee, however, refused to say exactly how many charter flights the nation planned to add, saying that would be negotiated.
Contrary to Lee’s optimism, however, Taipei County Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) at a separate setting yesterday said the county would reassess its strategy and work to attract tourists from Japan, Korea, North America and Europe instead as the revenue made from Chinese tourists was not as high as expected.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
RSS