Taoyuan County boasts many industrial and commercial activities, with two-fifths of the nation’s top 500 companies having established factories in the county, and as tourism has grown in recent years, with visitors bringing a big economic boost to the county, the local government says it has been providing assistance to local companies to help them transform their factories into tourist attractions.
Among the factories that have been transformed are those owned by Hey Song Corp, Formosa Plastics Corp, I-Mei Foods Co, Coca-Cola Co and Kimlan Foods Co.
In October last year, Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corp’s Linkou Brewery in Guishan Township (龜山) was listed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs as one of the nation’s top five tourism factories.
Photo courtesy of the Taoyuan County Government’s Economic Development Bureau
The ministry also set up an advertising campaign at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to help increase the visibility of the county’s Kuo Yuan Ye Museum of Cake and Pastry, which it said is one of the best factories for international tourists to visit.
Taoyuan County Government officials said some of the tourism factories are focused on introducing the company’s history or culture, such as the Formosa Plastics Group Museum, which showcases the group’s development and its late founder, Wang Yung-ching (王永慶).
Other museums, such as big-name brands Hey Song, Coca-Cola, Kimlan and Kuang-chuan Co, mainly display popular items from “the good old days,” such as Hey Song’s glass bottled soda, the officials said.
Action Electronics Co’s Action Museum, for example, displays electronic products that reflect the development of the industry in Taiwan over the past 30 years.
Meanwhile, other tourism factories, such as Hunya Foods Co’s Republic of Chocolate, the Kuo Yuan Ye Museum of Cake and Pastry, White-Wood-House Brand Discovery Gallery, I-Mei’s Ecological and Lifestyle Park, Les Enphants and Xin-Peng-Lai Foods Co’s Tofu Culture Center, allow visitors to participate in the making of food or other products to take home as souvenirs, the officials added.
The local government used “Made in Taoyuan No. 1” as its slogan to promote the county’s tourism factories in 2011, before adopting the slogan “Taoyuan Tourism Factories Prosperous Wonderland” in 2012 to highlight that the factories have been transformed into amusement parks.
According to government statistics, more than 2 million people visited the factories in 2012 and last year, bringing in an estimated NT$600 million (US$19.9 million) a year, while the successful transformation of the factories has also shined a light on the county’s traditional industries.
The officials said that due to the success of the project, more companies are eager to transform their factories. For example, Me-de Food Co’s factory in Bade District (八德市) recently held an opening ceremony and was certified by the Ministry of Economic Affairs as the county’s 23rd tourism factory.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
RSS