The Kaomei Lighthouse (高美燈塔), on the bank of the Dajia River (大甲溪) on the northern side of the Port of Taichung, is set to become a new tourist attraction, after renovation work was recently completed by the Maritime and Port Bureau.
The lighthouse was officially opened to tourists on Saturday, becoming one of 10 lighthouses nationwide, out of 35, that are open to the public.
Previously, the lighthouses were managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Customs Administration. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications took over the management last year, and decided to turn some of them into tourist attractions.
Photo: CNA
Built in 1967 with steel reinforced concrete, the Kaomei Lighthouse has an octagonal structure and is the only one in the country painted with red and white stripes, the bureau said.
Visitors can see the wind power generators and Kaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) from the lighthouse, the bureau added.
The lighthouse stopped operations in 1982, when the lighting equipment was moved to the top floor of Far Eastern Silo and Shipping Corp, also known as the lighthouse in the Port of Taichung, the bureau said.
The Kaomei Lighthouse continued to exist without the lighting equipment, and many people have mistaken the 34m-high lighthouse as an incinerator chimney.
According to Yeh Luen-huei’s (葉倫會) Stories of Lighthouses in Taiwan (台灣燈塔的故事), the property on which the lighthouse was located also has a fountain, which is 1.5m deep and 6m in diameter.
His research showed that the water in the fountain used to shoot up about 3m because of the strong water pressure. Children were allowed to enter the property to play baseball and swim in the fountain.
However, after the 921 Earthquake in 1999, the groundwater stopped coming out of the fountain.
Aside from the lighthouse, visitors to the site can also see a rare flower called Chinese Spiranthes, a type of orchid.
When it is blooming, the flower will wrap around the stem like a dragon, the bureau said, adding that the flowers give out a light fragrance as well.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS