The former Tainan Weather Observatory, which is now a museum, was reopened to the public yesterday after six months of restoration work, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
Established in 1898, the observatory was one of the few weather observation facilities built in the Japanese colonial era, the bureau said, adding that it is the nation’s oldest meteorological facility.
The observatory on Gongyuan Road is an uncommon octadecagonal structure with a tower protruding from its center, it said.
Photo copied by Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
Because of its artistic value, the observatory was designated a historical site by the Tainan City Government in 1998 and was upgraded to a national historical site in 2003.
However, its facade and tower were damaged during the Southern Taiwan earthquake in 2016 — a magnitude 6.4 earthquake centered in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃) that produced level 5 shaking in Tainan, the bureau said.
To preserve the site and ensure the safety of visitors, the bureau closed the facility to reinforce it and repair equipment used to observe the weather and detect earthquakes, it said.
Visitors yesterday were given the chance to see how a meteorologist in Japanese colonial-era Taiwan worked, with some allowed to climb the tower, which has equipment to measure wind speeds.
Chang Yu-huang (張玉煌), who was in charge of the restoration, introduced the key points of the work.
Meanwhile, the Southern Region Weather Center, which is next to the observatory, has refurbished in astronomical and maritime sections in its meteorological science exhibition hall on the fifth floor, the bureau said.
Admission to the observatory and exhibition halls are free, it said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS