The Kaohsiung Department of Cultural Affairs has announced tours of the Siaoyao Yuan (逍遙園) heritage site as well as artisan interaction events, allowing professionals and others a glimpse into restoration processes at the Japanese-built estate.
Siaoyao Yuan, which was built in 1939 and stands in the city’s Dagangpu (大港埔) area, was one of 11 estates established by Japanese monk Kozui Otani, and the only one in Taiwan, the department said.
Planned as a testing ground for the development of tropical agriculture, the estate, which is behind the Sinsing District (新興) Office on Jintian Road, was a peculiar blend of townhouse and private residence, the department said.
Photo courtesy of Ryuzo Nikaku
After World War II, the Ministry of National Defense commandeered the land to build a veterans’ village, it said, adding that a ministry policy of tearing down uninhabited veterans’ villages and building apartments put the estate’s fate in the spotlight.
The city government, academics and cultural conservation groups have worked for nearly a decade to have the building restored, it said, adding that work finally began in August 2017.
Japanese experts in plasterwork, woodwork and traditional shingles have been invited to tour the site and would demonstrate how the work should be done, while Taiwanese experts will observe, the department said, adding that it hoped the arrangement would promote Taiwan-Japan interaction on restoration techniques.
Local residents would be prioritized for the public tours, but people interested in cultural assets would not be excluded, the department said.
The tours will be led by professional guides, who will introduce the estate’s history, its construction style and “secrets” of the restoration processes that are otherwise not available to the public, it said.
Tour participants will be able to see the establishment in its entirety before others, it added.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
RSS