The Taipei Hakka Culture Park yesterday opened to the public following months of construction delays. It will be the permanent home for the annual Taipei Hakka Yimin Festival and other Hakka-related activities.
The 4 hectare Hakka Culture Park, built on the former site of Taipei Children’s Museum of Transportation in the Gongguan area of Taipei City, features a central plaza, delonix plaza, tung flower trail, bike station, farming experience area and eco-pond.
The 24th Taipei Yimin Festival was held in conjunction with the opening ceremony, in which over 3,000 members of the Hakka community from 25 Yimin temples around the nation gathered at the park to celebrate the traditional Hakka ritual that runs until tomorrow.
Photo: Lin Hsiang-mei, Taipei Times
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) headed a delegation of top city officials and councilors that attended the Yimin gods-seating ceremony that officially started the festival.
The festival also featured a “shoulder pole meal-giving” parade that showcased the Hakka spirit of sharing, interactive multimedia exhibits and 12 Hakka Festival shows, demonstrating the vitality of Hakka culture.
The title Yimin (righteous people, 義民) is an honorific title bestowed on the Hakka by the Qing dynasty court for helping government forces to put down an uprising in central Taiwan in the late 1780s.
The uprising resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people in Hsinchu whose bodies were buried at the Sinpu-Fangliao Yimin Temple.
Taipei City Hakka Affairs Commission Chief Secretary Lin Wei-chong (林偉忠) said the park would serve as the main venue for Hakka activities and work to promote Hakka culture.
“Hakka people in Taipei City finally have a home and we will take advantage of the Hakka Culture Park to introduce our culture to more people,” he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was scheduled to preside over a Yimin god worship ceremony this morning at the park, followed by more parades and traditional Hakka performances.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated