Taiwan’s first “taxi museum” opened on Saturday last week in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳), with a temporary exhibition that runs through Aug. 9.
The museum was created by Lee Chi-cheng (李濟成), who has been collecting taxi-related items for almost two decades.
Lee, who recently moved to Yilan, said he began collecting taxi-themed items during a 2000 trip to New York City, where he spotted a toy taxi with a license plate that included his birthday, Oct. 9 — NYC-1009.
Photo: CNA
After his collection grew, Lee decided to open a museum.
He initially considered establishing it on Okinawa, Japan, thinking it would be a better location, but later decided to buy an old warehouse in Suao and convert it.
The purchase was his 50th birthday gift to himself, Lee said.
Among the items from his collection on display are five taxis — a 1957 Mercedes Benz 180, a 1962 Datsun Bluebird 312, a 1967 Austin FX4, a 1972 Checker Marathon and a 1988 Yue Loong Sunny 303 — from different parts of the world, and 2,000 other items ranging from model cars and license plates to taxi meters he brought from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, the UK and the US.
There are also some auto rickshaws, like the ones used in Taiwan in the 1950s, as well as three generations of Nissan Bluebird vehicles from Japan.
“Anything with the image of a taxi on it I buy up like a crazed collector,” he said.
Lee said he has bought Starbucks’ “city” mugs and women’s fashion items just because they have images of taxis on them.
“A taxi is like a city’s ‘business card.’ If a picture of a city has a taxi in it, you can tell what city it is and what decade the picture was taken,” he said.
Lee said he hoped that families would visit the museum, and he installed the shelving lower than normal to ensure that children would be able to easily see the exhibits.
A conveyor belt similar to those used in sushi restaurants circulate model taxi cars through the museum, he said.
Lee said he hoped the museum would help boost the stature of taxi drivers, giving them more confidence and encouraging them to improve service.
‘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
RSS