Announce Department：General Affairs Department
May 1, 2011
Report on Tainan, by Reporter Tsai Chia-Chen
In the “2011 Koxinga Culture Festival (鄭成功文化節)”, another main play “the Flag Presentation and Boarding Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for the Cruising Team of the Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship” was held, which was hosted jointly by Tainan City Mayor Lai Ching-Te, Kinmen County Magistrate Li Wo-Shi and Speaker Wang Zai-Sheng at al. When delivering his speech, Li Wo-Shi also gave a special invitation to people from Tainan City; they can go to Kinmen together via the Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship’s maiden voyage in the future, to experience Kinmen’s unique styles.
This activity was held at the dock on the west side of Anping Fish Market at 1:00 p.m. yesterday. The Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony was hosted jointly by Lai Ching-Te, Li Wo-Shi, Kinmen County Speaker Wang Zai-Sheng, Hsu Keng-Hsiu the Director-General of the Third Department at Council for Cultural Affairs, and others. Because this vessel attracted all parties’ attention, a large crowd of people also showed up on the scene, for waiting in a line to visit it.
During his speech, Lai Ching-Te showed his gratitude for the great help provided by the former Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tien-Tsai as well as Hsu Keng-Hsiu the Director-General of the Third Department at Council for Cultural Affairs. He also showed special gratitude for the all-out support for this activity provided by the sister county Kinmen County which had contributed NT$ 1 million before; besides, County Magistrate Li and Speaker Wang et al also participated in the whole course of the 2011 Koxinga Culture Festival activity. Lai Ching-Te also expected that the features of Tainan can be brought to every corner of the world through the Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship, so that many more people can understand Tainan and be familiar with Tainan.
During his speech, Li Wo-Shi said that he is honored to participate in the sister city’s historical event. In addition to showing his congratulations, he also welcomed that the Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship can lead Tainan City’s people to visit Kinmen, when it comes back to the route where Koxinga (Zheng Cheng-Gong) set sail. He said that Koxinga made a landing on Small Kinmen in Kinmen at first and then set out to Luerhmen (鹿耳門) from Liaoluo Bay. Kinmen could be accounted an important stronghold for Koxinga. He hoped that everyone can visit Kinmen during his/her spare time.
Hsu Keng-Hsiu pointed out that the Council for Cultural Affairs paid much attention to the construction of Cheng Kung Ship. Also, special subsidies were provided, for celebrating the 100th year of R.O.C. This aimed to make Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship set out along with Taiwan spirit in its voyage, so that our country’s culture can be made widely known to the world. He also suggested that Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship should make its maiden voyage to Kinmen County as its first stop, because Tainan and Kinmen County have profound sister-county friendship.
This year, Tainan City Government would hold the “Koxinga Culture Festival” for the 10th time. Based on “Successful Sailing” as the main theme, the festival would be launched from Apr. 29 to May 8. This year was the 350th anniversary since Koxinga exploited Taiwan, also the first year since Tainan City and Tainan County have been merged. The newly-completed Taiwan Ship of Ming Zheng Period was open for people to visit it for the first time, and it plans to sail to Kinmen and Penghu, which had significant meaning. After the ceremony yesterday, people were allowed to board the ship and visit it. Approximately one thousand of people were attracted to wait in a line on the scene. The occasion was so boisterous.
The “Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship” was the outcome created by Tainan City Government’s painstaking effort due to its active promotion of “The Recovery Plan of Taiwan Ships in the 17th Century” since 2005. Under the joint cooperation between the central government and the non-governmental circles, the ship was finally completed after five years of construction. It was also named “Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship” formally. It aims to highlight the contents and characteristics of Taiwan’s marine culture, for reactivating the content of Taiwan’s marine culture through the Taiwan ship.
In the activity yesterday, the contractor delivered the Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship to Tainan City Government formally, symbolic of the completion of the entire ship. Also, Lai Ching-Te gave the flag to the cruising team of the Taiwan ship, to consign this team to implement various sailing plans as well as the celebration activities related to the 100th year of R.O.C. In addition, the 12 antique-like cannons equipped on the Taiwan Cheng Kung Ship also made their formal debut to fire cannons in this activity.