The illumination of the world's largest public glass art work -- the Dome of Light -- at Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System's Formosa Boulevard Station yesterday marked the official beginning of the city's era of transformation.
During the opening ceremony held under the dome yesterday, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (
The launch was confirmed after the company obtained its permit of operation from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday morning, Lin said.
During an inspection of the Red Line on Tuesday, MOTC inspectors gave the company a conditional green light of operation, demanding the company correct five flaws, including running tests of all ticketing machines and obtaining official documents proving the safety of the system's firefighting equipment.
Free rides will be granted to passengers for a period of one month through the end of the Tombsweeping holiday early next month, Lin said yesterday.
The new service is expected to bring major changes to the lifestyle of Kaohsiung residents as this is the city's first rapid transit route.
Yesterday's ceremony was held at the Formosa Boulevard Station, which is near the site of the Kaohsiung Incident.
The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, took place on Dec. 10, 1979, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government cracked down and imprisoned participants in an anti-government parade organized by Formosa magazine.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who attended the ceremony, said the illumination of the dome is particularly meaningful to Taiwanese people, who have been pursuing freedom and democracy.
The 660m2 dome, created by Italian maestro Narcissus Quagliata, embodies the incident in the art work, the KRTC said.
The work displays the spirit of "tolerance" through the incorporation of the elements "water," "earth," "light" and "fire" into the art piece, the KRTC said.
"I was aware that here in this square a very important incident happened," Quagliata said. "I felt it was a responsible and interesting thing to relink and include that in our project so that people will remember the incident."
The dome, which is composed of four major quadrants, also explores themes related to reincarnation such as "birth, growth, honor, destruction and rebirth," the KRTC said.
"Transportation and transformation are linked," Quagliata said.
"When a city decides to change, the first thing it changes is the way people move," Quagliata told the Taipei Times.
"When that happens, the city transforms itself, and there is an opportunity for many things to happen, in art, business, lifestyle and many departments," he said.
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and "capital punishment." They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or "Mountain Mist Express," is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service