EcoDesign 2017 City Tours

The following Tainan City tours are available on Friday, December 1, 2017 from 13:00 to 17:00. Free of charge for EcoDesign 2017 registers.

Please register early as there is limited capacity (40 people/each route) for all the four tour routes. Each people can only register for one as these four routes are scheduled at the same time slot.

The four tour routes are: Tour A: Fort Anping Tour B: Chimei Tour C: Sihcao Green Tunnel Tour D: Tainan Confucius Temple, and Chihkan Tower

The detailed descriptions for these Tainan city attractions are summarized in the following pages.

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Tour A: Fort Anping ()

Anping Fort is built during the Dutch occupation in 1624 on the foundations of the Dutch stronghold named Fort Zeelandia. That fort was the anchor point of early settlements in Tainan for both the Dutch and the Chinese, and much of the settlement’s history lies in Anping’s old streets surrounding the fort. The fort has changed hands and changed names many times over. The Dutch first called it Orange City, but then changed it to Fort Zeelandia. It became Anping Castle when it was the home of Zheng Cheng-Gong (). It had also been call Anping City and City once, but finally renamed as Anping Fort after the reconstruction. It has become a popular tourist attraction nowadays. Although reconstruction took place, the remnants of Zeelandia, a red-brick wall and a Banyan tree, are still maintained at Anping Fort and are classified as a class one historical monument. Over the years, the surroundings of Anping Fort have been re-constructed into a historical park. Due to the growing tourist demands, the park also includes an Observatory Platform and an exhibition hall. Also, there is the statue of Koxinga, some cannon replicas, and some very nice trees for visitors to enjoy. Visitors can get to know more of the Anping Fort history through visiting the park and the exhibition hall.

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Tour B: Chimei Museum

Chimei Museum is a comprehensive museum established in 1992 by the . The museum's collection is divided into five categories: Western Art (including painting, sculpture, decorative arts and period furniture); Musical instruments; Natural history; Arms and armor; Antiquities and artifacts. The museum is known for having one of the largest collections of in the world, and also for its significant collections of ancient weapons and Western paintings and sculptures. Forbes magazine, in its February 1996 article on private collectors in Asia, called Chimei Museum "one of the world's most surprising art collections”. There are four exhibition rooms, one temporary exhibition gallery and a sculpture hall in the main building. The collection at Chimei Museum exhibiting approximately 4000 items, which is about one third of the complete Chimei collection. The museum was first established and housed in the administration building of the Chi Mei Corporation in 1992, relocated to the Tainan Metropolitan Park in 2014, and reopened in 2015.

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Tour C: Sihcao Green Tunnel

Sihcao Green Tunnel in Tainan was once a salt canal. 750 meters long and 20 meters wide, the canal was used to transport salt products from the drying field to the storage back in the days. The rich habitat of the mangrove the canal cuts through is the wetland environment with the most variety of species and plants in Taiwan. It is now organized into a tourism canal for visitors to examine and experience this well reserved wetland. Sihcao Green Tunnel is right beside and under management of Sihcao Dajhong Temple. There are two raft routes provided, the Sihcao Green Tunnel and Taijiang Boat Ride. Taijiang boat ride takes you out to the shore to explore the coastline of the wetland. The Sihcao Green Tunnel takes you into the canal to examine closely to the plants and the species along the way. The 30 minute raft ride through the well preserved mangrove with greeneries covering the sides and rare species resting randomly in the woods is very relaxing. With a professional guide explaining the history and ecological facts, the ride is also very educational. The ride through the Sihcao Green Tunnel is around 30 minutes. It is a great experience to raft through a natural green tunnel. The beautiful green tunnel has become more and more popular; it is now one of the most recommended attractions in Tainan.

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Tour D: Tainan Confucius Temple

Tainan Confucius Temple, also known as “The Highest Institute”, was built in the year 1666. It is the first Confucius temple constructed in Taiwan and back in the days, it was the only place of the highest official institute of higher learning in Taiwan. This well preserved temple has been through more than 30 times of renovation since it was built, a part of the structure was destroyed during the wars and ruined by nature disasters such as typhoons. The present outlook of the structure was the look after reconstructing during the Japanese ruling period in year 1917. This well preserved Confucius Temple was appointed as a Class 1 Historic Site in 1983 by the government of Tainan has become one of the main tour sites for visitors traveling to Tainan. Speaking of well preserving, the original cultural articles in the Confucius, inscriptional records of repairs, horizontal described boards awarded from all types of dynasties and ceremony and musical instruments from early Manchu Dynasty are still perfectly kept till nowadays. These precious historical cultural articles and musical instruments are available for you to discover so don’t miss The Confucius Temple Tainan if you are looking for a historic, cultural trip for you Taiwan Travel!

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Tour D: Chihkan Tower ()

Chihkan Tower, alson known as Fort Provintia, is located at the intersection of Chihkan St. and Minzu Rd., Tainan. It was constructed by the Dutch in 1653 and was originally used as the administration center during the Dutch’s occupation. Its original name was Provintia which means “eternity” in Dutch. Since the Dutch were used to be called Hongmao by Hans, Chihkan Tower is also called Hongmao Castle or Fanzai Tower. In front of Chihkan Tower, there are nine statues of turtles, each carrying a stone plate on its back. The statues were constructed in the Qing dynasty and were relocated to its current position in front of Chihkan Tower. Near Chihkan Tower, there is also a horse statue with broken legs. The statues all have a legend that describes and explains the way they are presented right now. Due to lack of maintenance and civilian upheavals, Chihkan Tower needed to be restored and repaired over the years. Thus, the Dutch style building also has added Chinese style architectural parts. In addition, other events have also caused different changes and restoration to the building of Chihkan Tower that altogether formed its appearance today. It is classified as a class one historical site and also a representative of Tainan attractions.

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