Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter, in TAOYUAN
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)
Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, second right, returns a hat to Hakka writer Chung Chao-cheng after wearing it for a while during a press conference yesterday in Taoyuan announcing a campaign trip along Provincial Highway No. 3. Photo: Chen Hui-ping, Taipei Times
yesterday visited several Hakka communities along Provincial Highway No. 3 in Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, following a news conference to give details of her “Romantic Highway No. 3” policy.
Speaking to local political leaders, supporters and Taiwanese literary writer Chung Chao-cheng (鍾肇政) in front of the Shengjiting (聖蹟亭) — the Pavilion of Sacred Relics — in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Tsai promised to turn the section of the highway that runs through Hakka communities in Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County and Taichung into an important route of development in tourism and agriculture that would lead to local prosperity.
“This is a highway of history, as, along the road, we can see the relics of [Han] settlements in history, integration between the Hans and Aborigines, and the combined prosperity of ethnic groups,” Tsai said. “It is also a highway of culture, as Chung, who left a classic page in Taiwanese literature, artist Hsiao Ju-sung (蕭如松), who left so many great works, and a well-known musician in Taiwanese musical history Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢) all lived along the road.”
Besides artistic personalities, Tsai said there are important tea and fruit production regions, as well as research institutes for the national defense industry along the road. [FULL STORY]