A Friendship Bridge between Hong Kong and Taichung: A Hong Kong delegation experiences the passion of Taichung

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Naomi Lai

Secretary Stephen Lam of Constitutional and Mainland Affairs under the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Secretary Rita Lau Ng of the Commerce and Economic Development visited Taiwan with a delegation March 5-7 by invitation of the Taichung city government, to explore the development of Taichung and related tourism resources, and attend the "Hong Kong Night" event at the 2010 Central Taiwan Lantern Festival. After the event, they also visited the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway and The Lalu resort at the lake, experiencing Nantou's local cuisine and central Taiwan tourism first-hand.

Dinner banquet with the Mayor
At a welcome dinner banquet, Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu expressed joy at the long-desired visit by the Hong Kong government delegation, commenting that a Hong Kong academic friend once said, "Taichung is the best friend of Hong Kong in Taiwan!" That fact kept him happy for two weeks. With the Hong Kong delegation in the city, he said he hoped they would return every year, and extended an invitation to the delegation for future annual visits.

Last year, Mayor Hu led a Taichung delegation to the Hong Kong-Taiwan Exchange Forum, and he proudly pointed out that this was the largest official foreign visit Taichung city has made in recent years. However, this year's visit by the 180-person Hong Kong delegation, including banquet staff, outnumbered the Taichung delegation to that city.

Mayor Hu also noted that the lanterns presented by Hong Kong in this year's Central Taiwan Lantern Festival were among the most popular attractions, with offered Hong Kong tourism packages selling out almost immediately. The mayor said that if it weren't for collaboration by and the vision of Secretary Lin, efforts to establish direct Taichung-Hong Kong flights would not have succeeded. Today, while many Taiwanese airports are facing competition from the High Speed Rail and losing market share, Taichung Airport has instead seen growth of 40%. The mayor said his next priority was to strengthen bilateral trade between the two cities.

Trade & Tourism: Exchanges between two cities
During the dinner banquet, Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Lau Ng said that she hoped to deepen the friendship between the two cities and believed in more future bilateral trade opportunities. Secretary Lam also said that Mayor Hu informed him of the eight-fold increase in the cultural activity participation rate of Taichung residents since Hu came into office. Lam added that since he was also looking to promote cultural-activity participation in Hong Kong, he was very keen to learn about related experiences in this area. He further stressed that Taiwan was Hong Kong's fifth-largest bilateral trading market. Annually, two million Taiwanese tourists visit Hong Kong and 10% of them are from Taichung. Thus, he believes that there is still space for further cooperation between Taichung and Hong Kong.

Lam also said that the Hong Kong government took its relationships with Taiwan very seriously and was establishing a bilateral trade committee; currently, it is working to establish the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Promotion Council. Lam said he understood that Taiwan was also establishing a Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Promotion Council. When the two councils are established, the two governments will be able to use them as platforms to build future intercity economic and cultural cooperation, and administrative policy collaboration between the two sides will also benefit.

A fabulous "Hong Kong Night"
The much-anticipated "Hong Kong Night" party was held on the weekend evening of March 6 with tens of thousands of audience members crowding into the Fulfillment Amphitheater. There, Hong Kong celebrities such as Jenny Tseng, Gigi Leung and Nancy Sit presented elaborate performances, combining music, dancing, an LED light-show and introductions to Hong Kong tourist attractions, bringing Hong Kong to its Taichung audience for one night.

Other famous guests at this unprecedented event included a Hong Kong government delegation, Hong Kong Tourism Board Executive Director Anthony Lau, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Managing Director Andrew Kam, Chingjia Construction General Manager Chang Chun-hao and VeeTIME Chairman Richard Lai.

Mayor Hu said that he was glad that all of the guests and audience members were so excited at the party, joking that everyone was shouting so loud even people in Taipei could hear them. The best part was experiencing the beauty of Hong Kong without leaving Taichung, he said, adding that Hong Kong was a wonderful place and a visionary city for developing tourism with Taichung and Taiwan. Mayor Hu recommended that Taichung's people travel to Hong Kong and invited Hong Kong friends to visit Taichung.

Secretary Lin said in his speech that he noticed the theme of this year's Lantern Festival was tigers loving Taichung and noted that he would also like to say to everyone that, "Hong Kong also loves Taichung!" Speaking before the audience, Mayor Hu responded, "Taichung loves Hong Kong!"

The evening party program included dance performances from the Disney family, famous Hong Kong soap opera musical classics performed by Nancy Sit and a pop music performance by celebrity singer Gigi Leung, ending on a closing high note with a performance by Jenny Tseng. Mayor Hu told the audience, "I am proud that you've made people from Hong Kong fall in love with Taichung."

After the performances, the city government prepared various types of Taiwanese local delicacies for a celebration party, sponsored by Chingjia Construction, which introduced various snacks such as "bubble tea", Taiwanese meatballs (rou yuan), pork thick soup (rou geng) and oyster omelets.

Visiting Taichung and Nantou
The Hong Kong government delegation also visited the Leh Cheng Temple, Botanical Garden at the National Museum of Natural Science, Moncoeur, and Tunghai University in Taichung, followed by various attractions such as Nantou County's Sun Moon Lake. Secretary Lin noted that Nantou's great tourism potential lay with its tourism cable-car system, the local government's efforts to preserve culture, and hotel development. As Hong Kong also has many tourism resources, such as its coastlines and islands, it is hoped it can learn from Nantou and develop tourism further while promoting a mutual friendship.

The Nantou County Government arranged various local cuisine for the guests, such as water bamboo and courses cooked with "shao xing" paper. These fresh ingredients, together with skilled culinary presentation, created dishes that the delegation loved. Nantou County Deputy Magistrate Chen said that Taichung city and Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties all cared a lot about regional development and had traveled to China several times for agricultural produce exhibitions and promotions in Beijing and Hong Kong. In addition, these governments will also continue to promote future central Taiwan development.

Secretary Lau Ng also visited VeeTIME and noted that there was still a lot of space for cooperation between Hong Kong and Taiwan in the field of information technology. Taiwan and Hong Kong can further collaborate in technology and innovations, while IT companies such as VeeTIME can gather information about the market through the financial centers in Hong Kong.

Before leaving Taiwan, Secretary Lin said that the visit offered his delegation many rich experiences, especially noting the passionate audience during the "Hong Kong Night", and expressed his hope to bring Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah with him in the future to further exchanges and collaboration between the two areas. Secretary Lau Ng said that she was happy to build this bridge of communication with Taichung and hoped to construct a second one based on industrial and commercial exchanges in the future, promoting future business transactions and mutual investments.