In order to encourage the people to learn the history of Taichung, Taichung City Government has selected 7 spots with historical story scenes to set the「Historical scene signboard of Town in Culture City」, including 「Taichung First Senior High School and Shu-ron Kin」, 「Yiyang Farm and Kui Yang」, 「Wenying Hall and Chien-wu Chen」, 「Lien-tzong building and Lien-tzong Lin」, 「Wanchuan Temple and Ting-jen Lan」, 「Taichung theater and Hsuieh-hong Hsieh」 and 「Ming-ho Chao Incident」etc.; then the story of old town in Taichung will be reflected through the explanation texts and signboards. Mayor Chia-lung Lin said, we wish to have people to understand Taichung more by connecting the past and the future Taichung.

City Government Cultural Affairs Bureau today (1st) conducted the unveiling ceremony at the north side gate of Taichung First Senior High School. The opening was initiated by the teachers and students from Hsin Ming High School to play the drama of「Principal of Taichung First Senior High School Shu-ron Kin」 stopping the military troops with his own body to protect the teachers and students. And Mayor Lin, Director of Cultural Affairs Bureau Chi-cheng Wang , Legislator Kuao-hsu Huang, City Councilor Ya-ming Chang and the Principal of Taichung First Senior High School Mu-chu Chen were unveiling the signboard together in the ceremony.

During the period of the February 28 Incident, Shi-kai Kin, Shi-shen Kin, Shi-ken Kin, the grandson of Shu-ron Kin, the principal of Taichung First Senior High School, the second son and grandson of the writer Kui Yang, Jian Yang and Yao-tsun Yang, the chief of 「27 brigade」Yi-ren Chung, Wenying Hall Chien-wu Chen’s wife, Yu-lan Hsu, Executive secretary of Lien-tzong building Hsu-cheng Liu, commissioner of Wanchuan Temple Li-wen Chun, and Director of Korean Mission in Taipei Chang-soo Yang were all there for witnesses.

「City is the container of Culture while Culture is the soul of City！」Mayor Lin said, the City Government has facilitated the Project of「Historical space renovation of Taichung Town in Culture City」, in addition to the renovations of Luchuan and Liuchuan, the hardware construction of Taichung great station etc., the most important thing is the property of Culture. The City Government has selected 7 historical scenes as the first stage. The involvement and research of the experts and the signboards set on-site will help to bring the people back to the scenes of those historical stories.

He also mentioned, setting the historical scene signboards was just a beginning and no matter Taiwanese or the international tourists were all expected to know Taichung deeper and see Taichung in the the past and future by way of the stories on the signboards.

Director of Cultural Affairs Bureau Chi-cheng Wang indicated, the Project of「Historical scene signboard of Town in Culture City」was supported by the local people, writers and historians to write down the historical stories of the old town. The selected 7 spots with the settings were closely related to the historical people and the modern history of Taichung. The whole area was from Taichung First Senior High School along the way of Shuangshi Road, Chengkong Road, Pingdeng Street, Minzu Road and Ziyou Road to Taiwan Boulevard. In the future, we’d like to base on the old town as the core of the Project with the Taichung State Government, Martial Arts Hall and green sky Project combined to it so we can facilitate the development of town and build up the new landmarks of Cultural tourism.

The officer of Cultural Affairs Bureau has mentioned, Taichung First Senior High School was established in 1915. It’s the first public funded high school by Taiwanese and the educator, Shu-ron Kin, inaugurated as the first principal of the school after the Second World War in December of 1945. Principal Kin had tried to stop the trunks of military troops by himself with his own body at Shuangshi Road during the February 28 Incident. This is a legend passed around as he was so generous and kind to protect the teachers and students from being arrested by the military people.

「Yiyang Farm and Kui Yang」was set at the southern side of Taichung First Senior High School. Yiyang Farm was established by the Proletaria writer, Kui Yang, in 1937. It’s named as「Shouyang Farm」in the beginning but it’s moved for many times. At the last, it’s settled down at the southern side of Taichung First Senior High School. Kui Yang and his wife worked in the farm and discussed with young people about literatures and the hot topics then. After the Second World War, the name of the farm was changed as「Yiyang Farm 」.

Wenying Hall, located on Shuangshi Road and across Taichung First Senior High School, is the first cultural center of nationwide. Wenying Hall was established with the efforts of the writer, Chien-wu Chen, in 1976. Chien-wu Chen has heavily promoted to establish Wenying Hall when he was serving in Taichung City Government; then he became the first curator and Wenying Hall is the good example of other cities for developing the cultural center.

Lien-tzong building is located in the neighborhood of Taichung Park and is a building with 11 stories above the ground and 2 stories under the ground. Lien-tzong Lin was running the law firm in Taichung and elected as the chairman of Taichung State Lawyers’ Association. After the Second World War, Mr. Lin was served as the Senator of Taiwan Province Parliament and the representative of National Assembly for constitutions development. During the February 28 Incident, Lien-tzong Lin had left for Taipei to attend the management meeting of the February 28 Incident Committee but he was taken away by the military police and disappeared then. He was supposed to be sacrificed to death. In 1977, the daughter of Lien-tzong Lin, Hsin-jen Lin, constructed the Lien-tzong building to memorize her father.

Wanchuan Temple, located on Chengkong Road, has recorded the history of development of Taichung. In 1721, the Qing dynasty had sent Ting-jen Lan to Taiwan to put down the rebellion of Yi-guei Chu. After that, Ting-jen Lan was assigned to be the Commander of Taiwan and he sent staffs to develop Babuza area to establish「Lan Chang Hsin Village」and the「Lan hsin Temple」to worship the goddess, Matsu. It’s been renamed as the「Wanchuan Temple」after the renovation implemented in 1725.

The old address of Taichung theater was located on Sec. 1 Taiwan Boulevard and was established in 1902. It’s the first theater of the old town and became the gathering center of the citizens during the period of the February 28 Incident. It’s the place for conducting the「Citizen meeting」 and Hsuieh-hong Hsieh was elected as the chairperson of the meeting.

Ming-ho Chao Incident occurred at the cross of Minquan Road and Ziyou Road, Central District, was reflecting the history that one young Korean man, Ming-ho Chao, decided to leave his hometown to Taichung to assassinate the Taiwan Governor-General as the rebellion of Japan as Korea was colonized by Japan in 1910. Later, he was executed by hanging after assassinating the Japanese Prince in 1928.