A total of 20 members of Puchon City Social Welfare Association called on the City on Apr. 10th with plans to visit Maria Social Welfare Foundation, Ren-Ai Senior Citizens’ Home, and National Taichung School for Special Education Children. They admired the care achievements of Taichung city in terms of senior citizens, the handicapped, and women and children. Their visit aimed for understanding and observation, as well as promoting exchanges between the two cities. The visiting group included members from civil welfare associations, Puchon City Life Support Bureau, governmental institutes, and Puchon City Council, the citizen representative institute. All were warmly welcomed by Mayor Hu.

　　Mayor Hu spoke of his deep affection for Korea, and his best friend, the Korean ambassador, during the years when he worked as the ambassador to the USA, and when spending his honeymoon in Korea. He joked that some people believed he resembled a Korean, and also that rain fell when he watched himself in a mirror. His good natured humor rubbed off on the foreigner visitors.

　　Mayor Hu pointed out that the budget for the Department of Social Affairs reached 5% this year, and that the increasing volunteer rate kept the city in top place in Taiwan as a whole. This made him proud of that and expected the City to become famous for its welfare achievements. According to the Mayor, the City was well known for its cultural nature in addition to welfare mechanisms. 5 years ago when he took office, each denizen partook in 4.1 cultural activities on average per year, soaring up to 14 activities in his third year, the top nationwide. Last year it jumped up to 28, and the high participation rate symbolized that the city was one of leisure, lighthearted, and youthfulness. Mayor Hu took the chance to promote the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium by inviting Korean baseball teams to Taiwan for training during their snow season.

　　Puchon city visiting group included college professors, civil servants, city councilmen, and representatives from social welfare and culture associations, led by Professor Han, HueiBin of Seoul Theological Seminary, Tsue, ShiKou, the director of TeYu Social Welfare Hall, and City Councilperson Kim, KuanChu. They will continue their planned trip to HsinChu City after a 2-day stay in Taichung.

　　Puchon city is in the suburbs of Seoul with population of 0.87 million people and international acknowledgement of its cartoons, animation, and movies, as a city full of cultural cultivations, with the Puchon International Movie Festival held each August .