15 students of the University of Puget Sound, learning Mandarin in Taiwan, took the opportunity to visit the City Government, where Deputy Mayor Hsiao received them in person to introduce them to the food and features of Taichung City, with the expectation of acquainting them further with the City.

　　These 15 students coming from Tacoma City, the sister city of Taichung, were learning Mandarin at Tunghai University Chinese Language Center for 8 weeks during their summer vacation, and made use of their free time to visit the City Government on Aug. 7th. Deputy Mayor Hsiao gladly took on the responsibility of receiving these guests from the sister city.

　　In his speech, Deputy Mayor Hsiao pointed out that while Taichung City is the third largest metropolitan area and is prosperous in terms of economic and transportation developments, the streets in the City looked somewhat deserted during these typhoon days instead of the normally busy conditions, as those students who had stayed in the City for a couple weeks must surely have noticed.

　　In addition to the construction projects in the City and the sisterhood history with Tacoma City, students were greatly looking forward to enjoying the cuisine, especially the stinky tofu; therefore, Deputy Mayor Hsiao patiently provided explanations and played the role of cuisine guide, arousing students' curiosity concerning the culture of the City, as well as the interests of their stomachs, and requested the teaching assistant of the Center to get them going, so that they could taste the culinary treats awaiting them.