Changhua County government has been dedicated to the promotion of Changhua local fresh agricultural products. The “2017 Carnival Promoting Agriculture Products from Changhua County” was held on November 12th at the Changhua Fruit and Vegetable Market (next to the Rainbow Bridge).

To launch the development of each business circle in the county, business organizations and members are encouraged to promote and participate in the business affairs in order to enhance the regional competitiveness and reach the goal of a prosperous business environment. The business owners can apply for the “2017 sponsorship fund to the promotion of Changhua business circle ” . Those qualified business owners held a series promotion activity on November 1st, 4th, 5th, 11th, 25th and 26th 2017. People are welcome to visit Changhua County!

The Cultural Bureau of Changhua County has hosted the “Drama Book Fair in Changhua Theater Art Festival” at the Yuanlin Performance Art Library. The collection of selected ancient and contemporary drama books are displayed for readers to borrow.

He is the person who reminisces on his life of over the past 80 years! The Cultural Bureau of Changhua County hosted the “A Dialogue between Tradition and Modern-Lin Wei-chen’s 80 Chinese Painting Exhibition” at the Changhua County Art Museum. An Artistic Journey through six decades of Chinese Painting, the artist Tr. Lin Wei-chen dedicated to Chinese Painting for over half a century chooses to hold the retro-exhibition in his hometown Changhua County at his age of 80. His action completely presents his passion and dedication to his art creations.

The 3rd session of Changhua Marathon Month has been started. The “2017 Taiwan Rice Heaven-Tianzhong Marathon” jointly hosted by Changhua County government and Tianzhong Township will be started on November 12th!

In the 2017 Changhua Marathon month, the first session, “Fun in Baiguoshan－the 9th Yuanlin Lion’s Club half-marathon” was held on the 29th in the morning at the sports field of Yuanlin Elementary of Yuanlin City. Changhua County Magistrate Wei, Ming-Ku and other government officials and the VIP guests attended the event, including Yuanlin City Mayor Chang, Chin-kun, the Chairman of Yuanlin Lions Club Chen, Chih-hung, the Chairman of Yuanlin Sports Association Yu, Chen-hsiung and the Director of International Lions Club 300-C3 District Hsueh, Hsuan. Together they fired the starting pistol of the marathon. Magistrate Wei expects that the marathon activity can develop the sport habit not only to improve health but also to feel the beauty of Changhua on foot.

“Teacher, look, is the butterfly I made pretty?” Chen, a student, showed her seed DIY work, painted by her. Led by her teacher, she and her classmates came to the Chenggong Camp Site – Green Environment Learning Camp together to participate in many environmental education courses. They were excited to demonstrate the butterflies they made with plant seeds. In addition, they learned many things about species of butterflies, larval plants, honey plants (nectariferous plants), and more. More importantly, they learned more about environmental ecological education. “Chenggong Camp Site” is located near the Baquashan Great Buddha Statue in Changhua City, neighboring to National Changhua Living Art Museum and the Skywalk. In the past, it has been the artillery camp of the army since 1953. In 1993, the troops evacuated, and the land was handed over to Changhua County Government. It was not until 2002 that Changhua County Government’s proposal of “The Rural and Urban Landscape Plan” was approved by the Council of Cultural Affairs. It attempted to use the model of the “reutilization of idle space” to seek new functions and usages for the land. “Changhua Chenggong Camp Site – Green Environment Learning Campsite” is the first environmental education camp the uses the idle land of army garrisons for education purpose. In addition to retaining the forests and greens, it is also the most special ecological education park in Taiwan. Recently, the Green Environment Learning Camp Site has scheduled a series of environment education courses. They have designed a series of courses covering the areas of the explanation of the environment, course activities, and experiments with the resources and the features in the camp site, with the guidance of the five groups of volunteers: butterfly, herb, indigenous plant, wild vegetable, and water plant. The courses are provided to high school and elementary school teachers and students for school outings, environmental education, nature experiences and other teaching activities. Since accepting applications from schools in early October, it has received many schools that visited and attended courses in the Green Environment Learning Camp Site. This not only includes schools in the neighborhood, such as Zhongshan Elementary School Affiliated Kindergarten, Minsheng Elementary School, but also but also schools, such as Daan Elementary School and others from Tianzhong, located many miles away, also came to experience the beauty of Baquashan and take courses on environmental issues. In addition to the interpretations and guided tours in the campsite, the volunteers there design different theme activities to visitors of different age groups, such as Shennong tasting different herbs, ecology of wild butterflies, frequently seen wild vegetables and more. At the end, we are enthusiastic to offer “DIY activities.” These topics allows teachers and students to use natural materials to make simple souvenirs of their own. The Department of Education expects that by providing a quality site for ecological learning and experience in “Changhua Chenggong Camp Site – Green Environment Learning Campsite”, it allows teachers and students to expand the horizon of their knowledge about the environment so as to treasure it more. Consolidating the concept of life-long learning and environmental education, it aims to construct as “Green Environment Learning Campsite” that integrates the functions of environmental protection, education, culture, and entertainment. Source: Changhua County Government’s website Contact: Inspector Shih, Department of Education, Changhua County Government (04-7250057 Ext. 26) Website of the Green Environment Learning Campsite: https://sites.google.com/a/chc.edu.tw/greencamp/ Fans page of Green Environment Learning Campsite: https://www.facebook.com/chcgreencamp/

“Changhua Xizhou Mud Cultural Festival” took place on October 28th and 29th 2017. The opening ceremony was held on the 28th in the morning at the Xizhou Forest Park (The property of Taitang).

In 2017, the Sports Administration, Ministry of Education invited 22 municipalities in Taiwan to participate in “Sport iTaiwan” local specialty sport voting program. In particular, the coveted “Taiwan Rice Heaven - Tianzhong Marathon” received the “Best Popularity Award”. The announcement press conference was held at the 1F lobby of Taipei Station in the morning of the 27th, and the Sports Administration, Ministry of Education Assistant Director-general Shui-wen Wang presented the award to award-winning municipalities, and Deputy County Magistrate Ming-yu Lin collected the award on behalf of County Magistrate Ming-ku Wei. Deputy County Magistrate Lin extended his gratitude to citizens nationwide for giving voting for the Tianzhong Marathon, as well as over 10,000 participants who have run in the rice barn of Taiwan over the last 5 years to introduce Tianzhong to the public and showcase the hospitality of Changhua citizens. As the most hospitable countryside marathon in Taiwan, Taiwan Rice Heaven - Tianzhong Marathon engages the services of 6,000 local residents every year to cheer on runners and demonstrate the area’s hospitality and enthusiasm. Nearly 10,000 runners are invited to experience the fragrance of rice and warm hospitality of the local folks via running. Tianzhong volunteers endeavored to create a friendly, welcoming racetrack with their heartfelt care for the land, which in turn has transformed the “Taiwan Rice Heaven - Tianzhong Marathon” into an internationally acclaimed event. Voted as one of the top 3 classic races in Taiwan, this is a highly popular event among domestic and international athletes alike. Taiwan Rice Heaven - Tianzhong Marathon is held on the second Sunday of November every year, enabling runners to enjoy the sea of golden rice fields as they celebrate an abundant harvest with the farmers through the marathon. From its humble beginnings in 2012, the number of volunteers grew from 100 to nearly 6,000 today, and the number of runners also flourished from just over 4,000 to today’s 15,000. Together, they have generated thriving developments to the local economy, where novel travel experiences are created, such as cycling tour, farming experience, group sports training and international experience group etc. Continuing the popularity of the Tianzhong Marathon, road-running events will be held in Yuanlin, Ershui, Tianzhong and Lukang over 4 consecutive Sundays in Changhua County, starting from October 29. The county government has lent its full support for Changhua County Marathon Month in an effort to market the city through road running. Everyone is welcome to join the marathon; not only will they be able to enjoy sports by also experience Changhua County’s unique cultural landscape, characteristics, and natural environment. Information courtesy of Changhua County Government official website.

Changhua County Magistrate Ming-Ku, Wei and staff has organized the “Resident Community Planner Project”, where a consultation team offers professional consultations and services to the communities in creating green environments and revitalizing unused spaces, thereby increasing the momentum of community building. Changhua County Magistrate Ming-ku Wei, Fuxing Township Mayor Li-sung Nien and others visited Fubao Community in Fuxing Township on the morning of the 16th to observe the community planners’ progress and achievements in transforming the community environment. County Magistrate Wei also participated in the community environment transformation process with the local residents and offered words of encouragement for the community volunteers. According to County Magistrate Wei, Fubao Community has the largest number of cattle in Changhua County, and the residents are willing to become volunteers under the leadership of the head of village, therefore the county government has located a plot of land through the community planner. With materials procured by the county government and labor supplied by the community, teamwork is applied to transform communities into parks, making them more beautiful. County Magistrate Wei pointed out that starting from Fubao, it is hoped the Resident Community Planner Project will be spread to more than 500 communities in Changhua County. Moreover, communities may also apply for the project, where the government provides the funding and the community supplies the labor to beautify the environment. If the dairy industry in Fubao can become a community enterprise and further market the businesses within the community, the community’s overall income can be increased. In doing so, everyone involved will be given a job and the community will become self-sufficient. Fuxing Township Mayor Li-Sung, Nien thanked the county government for its support and Chairman Lin of Taiwan Mirror Glass Enterprise for donating the land. Niuchou Old House was developed by the township office using local development fund from the county government. The most well-known products of Fuxing Township are milk and furniture; community residents have come together to market local industries. Since assuming office, County Magistrate Wei has strived to promote the creation of community ecological parks in an effort to improve the county’s green coverage ratio. With subsidies from Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior’s “Town Image Transformation Project”, Changhua County Government Department of City and Tourism implemented “Resident Community Planner Project”, where professional, enthusiastic consultation team gain a thorough understanding of the local community before providing them with expert consultation and services. As a result, more communities will become involved, and through diverse community talent training courses, participatory workshops, visits to high quality communities and subsidizing communities to hire workers and purchase materials to engage in environmental transformation projects. In this way, the communities not only benefit from greening and revitalization of unused spaces but also improved momentum in building their hometowns, allowing them to showcase their distinctive features. The “Resident Community Planner Project” mainly assists community residents to reach a consensus and voluntarily present proposals that will be reviewed by the county government; thereafter, selected proposals will be able to hire workers and purchase materials in order to implement environmental greenification and beautification. The key to community building is also to introduce the theme of countryside aesthetics (edible landscaping, friendly environment, habitat creation, regional memory) as well as regional functionalities (disaster prevention or emergency response, senior citizen friendly). In 2017, 28 out of 35 communities that applied for the program received county government approval, subsidizing them to hire workers and purchase materials in order to greenify and beautify the environment. Accompanied by relevant personnel, County Magistrate Wei toured the communities to see the improvements that were made. By visiting farming villages, he witnessed community volunteers toiling and sweating under the blazing sun. They moved bricks, planted trees and laid turfs without complaint for the betterment of their community thus he was deeply touched by their selfless contributions. After visiting the communities, he discovered there were still plenty of locations awaiting transformation, and “small flower effect” should be applied to continue improving the environment, thereby enhancing the community culture and village environment. In addition to commending the dedication of staff and volunteers, County Magistrate also wishes to improve community cohesion, improve the community environment and care for senior citizens through the process. Furthermore, he hopes to cater to the needs of the community via implementing county government projects, so that community environments offer both aesthetic and practical functions. Additionally, youths will be encouraged to return to their hometown to participate in the program and inject more vigor to beautify the community. In the future, apart from engaging more proactively in assisting community-building efforts, it is hoped that more community will join forces to prosper Changhua County’s communities through observation, learning and healthy competitions as well as professional consultation team. Information courtesy of Changhua County Government official website.