Taiwan Business TOPICS Chikan Tower. Photo credit: Louise Watt
Not known for being a particularly international city, Tainan has nonetheless been influenced by foreigners for hundreds of years. Contemporary visitors can still see and experience a number of their lasting contributions.
It’s been almost 400 years since Dutch traders disembarked in present-day Tainan, kicking off a long history of foreign interaction and influence. In the centuries that followed, European and Japanese figures left their mark on the city with the construction of forts, buildings, and roads, as well as irrigation systems that made land more fertile. Foreign religious figures introduced romanized writing systems for indigenous and Taiwanese languages and Taiwan’s first newspaper. These aspects of the city’s past can still be glimpsed on a trip to Tainan today.
嘉南大圳開工滿百周年紀念，台日視訊連線手舞同歡見證友好！ sina.com.tw - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sina.com.tw Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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TAINAN, Taiwan A ceremony was held on Saturday, May 8, to mark the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Wushantou Dam, which was designed and built by Japanese civil engineer Yoichi Hatta before World War II.
In attendance at the ceremony and related events at Hatta Yoichi Memorial Park in Tainan were Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and two other top officials, Vice President Chen Chien-jen and Su Tseng-chang, who holds a position equivalent to premier.
It is quite unusual for all three of Taiwan’s top political leaders to attend the commemoration of a historical event relating to a person from abroad.
觀點投書：馬維拉及八田與一都只是民進黨的政治工具-風傳媒 storm.mg - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from storm.mg Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Taiwan holds event to remember influential Japanese engineer
May 9, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Taiwan s Vice President Chen Chien-jen offers flowers at a memorial park in Tainan dedicated to Japanese architect and hydraulic engineer Yuichi Hatta at a ceremony on May 8, 2021, the 79th anniversary of his death.(Kyodo) TAIPEI (Kyodo) Taiwan held activities on Saturday to remember Japanese architect Yoichi Hatta who designed the Chianan Canal, Wushantou Reservoir and Wushantou Dam in Greater Tainan in southern Taiwan a century ago. As this year marks the centennial of the start of the canal s construction, events were held at a memorial park dedicated to Hatta in Tainan on Saturday, the 79th anniversary of the death of the Japanese engineer.