For much of Taiwan’s postwar history, Kaohsiung wasn’t so much lagging behind as written off. Business visitors described the coastal city as irredeemably polluted, saying it had the sprawl and congestion of Taipei but little of the capital’s cuisine and none of its cultural attractions.
Until the late 1990s they were mostly right. An early sign of the city’s betterment was Love River changing colour. Even before Taiwan made the shift from authoritarianism to democracy, public demands that something be done about the smelly, tar-black waterway were too loud to ignore.
Sewage plants are one reason why Love River now has a much healthier hue, but ecological engineering techniques also played a role: so that the water’s edge would take on a more natural appearance, the river’s banks were covered with coconut-fibre matting in which aquatic plants could take root, but which will eventually decompose. The fact that many of the city’s nastiest industries have migrated to the Chinese mainland has helped, too. Kaohsiung’s sky, like its river, is bluer than it used to be.
In late 2010, Kaohsiung City merged with the surrounding county, increasing the population to 2.8 million. The municipality now encompasses many rural districts, up to and including the south face of Mount Jade (Yushan), East Asia’s highest mountain. But even before the reorganisation, urban Kaohsiung managed to go from way behind Taipei in terms of green space per resident to slightly ahead. It’s little wonder that “the general impression of Kaohsiung has taken a 180-degree turn”, to quote a mid-2012 article in CommonWealth, one of Taiwan’s most respected Chinese-language publications.
Love River at night
Building infrastructure
Kaohsiung Software Technology Park (KSTP) is central to government efforts to wean the region from declining heavy industries. Established in 2005 on land formerly belonging to Taiwan’s state-owned oil company, the park quickly signed up Foxconn as a tenant. But the manufacturing giant had no plans to make iPads in Kaohsiung. Rather, it’s developing a cloud-computing centre.
The authorities hope KSTP will do in the 21st century what Kaohsiung’s export-processing zones did in the 1970s: attract foreign investment and know-how which can boost the economy and create jobs. The image of thousands of women leaving export-processing zones at the end of each shift on bicycles (in the 70s) or motorcycles (in the 80s and 90s) is part of Taiwan’s collective memory, but not a scene likely to be repeated, thanks to the progress made in public transport.
Kaohsiung’s mostly underground rapid-transit system, the KMRT, has two lines and 36 stations compared to Taipei’s 10 lines and 97 stations. But daily passenger numbers are a tenth of Taipei’s, which means you’ll almost always find a seat, although the KMRT is in deep financial trouble as a result. Ridership is gradually growing, however, and the authorities are confident that the integrated surface light-rail system now under construction will convince more commuters to use public transport instead of cars
and motorcycles.
The light rail won’t be fully operational until 2019, but the first section should be up and running within two years. That stretch will run for 8.7 kilometres along the waterfront, an area that the city only recently reclaimed from Kaohsiung’s port. Container-handling facilities have been relocated, and a waterside strip formerly off limits to the public has sprouted parkland, bicycle paths and venues for cultural events.
Some of the harbour’s old warehouses have been taken over by businesses, and one tenant in particular has garnered attention. Rhythm & Hues Studios, a visual-effects and animation company now setting up a digital production facility in Kaohsiung, helped make Life of Pi, the movie for which Taiwan-born Ang Lee recently won a best director Oscar, and which also won for best visual effects.
Tuntex Sky Tower, Kaohsiung's tallest building
Planning on a grand scale
The city government has dubbed the waterfront district “Asia’s New Bay Area”, and commissioned some of East Asia’s most exciting new buildings to prove the point. The curving white canopy of the Kaohsiung Exhibition and Convention Center (KECC) is taking shape, hinting that this landmark-in-waiting could become to Taiwan’s second metropolis what Sydney’s opera house is to Australia. The KECC will have enough space for 1,500 booths and two conference halls, the larger of which will have 1,500 seats.
Not far away, a new home for the city’s main library is under construction using steel-cable suspension methods that drastically reduce the amount of concrete needed. Artists renderings show a building surrounded by and filled with greenery. This foliage isn’t just for aesthetics: by shielding the library from the sun’s rays, the interior stays cool and less air-conditioning is needed.
Kaohsiung is attracting more and more cruise ships as well. To handle this traffic, plus ferries to Taiwan’s outlying islands and the Chinese mainland, a US$85 million port terminal is rising on a nearby plot. Finally, the Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center will complete the quartet of waterside landmarks.
The local government isn’t neglecting inland parts of the city, however. Mecanoo, the Dutch architects who designed the library, also won the competition to build an arts venue on the site of a former army base. The Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Arts is expected to be the largest venue of its kind in Asia, with almost 6,000 seats in four performance halls.
The number of Taiwanese and overseas tourists visitors to Kaohsiung has grown from just under 2.5 million in 2010 to over four million last year. Attention-grabbing projects like the KECC will give the tourism and MICE industries a further boost, even if they’ve turned the municipality into the most indebted city or county in Taiwan. Still, Kaohsiung isn’t waiting until 2015 – when all of these buildings should be ready – to host major international events.
The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, a leading annual wine- and liquor-tasting competition based in Belgium, has chosen Kaohsiung as its first-ever venue outside Europe. The spirits section of the competition will be held in Kaohsiung this June 6 to 9. According to the organisers’ website, “the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles not only wants to showcase award-winning spirits in a prime emerging market, but also to set its sights on the Asian continent, a high-growth market for spirits.”
From September 9 to 11 this year, Kaohsiung will also be the venue for the 2013 Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS). Over 1,000 mayors, officials and councillors representing more than 100 cities as far away as Australia and India are expected to attend. It will be a perfect opportunity for Taiwan’s southern city to showcase its credentials as a highly appealing new destination for the events industry and business in the coming years.
Kaohsiung's new library
International Air Connectivity
Kaohsiung International Airport experiences a considerable amount of traffic – both domestic and regional.The following airlines service international destinations to and from Kaohsiung:
•Air Macau – Macau
•China Airlines – Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Manila, Taoyuan, Narita, Shanghai, Shanzhen, Beijing, Chongqing and Kuala Lumpur
•Dragon Air, Hong Kong Airlines and Cathay Pacific – Hong Kong
•Eva Air – Macau, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Guilin and Tianjin
•Far Eastern Air Transport – Chengdu, Hefei, Nanning, Haikou and Guiyang
•Japan Airlines – Narita
• Mandarin Airlines – Hong Kong, Incheon, Kansai, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Changsha
•TransAsia Airways – Macau, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Changsha, Nanning, Hefei and Hanoi
•Viet Air – Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi
• Uni Air – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Incheon, Fuzhou, Qingdao and Hangzhou
•Xiamen Airlines – Xiamen and Fuzhou
