Central Park () is a park in

Cianjin District Cianjin District, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency () is an urban district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. It is the third smallest district in Kaohsiung City, with a land area of 1.8573 square kilometers, or 0.7171 square miles. ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City ( Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Ka ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. The park is an oasis of greenery in the midst of a heavily built-up urban area.

History

City planners first conceived of, and set aside space for, a park at Central Park's current location during the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Later on, planners during the early period of

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

rule referred to the concept as ''Park Number 15''. Central Park formally came into being in 1976. At one point, the park featured a library, basketball courts, tennis courts, a parking lot, the District swimming pool, and Sun Yat-sen Arena. The park was adopted by the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

and thus also became known as ''Rotary Park''. In the 1990s, most of the built-up areas were removed and replaced with grassy or wooded parkland. This was the result of the efforts of environmentalist groups, and dovetailed with the construction of the MRT Red Line. The

Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC; ) is a corporation established by the municipal government of Kaohsiung, Taiwan to build and operate a rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or m ...

footed the bill for the conversion. In February 2014, it came to light that city officials had privately come to an agreement with a charitable organization founded on behalf of a deceased lumber tycoon to pave over a wooded area at the northwest corner of Central Park and erect a public library bearing the name of said individual. A wide array of local citizens have arisen to oppose the proposed partial paving over of Central Park.

Features

Central Park includes Kaohsiung Literature Library, Scenic Lake, Middle Island, Speech Square, Water Square, Hedgerow Labyrinth and Outdoor Terrace. Water Square offers 20-minute-long "water dances" several times a day.

Transportation

The park is accessible from Central Park Station of

Kaohsiung MRT Kaohsiung Metro () is a rapid transit and light rail system covering the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Its rapid transit network is known as Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit or Kaohsiung MRT. Construction of the MRT started in October 200 ...

. The main exit of the station is located at the east edge of the park.

References

{{commons category, Central Park, Kaohsiung 1976 establishments in Taiwan Parks established in 1976 Parks in Kaohsiung

History

Features

Transportation

See also

References