2018 World Congress of MBBW in Penghu, Taiwan
2018 World Congress of MBBW was today kicked off by Chen Chu, Secretary-general of the President, Maria das Dores Meira, World Bays President, and the president of Penghu County, and Chen Kuang-Fu, Penghu Magistrate Chen. There are nearly 300 domestic and foreign city representatives from the 30 countries, more than 50 cities gathering in Penghu. The grand event is not only the focus of international attention but also the coral stone structures in Penghu and the natural, environmental protection burdock cakes are on the international stage by the congress.
“In Love with the Ocean” is the theme of this congress. Explore the challenges facing the global bay-type cities; Marine Environment, Sustainable Tourism and Regional Development have become the important issues for the development of marine cities. After the wonderful series of panel discussions, at 3pm, the organizer led the distinguished guests t to Nan-liao in person. Through the actual experience of visiting, the characteristics of Penghu and the profound cultural connotation can be more concretely implemented in the local economy and sustainable tourism.
The Penghu County Government is committed to promoting community. Nan-liao, which is selected as one of the world’s top 100 green tourism destinations in 2017, is the best demonstration. The community that maintains the traditional rural atmosphere of Penghu can be seen everywhere. Nostalgically, the coral stone structures are actually a coral reef rock mass. The pronunciation in Taiwanese is like a “Lo-Go-Jiou”, which is piled up by the bones of the early seabed corals after death. After hundreds of millions years, the changes in the earth’s crust and the rock formed by the seabed uplift are also one of the most major features in Penghu. The centuries-old Penghu cultural assets, Hsu Fan residence in Nan-liao, are the focus of foreign guests. The ancient house is cleverly used in clay sculptures, painted glazed tiles, shears, cement-plastic horizontal windows, etc., in addition to rich religious implications. It can show the regional style and artistic historical value of Penghu.
Not only in the mid-summer, but also in the autumn and winter seasons, Penghu has a unique and fascinating landscape. In the old rural society, “dung fuel” is an important cooking material and boiling water fuel. The villagers dried the burdocks and handcuffed them. They shape as a round cake, then slammed into the coral stone wall, dried to become a “Burdock cake” that can replace firewood. The residents demonstrated the use of burdock cake as fuel and cooked the whole pot of eggs. Many visiting foreign guests appreciated the use of burdock cakes and confirmed the spirit of environmental protection, energy conservation and the protection of the ocean.
