2015 Taiwan Summer Trip 03: National Cheng Kung University, Campus of Nature and Arts

6 June 2015 is the day that National Cheng Kung Univeristy (NCKU) held its Commencement. We visited the campus with my brother during that morning.

Museum of NCKU

NCKU was originally established under Japanese occupation in 1931 as Tainan Technical College. In 1944, its Japanese name was changed while the English name remained. After WWII, the school was renamed as Taiwan Provincial Tainan Junior College of Technology in 1946. It was upgraded to Taiwan Provincial Cheng Kung University in 1956 and then a national university as NCKU in 1971. The Museum of NCKU was one of the campus building of Tainan Technical College under Japanese occupation.

Flora is everywhere in the campus

There is a cute bird under the red flower tree. It moved its neck slowly like hunting something quietly.

Kuang-Fu Campus

My brother and his Malaysian friends in NCKU

Tower of Dream (stainless steel, behind Yun-Ping Building)

The campus is also an arts gallery. Sculptures could be seen everywhere in campus.

Peoples who practicing Tai-chi at the space between Yun-Ping Building and Department of History

There are several historical sites in Kuang-Fu Campus. The building which belongs to Department of History is one of the national historical sites. It served as the barracks of 2nd Infantry Regiment of Imperial Japanese Army.

People on Earth (Bronze, lawn between Department of History and Yun-Ping Building)

Dancing (Bronze, lawn between Department of History and ancient city wall remains)

Ancient city wall remains of the Section of Small East Gate, Fortress of Taiwan Prefecture

Fortress of Taiwan Prefecture was first built as a wooden fortress in 1723 during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of Qing Dynasty. It was rebuilt as rammed-earth fortress (soil as base covered with two-feet thick rammed earth material) to resist attack by fire in 1788 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong.  The walls were then destroyed during Japanese occupation. Only about 195 meter-long wall remains after WWII. 

The remains in the photo was rebuilt in 1985 by using the materials discovered from the site of Small East Gate.

Ladder beside the wall remains, where graduates recorded their memories

  

NCKU Student Center, rehearsal and musics could be heard everywhere

Sports Activity Center, the place where Commencement was held

Panorama of the Commencement

Stray animals in the campus, each stray dog has its own name

Ducks in Cheng-Kung Lake

There is a huge snowy duck at lakeside.

After went around the campus, we came back to Yun-Ping Building where Parents' meeting for foreign students was held.

Graduates and students from Malaysia

Stalls selling graduation bear and bouquet were everywhere at roadside outside the Kuang-Fu Campus. The price was much cheaper if compared with Singapore. A sunflower was NTD 10, while a bunch of flowers was only about NTD 100. The graduation bears were cheaper too. The low price mostly due to the intense competition here.

Stalls selling bouquet and graduation bears outside NCKU campus

NCKU Commencement was held in evening. However, each department could hold their own mini ceremony separately. Department of Material Science and Engineering, which my brother studied, was one of them.

Graduation Ceremony of Department of Material Science and Engineering in 2015

Compared with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, the mini ceremony is not so formal as that of NTU. There was no strict dress code for the ceremony. After the certificate (the red certificate was retrieved after that and given to another group of graduates) was given, parents were invited to the stage to present bouquet and take photos. There were only three professors attending the ceremony, which is quite different from NTU, where almost entire faculty are on the stage.

My mum present bouquet to my graduating brother. Person at left is my brother's coursemate

NCKU Commencement in evening, president of NCKU was giving a speech

As a prestige university in Taiwan, many celebrity and politician are alumni of NCKU. One of the alumni guests, who also gave a speech during the Commencement, was Prof . Lee Hong-Yuan, the former Minister of Interior. Besides that, other politicians, including Wang Jin-Pyng, the President of Legislative Yuan and William Lai, the mayor of Tainan, were also invited to deliver speech. Such kind of situation where politicians with opposing political faith deliver speech at same stage, is impossible in Malaysia and Singapore.

Last but not least, congratulations to my brother on his graduation!


Next：

Sihcao Dajhong Temple, Temple of Zhenhai Generalissimo the First God of Taiwan