It is located at 101 Zhongzheng Road, Keelung City (the former "Marine Corps Air Defense Group Air Defense Battalion 3rd Company" camp area), next to the Qing-French War Memorial Park. The main body of the monument was created in 1950 to commemorate the victims of the "Sinking of the Taiping Wheel."
Background of the Taiping Shipwreck
The sinking of the Taiping Wheel occurred on January 27, 1949. The passenger ship "Taiping" chartered by the Republic of China Zhonglian Enterprise Company from Pacific Shipping Company was overloaded (2,093 tons) and did not turn on the navigation lights at night. As a result, it was in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands on the way from Shanghai to Keelung, Taiwan. A collision with a freighter "Jianyuan" carrying 2,700 tons of coal and lumber near Baijie Mountain, the two ships sank. 932 people died on the Taiping Ferry; many of them planned to flee from China to Taiwan. The Australian warship HMAS Warramunga rescued 34 people. Together with the unnamed people rescued by fishermen from the Zhoushan Islands, only more than 50 survived.
A monument standing on the other side of the escape
For passengers who want to go to Keelung Port on the Taiping Ferry, Taiwan is "the other side of fleeing." In 1950, the "Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Families of the Taiping Wheel Victims" initiated a monument erection operation; hope to erect a monument at the end of the voyage to express the yearning and evocation of relatives and friends who did not go ashore. The stele body was built near the left side of the entrance to the Dashawan Beach at that time due to the inscription on the right (handwritten: Taiping Ship Victims Monument). Afterwards, on the eve of the shipwreck and wreck every year, the families of the victims will come to hold mourning activities.
In response to the port reclamation project on the east bank of Keelung Port, the bathing beach disappeared, and the stele body became a facility in the camp area of the Navy Keelung Logistics Support Command, which resides at Pier 10 in the east of Keelung Port.
A pocket park symbolizing freedom and democracy
In December 2014, after the film "Taiping Wheel" directed by Wu Yusen was released, this historical story became a topic. However, because the Taiping Wheel Monument was included in the military area, it was inconvenient for family members to pay tribute, and the public had no way of knowing the tragic history. . Zheng Lijun, then a legislator, held a press conference on "Promoting the Relocation of the Monument to the Taiping Ship-Facing the History of Immigration in 1949" on January 20, 2015, nearly 66 years after the Taiping Shipwreck. She said that the proposal would request the Executive Yuan to move the Taiping Wheel monument to Keelung Zhongzheng Park or other appropriate places to facilitate the families of the victims to pay their respects and let the public understand the history of the Taiping Wheel. She also assessed that January 27 will be added as a national anniversary. Afterwards, the proper placement of the "Tai Ping Ship Victims Monument" has become the goal of joint cooperation between the Keelung City Government and the Central Government.
Starting in 2017, with the support of the project funding support of the "Great Keelung Historical Scene Reproduction Integration Project", the Keelung City Government Cultural Bureau commissioned a design team and a landscape engineering manufacturer to launch the retreat and green beautification project of the Taiping Ferry's passenger monument. In March 2018, the construction of the "Pocket Park" was completed. Since then, the Memorial to the Victims of Taiping Passengers has to be independent of the military barracks, and family members or general tourists can visit and pay tribute freely.
It is located at 101 Zhongzheng Road, Keelung City (the former "Marine Corps Air Defense Group Air Defense Battalion 3rd Company" camp area), next to the Qing-French War Memorial Park. The main body of the monument was created in 1950 to commemorate the victims of the "Sinking of the Taiping Wheel."
Background of the Taiping Shipwreck
The sinking of the Taiping Wheel occurred on January 27, 1949. The passenger ship "Taiping" chartered by the Republic of China Zhonglian Enterprise Company from Pacific Shipping Company was overloaded (2,093 tons) and did not turn on the navigation lights at night. As a result, it was in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands on the way from Shanghai to Keelung, Taiwan. A collision with a freighter "Jianyuan" carrying 2,700 tons of coal and lumber near Baijie Mountain, the two ships sank. 932 people died on the Taiping Ferry; many of them planned to flee from China to Taiwan. The Australian warship HMAS Warramunga rescued 34 people. Together with the unnamed people rescued by fishermen from the Zhoushan Islands, only more than 50 survived.
A monument standing on the other side of the escape
For passengers who want to go to Keelung Port on the Taiping Ferry, Taiwan is "the other side of fleeing." In 1950, the "Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Families of the Taiping Wheel Victims" initiated a monument erection operation; hope to erect a monument at the end of the voyage to express the yearning and evocation of relatives and friends who did not go ashore. The stele body was built near the left side of the entrance to the Dashawan Beach at that time due to the inscription on the right (handwritten: Taiping Ship Victims Monument). Afterwards, on the eve of the shipwreck and wreck every year, the families of the victims will come to hold mourning activities.
In response to the port reclamation project on the east bank of Keelung Port, the bathing beach disappeared, and the stele body became a facility in the camp area of the Navy Keelung Logistics Support Command, which resides at Pier 10 in the east of Keelung Port.
A pocket park symbolizing freedom and democracy
In December 2014, after the film "Taiping Wheel" directed by Wu Yusen was released, this historical story became a topic. However, because the Taiping Wheel Monument was included in the military area, it was inconvenient for family members to pay tribute, and the public had no way of knowing the tragic history. . Zheng Lijun, then a legislator, held a press conference on "Promoting the Relocation of the Monument to the Taiping Ship-Facing the History of Immigration in 1949" on January 20, 2015, nearly 66 years after the Taiping Shipwreck. She said that the proposal would request the Executive Yuan to move the Taiping Wheel monument to Keelung Zhongzheng Park or other appropriate places to facilitate the families of the victims to pay their respects and let the public understand the history of the Taiping Wheel. She also assessed that January 27 will be added as a national anniversary. Afterwards, the proper placement of the "Tai Ping Ship Victims Monument" has become the goal of joint cooperation between the Keelung City Government and the Central Government.
Starting in 2017, with the support of the project funding support of the "Great Keelung Historical Scene Reproduction Integration Project", the Keelung City Government Cultural Bureau commissioned a design team and a landscape engineering manufacturer to launch the retreat and green beautification project of the Taiping Ferry's passenger monument. In March 2018, the construction of the "Pocket Park" was completed. Since then, the Memorial to the Victims of Taiping Passengers has to be independent of the military barracks, and family members or general tourists can visit and pay tribute freely.
