Daxi residents feel robbed by Kaohsiung’s promotion of Fong Fei-fei

高雄宣傳鳳飛飛大溪居民感到被搶

Upon hearing the news, many Daxi residents said that it was unbelievable and that Kaohsiung is very strange


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Some residents of Daxi, Taoyuan, feel robbed by Kaohsiung City Government’s abrupt promotion of Taiwan’s legendary singer Fong Fei-fei (鳳飛飛), saying that Daxi is her hometown and wondering why the southern Taiwan city is trying to steal the cultural property of another place, according to a Central News Agency (CNA) report on Wednesday.

Kaohsiung’s Tourism Bureau and Civil Affairs Bureau jointly announced on Wednesday that the date Fong passed away, Jan. 3, is designated as the “Fong Fei-fei Day” by the city government, and that the city will hold activities and package tours to attract domestic and international fans of hers to the city on her birthday, Aug. 20, as well as on her death anniversary every year, the report said.

Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Pan Heng-hsu (潘恆旭) said that people in Kaohsiung had a strong emotional bond with Fong during the period from 1970 to 1990, when Taiwan's economy was booming, because most workers in Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone at that time were her fans and her songs could be heard everywhere in the zone.

Upon hearing the news, many Daxi residents said that it was unbelievable and "Kaohsiung is very strange," wondering why the city couldn’t develop its own culture and had to steal cultural property from others.

Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs Director-General Chuang Hsiu-mei (莊秀美) said that Taoyuan City Government has held memorial activities on Fong’s death anniversary for three years in a row, such as the concert and street parade last year. She added that Daxi is Fong’s hometown and people in Kaohsiung and other places are welcome to visit her hometown.

Fong, who died of lung cancer at the age of 58, was Taiwan’s singing icon. According to an introduction erected in front of the great singer's old home, she grew up in a small adobe house left behind by her grandfather, and the house with a small yard was surrounded by a bamboo fence. The introduction said that she liked to race with her brothers on the fields and run barefoot with neighbor children in the meandering lanes and alleys near her home.

The signer's family still live in the house, which apparently has been refurbished over the years.

Kaohsiung’s Tourism Bureau and Civil Affairs Bureau jointly announced on Wednesday that the date Fong passed away, Jan. 3, is designated as the “Fong Fei-fei Day”