This year’s July 4 marks the 224th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence. In honor of the event, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) hosted the America Day: Home Run! Independence Day event during the baseball game between Uni-President Lions (home team) and CTBC Brothers on the evening of July 4. This is the first time AIT held Independence Day celebrations at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che was invited by AIT Director Brent Christensen to take part in this meaningful event and wish America a happy birthday with the baseball fans in the stadium.
Huang Wei-che expressed that Tainan is THE baseball city in Taiwan and the sport is part of the local’s lives. Baseball embodies the spirit of working ceaselessly to achieve your goal, which not only is a shared value between Taiwan and the US, but also describes the characteristic of Tainan locals. Tainan has hosted seven editions of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup and is home to many outstanding baseball players, including Chien-Ming Wang and Hong-Chih Kuo, who threw the opening pitches. Both athletes are from Tainan and played in the Major League Baseball (MLB). The Mayor thanked AIT for choosing Tainan as their Independence Day celebration location, giving the citizens an opportunity to share the joy and pride.
Huang also mentioned that while the world is still battling the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan has done a pretty good job in fighting the epidemic. In fact, thanks to many preemptive preparations, Tainan City has the least confirmed cases among the six special municipalities. And this success allowed the Chinese Professional Baseball League to be one of the few in the world that can organize and hold games as usual. Mayor Huang also announce that for this game season, every game the Uni-President Lions plays in their hometown Tainan will be streamed live online (http://cpblstats.com/online-stream/) with English commentary. So that baseball fans around the world can enjoy the games together. He hoped that the excitement from the games and the enthusiasm of the players can serve as some form of encouragement to the public during this difficult period.
The US and Taiwan has seen unprecedented frequent interactions recently; and Tainan, as a city, has also initiated many exchanges with cities in the US. At the beginning of this pandemic, Tainan City already reached out to our 14 sister and friendship cities in the US and sent over encouragement and support. And at the baseball game yesterday, there was another collaboration between Tainan and sister city Kansas: before the Uni-President Lions started the game, video clips recorded by mayors of the two cities were played to wish their respective teams good luck. In addition, the mascots of the two teams (Uni-President Lions and Kansas City Royals), which are coincidentally both lions, also appeared to cheer on their teams. The collaboration not only showcased the friendship between Tainan and the US, but also displays Tainan's warm welcome of AIT’s event. The Mayor hoped that Tainan can continue to interact with the US cities via video conference and baseball games.
Lastly, Mayor Huang took the opportunity to invite all American friends to return to Tainan on October 10 to celebrate Taiwan’s National Day since the 2020 Taiwan National Day fireworks will be presented in Tainan City’s Yuguang Island. All are invited to come and enjoy the beautiful fireworks and experience Tainan’s culture and hospitality!