Please read the following article, and you'll realize why your photos are valuable and meaningful to the Tamsui District.
Tamsui District is an old town in the north Taiwan. It was developed rapidly with its advantageous geographical location in the past hundred years. Althought port trading in Tamsui already to decline, it still has historic buildings and cultures. Now the local industries have transformed for goes sightseeing the development scenic spot primarily.
淡水是一座位在台灣北部的古老城鎮，因為地理位置優越，幾百年來此地的發展相當快速。雖然現代的商業貿易已逐漸沒落，但你仍可以在城鎮的每一個角落看見以前輝煌的榮光。現在淡水的產業逐漸轉型為觀光發展，有名的淡水老街即為一例。
《淡水夕照》陳澄波 1935
In 1927, during Japanese colonial period, the "sunset" in Tamsui was voted the eight views of Taiwan. In 1935, Tân Tîng-Pho, a famous Taiwanese artist, complished his landscape painting 《淡水夕照》, the painting shows that the ports, the unique buildings and the prosperity of Tamsui were all covered by the light of sunset. So far the beautiful sunset sight has been a feature in Tamsui, it attracted many shutterbugs to take some stunning photos.
在日據時期，由臺灣日日新報舉辦的民間票選活動，淡水夕景曾獲選為台灣八景之中。而台灣歷史上有名的油畫家陳澄波，曾在他的油畫布上畫出這座美麗的城鎮，名為淡水夕照。你可以在畫中看見往來的船隻、碼頭以及得忌利士洋行，他不直接畫出夕陽，而是藉由夕照的橘橙微光加以烘托當時淡水的盛景。如今，淡水夕照已經變成淡水當地的一部份，也相繼吸引了許多攝影師和觀光客前來一覽夕陽風采。
Sunset and Danjiang Bridge by Zaha Hadid Architects, render by MIR.
However, in the 1980s, the government decided to build a bridge at the estuary of Tamsui river (Danjiang Bridge) that can connect Tamsui and Bali District. From then on the debates and the disputes have never stopped. The advocates said the bridge can ease congestion problems of Guandu Bridge and bring multiple economic and social benefits to the locals. The opponents thought the bridge will block the view of Tamsui sunset and destory the precious culture. To them, the sunset is not only a natural scenery, but also already become a historic culture of Tamsui area.
然而，在1980年代末時，政府決定在淡水河口興建一座淡江大橋，自此之後爭議和辯論就曾未停息過。支持者認為他可以舒緩附近聯絡道的車流量壓力，也可以帶動淡海新市鎮的經濟發展；反對方認為此舉將會嚴重破壞河口生態系，還有最重要的，擔心部分橋體將會擋住夕陽，這將是無形中對於淡水的破壞，因為淡水夕景已不單單只是自然風景，他早已變成了淡水的重要歷史文化之一。
Zaha Hadid(1950-2016)
Whether you support Danjiang Bridge or not, the fact is that the construction is in progress now. So it's important to gather some information and then to supervise the whole project. The final designer is Zaha Hadid, a world-renowned architect, is adept at using "curves" on her structures. She uses a single concrete mast to support the whole 450-metre span with dedicated road, cycle and pedestrian lanes. And since there is only one mast, the structure design can reduce the damage done to the river's navigability, the estuary's ecosystem and... the view of sunsetting.
不論你是否支持淡江大橋的興建，這座橋已正在施工當中，所以現在最重要的是多加了解淡江大橋的資訊，才能觀察他對於淡水地區的改變。本工程案的最終設計者為世界著名的建築師Zaha Hadid，她採用單塔設計斜張橋，(本次標案共有五家廠商，除了Zaha Hadid，其餘的設計都是以雙塔來支撐橋體)，如此一來可以降低對於夕陽的影響，也不會對河口生態造成太大的破壞，但可以理解的是，此工程難度將大幅提升。
Danjiang Bridge is scheduled to open in 2024, I want to make a record about the bridge and the sunset before and after the construction work is finished. And the virtual cache will become the memories of the processes about how do the nature coexist with the city delevopment. You can realize your photo is not only a scenery photo, actually, you are recording the changing Tamsui.
淡江大橋預計在2024年完工，原本完好如初的淡水夕景將會變成過去的歷史照片，而未來的人所拍攝的也將會是新的夕照。屆時，有人會記得這兩張照片之間是如何轉變的嗎?淡江大橋是如何與淡水夕景一步步共存的呢?希望你的照片能夠幫忙紀錄這片美景的演變過程。
與城市發展共榮也好，保持自然的樣貌也罷，但無論如何請記得，淡水夕景仍會永遠存在。
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- To log this virtual cache, you just need to:
Take a photo for the sunset!
***Rules***
- You have to choose a spot in Tamsui for taking your photo. Please check the waypoints for getting the coordinates. There are three "recommend" spots that can be chosen.
- Notice that you have to take a photo including the sunset, so it's not available during the daytime(Normally, before 4:00p.m), in the night(After the sun is totally gone.) and also the cloudy day(cannot see the sunset). So please choose an excellent date and time to enjoy the view.
- Your photo should contain something that can identifying you(like gps, personal item... but face is not required.), remember do not block the sunset!
- If your photo doesn't fulfill the rule(1) ,(2) and (3), I will delete your log.
- The definition and period of the sunset : Up to you!!! There is no limit here, so please pick a perfect time and take the most beautifure picture. :)
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***optional tasks***
- Share your feelings about Danjiang Bridge with me :)
- Enjoying the food in the Old Street!
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Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.