The 60th Liugdui Sports Games kick-started at the Liugdui Memorial Park in Neipu Township, Pingtung County on March 1 with the theme “60 Years of Liugdui—Glorious Splendor Shines on in Neipu”. The event attracted over 8,000 sports enthusiasts and avid spectators.
Premier Cho Jung-tai stated that Liugdui represents the inward bonds and solidarity of an ethnic group that strives to protect the homeland against external threats starting from civilian war drills. The Liugdui Sports Games are among few domestic sports events that welcome professional athletes, the general public, and children to participate together. 60 years have elapsed since their first edition held at Pingtung’s Jhu Tian Elementary School in 1948, a rare and valuable occasion that fosters emotional connections by memorializing our forebears’ sacrifices for the homeland.
Gu Show-faye, Minister of the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC), expressed her gratitude to the organizers at Neipu for this year’s Sports Games. Our ancestors arrived on this land three centuries ago and built our homeland, Liugdui, with strenuous effort. We now live in different times and don’t need to fight off other settlers competing for resources. However, people in Liugdui still maintain unity as we make our way forward. The Liugdui Sports Games embody such cohesive spirit.
Besides hosting the familiar and beloved sports competitions, this year’s Sports Games offer a new series of thrilling events like the Hakka lion dance contest and Liugdui riddle games. This allows visitors from across Taiwan to learn about Liugdui’s features and culture through participation, while also showcasing the Sports Games’ inclusiveness and variety by fusing tradition and innovation.
With a six decades-long history, the Liugdui Sports Games—warmly referred to as the “Dawu Mountain Piedmont Olympics”—are the longest-running sports event in Taiwan. Different townships take turns to hold the Sports Games each year, encompassing all six settlements that traditionally made up Liugdui: front, back, left, right, middle, and vanguard. The Liugdui Sports Games gather together Hakka people, and beyond physical training, pass down and extol centuries-old Hakka values.
