The 61st Liugdui Games opened on March 14 at Jiadong Junior High School in Jiadong Township, Pingtung County, attracting enthusiastic participation from students across all townships and schools in Liugdui. As many as 6,400 athletes strove to attain the highest honor for their respective hometowns.
The opening ceremony featured a performance by the Jiadong Junior High School Modern Dance Troupe, which blended the language of modern dance with local stories from Jiadong. The youthful, vibrant, and artistic show thrilled viewers at every stage of the ceremony. During the Games, the Qiedong Culture and History Association and the Wenfeng Community Development Association of Jiadong Township organized a Hakka Residence and Wenfeng Marine Culture Exploration Tour, leading visitors to learn about the only seaside Hakka village in Liugdui, as well as experience the cultural heritage and warmth of Hakka life through historical buildings and traditional customs.
The Liugdui Games provided local athletes with a stage to showcase their skills and also shone the spotlight on many outstanding local coaches, sportsmen, and teams. Lai You-tsai, a woodball coach; Yeh Chien-ming, a track and field coach; Lee Chia-chien, a soft tennis coach; Fung Pin-jen, a soft tennis player; Shih Yun-chen and Huang Cheng-chi, track and field athletes; Chen Jui-pin, a speed skater; Lai Yi-chiao, a soccer player; Chen Ying-jui, a player from the Chinese Professional Baseball League; as well as the Jiadong Sepak Takraw team and the Jiadong Agricultural High School Woodball team—all these outstanding individuals come from various townships in Liugdui. They have participated in major international competitions, expanding Liugdui’s sports diplomacy and demonstrating the region’s athletic excellence.
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. The 12 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. During the opening ceremony, the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) especially commended the exceptional local youths who brought glory back to their homeland and encouraged the younger ones of Liugdui to further engage in sports, pass on the pride of their community to future generations, integrate the heritage of the past 60 years, come together in Jiadong, and usher in the next marvelous era.
