Zhongzheng Park

Zhongzheng Park, the city center's premier outdoor performance venue, was originally the site of the Zhuluo Mountain community office of the Pingpu Hoanya indigenous people. During the Qing dynasty, it was developed into an outdoor training ground. In the era of Japanese rule, it was established as a public assembly hall, boasting Taiwan's largest restaurant at the time, capable of accommodating over a thousand people. After World War II, it was renamed Zhongshan Hall and transformed into a recreation area with attached sports courts and a library. "Twilight Drum of Recreation" was once one of the Eight Sceneries of Chiayi. Although the park's area is not vast, its distinctive feature is the numerous statues of famous people, most notably that of the late mayor Xu Shixian, affectionately known as "Chiayi Mazu." Zhongzheng Park was completed in Minguo 78 (1989). It features an open-air music stage with an open-arch design, measuring 2000 cm wide and 1670 cm deep, offering 600 seats. The basement also includes dressing rooms for performers, and an underground paid parking lot is available to alleviate parking concerns, making it the city center's best outdoor performance venue. A small exhibition hall within the park serves as an arts and cultural exhibition space, frequently hosting vibrant and joyful events. Both the scenery and facilities are imbued with humanistic and artistic flair, and at night, when brightly lit, it exudes an even more distinctive European artistic ambiance.