Designed by artist Yang Shih-hsien, the seal is modeled on the Chinese word “south,” which forms the second character of the city’s name in Mandarin. It also incorporates the architectural elements of ancient buildings in Taiwan’s old capital.
In addition, the pheasant-tailed jacana, moth orchid and flamboyant tree, or Delonix regia, were chosen respectively as the city’s official bird, flower and tree.
Tainan Mayor William Lai views the seal and symbols as a way of bringing people together to work for the future of the metropolis. “As young people nowadays like to say, we ought to show love for our own city,” he said.
The selection of a new seal and symbols was made necessary following the upgrading of Tainan City and County to a special municipality in 2010. Before the merger, the city used the common magpie and flamboyant flower and tree, while the county employed the pheasant-tailed jacana, sweet osmanthus and camphor tree.
Introduced to Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), the flamboyant tree has long been synonymous with the city and adorns the grounds of many historic landmarks such as the campus of National Cheng Kung University.
TCG Secretary-General Chen Mei-ling said the change met with no opposition and was made on the basis of a three-year vote. The moth orchid attracted 31,000 ballots, with the flamboyant flower in second place with 22,000. The pheasant-tailed jacana and flamboyant tree garnered 43,935 and 52,900 votes, respectively.
“The symbols are representative of Tainan’s fauna and flora,” Chen said, adding that the moth orchid is economically important with millions of the flowers shipped worldwide from the city annually.
According to Chen, the new symbols will boost public awareness of the species and pave the way for expanded public-private sector habitat preservation efforts. “More will be done to ensure these salient symbols thrive in the days to come and proudly serve as eye-catching ambassadors for Tainan,” she said. (YHC-JSM)
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