Department of Cultural Affairs

By Evelyn Lin
Staff writter

The Precious Trees of Taipei City, an educational program organized by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government, to preserve and protect old trees, was initiated in October and released Taiwan's first free interactive e-book application with illustrations – "The Precious Trees of Taipei City APP" – for iOS and Android mobiles or tablets on November 23.

The activity, which ran from October 31 to November 24, offered guided tours in the 12 districts of Taipei City. In addition to the interactive e-book app, the agency also sponsored a number of conferences and speeches about adopting trees to allow more people to experience the spirit of preserving old trees.

Taiwan's first interactive e-book app on preserving old trees –"The Precious Trees of Taipei City APP" is a record of the most representative trees in each of the 12 districts of Taipei. The e-book app is highly interactive and offers beautiful illustrations, activities, sound effects, and 3D introductions of old trees that will amuse users and provide many delightful surprises.

For example, on the page for the representative tree in Songshan District, a tiger's claw tree, users can blow on the screen to produce a visual effect of shaking leaves. And on the page which introduces Xinyi District's Indian rubber tree, when users touch the tree on the screen, fireworks explode behind it.

In addition, the app also includes a GPS tool for locating the old trees nearest to you and offers a tour guide of famous historical buildings in Taipei. In addition to reading more historical background, users can connect with their Facebook account via the app to link to tree-blessing activities on Facebook's wall. This allows users to share and exchange more information online about preserving old trees.

The agency warmly welcomes everyone to read the e-book for free. It is available on the official website of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government at.