Led by Tu Zhibiao, the head of the investigation team at Zhongpu Precinct, a group of nine police officers from both the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the precinct—climbed up from Tatachia on May 31st and successfully reached the summit of Yushan in the early morning of June 1st. With local grassroots elections approaching, besides carrying the precinct flag up the mountain, the team also brought an “anti-vote-buying” banner to Puyun Lodge to promote awareness. However, due to a mix-up, they brought the “anti-vote-buying banner from the February legislative by-election.” Both local and international hikers took it in stride, exclaiming, “What a unique form of promotion.”
This Yushan summit climb was initiated in April by Huang Hanwen, an investigator from the Development Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. The team included Tu Zhibiao, Chen Qianming (director of the precinct’s duty center), officers Dong Junmin, He Gongru, Huang Huangkun, Chen Kunxian, and Wang Qizhang and Liu Mingzhou from the traffic safety group—totaling nine members. From the initiation of the plan to the actual climb took less than two months. Given their busy daily schedules, the officers had to motivate one another. In addition to regular physical training, they would also go to nearby low-altitude mountains on weekends to build endurance.
On the 31st of last month, the group entered the mountain through the Tatachia Trailhead and spent the night at Puyun Lodge. With village, borough, and township representative elections scheduled for the 12th of this month, the climbing team came up with a spontaneous idea: “Why not take the opportunity to promote anti-vote-buying awareness to hikers at Puyun Lodge, which sits at an altitude of 3,402 meters?” However, due to a mix-up, the anti-vote-buying banner they brought, printed with the slogan “Buying votes is illegal, selling them is a crime,” turned out to be from the legislative by-election held in February this year.
As a result, when the banner was unfurled in front of Puyun Lodge, it immediately drew laughter from hikers of various nationalities as well as locals. The officers admitted to the oversight, but the public didn’t mind. They acknowledged that while the officers were training physically, they were also conscientiously promoting anti-vote-buying efforts—“understandable given the circumstances.” A Japanese hiker also remarked how unique it was, while a Taiwanese visitor quipped, “This might just be the most ‘high-altitude’ anti-vote-buying campaign in all of Taiwan.”