Tickets symbolizing "love you forever, lasting health and safety" are all the rage; queues stretch hundreds of meters

▲ "2014-9-9, love you forever, lasting forever" Yong'an Bao'an commemorative tickets. (Photo / Taken from Taiwan Railways website)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

Taiwan Railways launched the "2014-9-9, love you forever, lasting forever" Yong'an Bao'an commemorative tickets at Yongkang Station on the morning of the 6th, once again sparking a rush of queuing and scrambling to buy them, with lines stretching hundreds of meters. Shao Xinbin, the first person in line who managed to purchase the commemorative tickets that morning, said he had started queuing at the station around 1 p.m. the previous day and was very happy to get the first-numbered ticket.

The Yong'an to Bao'an "Yong'an Bao'an" tickets sold at Yongkang Station have long been purchased and collected for their symbolic blessings. Whenever special edition commemorative tickets are released in conjunction with certain events, they often attract queues. This time, the launch of the "2014-9-9, love you forever, lasting forever" commemorative namecard-style tickets once again drew a large crowd of fans to the station, with queues stretching hundreds of meters. Huang Gusheng, stationmaster of Yongkang Station, said that a total of 100,000 namecard-style commemorative tickets were issued this time, with the most unique feature being the first appearance of the Gregorian date "2014-9-9" printed on the tickets, symbolizing "love you forever, lasting forever."

In order to change the Republic of China three-digit year on the tickets to a four-digit Gregorian year, Taiwan Railways specially commissioned manufacturers to modify the date-stamping machines, and this was limited to the 100,000 limited-edition tickets being sold on-site. Each person is limited to purchasing 20 tickets, and sales will stop once they run out. Huang Gusheng added that the station also designed two types of commemorative stamps—one in the shape of a heart, which can only be fully stamped using two commemorative namecard-style tickets, and another that can be stamped on a single ticket. (Source / Central News Agency)