Puma Shen, the Democratic Progressive Party's Taipei mayoral candidate, drew large crowds on September 20 as he canvassed Zhongli Tourist Night Market in Taoyuan with Huang Shih-chieh, the party's Taoyuan mayoral candidate. Before Shen arrived, supporters carrying campaign flags had spilled from the pavement onto the road, in scenes that CNA reported left onlookers saying they had not seen anything like it in a long time.
What did Shen say about Huang? Speaking to reporters before the walkabout, Shen said Huang, a fellow National Taiwan University law graduate, was his "direct senior" from the same "family" and had helped him greatly in life and in his studies. Taoyuan faces urban-development challenges that need more creative solutions, he said, and "Shih-chieh can do all of these." He said he hoped to bring the enthusiasm of the "ocean current" into Taoyuan that night.
What did Huang and Chang Tun-han say? Huang joked that the "ocean current" had really reached Taoyuan, and said residents of the two cities are closely linked through work, transport and industry, and that the two should strengthen cooperation on MRT public transport, industrial development and city governance. In the campaign's final stage, he said, he would keep visiting markets, night markets and neighbourhoods to hear residents across Taoyuan's 13 districts. Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chang Tun-han, who joined the pair, said Taipei is the national capital and Taoyuan the "gateway capital," one shared living area, but that both cities had slowed in recent years, CNA reported. Voters should choose two new mayors who understand their cities, listen to residents and can deliver, he said.
How did the evening end? The campaign team at one point planned to cancel the night-market stop over safety concerns but went ahead because of supporters' enthusiasm, CNA reported. Shen posed for photos and signed autographs along the route, and some supporters presented pineapples. Supporters headed off for late-night snacks at the market only after he had left.
