Albert Schweitzer once said: “Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.”
Thanks to the research of many academics and advances in technology, the devils can no longer be concealed.
When incense is burned, heavy metals are released and the ashes contain a certain percentage of lead. In other words, most of the lead is released into the air. A study of kindergarten students across the nation shows that the more frequently a family burns incense, the higher the levels of lead in the blood of the children in the family.
Burning joss paper and incense releases benzene, toluene, nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, nitrogen monoxide and particulate matter (PM). On the first and 15th day of every lunar month, the presence of PM1.0 in the air can rise as high as 432.9 micrograms per cubic meter.
Firecrackers also create noise pollution. The noise levels of firecrackers can reach 130 decibels, which can cause permanent hearing loss.
One study has shown a higher incidence of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases during and a few days after the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival in Tainan compared with normal days. After firecrackers were set off high in the air during the Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung, readings at measuring stations on the lee side showed that the levels of four metals — magnesium, potassium, strontium and lead — were 10 times higher than background levels.
According to a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), when the Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage passed through Changhua, worshipers let off loads of firecrackers to welcome the deity. The report said that wherever the palanquin bearing the goddess’ statue went, the air quality was unbearable, with some worshipers setting off firecrackers that enveloped the area like a spider web.
The practice of Matsu worship started more than a century ago as immigrants to Taiwan sought help from the goddess when faced with rough weather when crossing the Taiwan Strait, frequent battles between different ethnic groups and the spread of infectious diseases. Of these three, only the air problem remains today — in the shape of the PM2.5 air pollution that no one can escape from. The harm caused by PM2.5 to life is like the devil’s miasma.
As early as 2010, the Environmental Protection Administration and the organizers of the Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage jointly called for an environmentally friendly pilgrimage. However, some worshipers still went on a firecracker-lighting spree to interrupt the progression of Matsu’s palanquin for their personal gain, in a way using the very problems that Matsu wanted to help them get rid off to welcome it.
This not only places a heavy burden on devotees carrying the palanquin and the police to maintain order during the procession, it also does a lot of harm to worshipers who joined the pilgrimage hoping to be cured of some illnesses through this religious ritual and to the residents living along the pilgrimage’s route.
Social responsibility should be an important part of festivals and cultural events. The hosts or organizers of the Matsu pilgrimage should encourage followers to burn “mental” incense, use environmentally friendly joss paper and set off environmentally friendly firecrackers. To deliver their message more effectively, they should say, on behalf of Matsu, that devotees should realize that using the devil’s ways to welcome the deity is harmful to oneself and to others — and that it will not bring blessings from Matsu.
Chien Jien-wen is a pediatrician at Changhua Christian Hospital and a member of Taiwan Clean Air Network.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
On May 7, 1971, Henry Kissinger planned his first, ultra-secret mission to China and pondered whether it would be better to meet his Chinese interlocutors “in Pakistan where the Pakistanis would tape the meeting — or in China where the Chinese would do the taping.” After a flicker of thought, he decided to have the Chinese do all the tape recording, translating and transcribing. Fortuitously, historians have several thousand pages of verbatim texts of Dr. Kissinger’s negotiations with his Chinese counterparts. Paradoxically, behind the scenes, Chinese stenographers prepared verbatim English language typescripts faster than they could translate and type them
More than 30 years ago when I immigrated to the US, applied for citizenship and took the 100-question civics test, the one part of the naturalization process that left the deepest impression on me was one question on the N-400 form, which asked: “Have you ever been a member of, involved in or in any way associated with any communist or totalitarian party anywhere in the world?” Answering “yes” could lead to the rejection of your application. Some people might try their luck and lie, but if exposed, the consequences could be much worse — a person could be fined,
Taiwan aims to elevate its strategic position in supply chains by becoming an artificial intelligence (AI) hub for Nvidia Corp, providing everything from advanced chips and components to servers, in an attempt to edge out its closest rival in the region, South Korea. Taiwan’s importance in the AI ecosystem was clearly reflected in three major announcements Nvidia made during this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei. First, the US company’s number of partners in Taiwan would surge to 122 this year, from 34 last year, according to a slide shown during CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech on Monday last week.
When China passed its “Anti-Secession” Law in 2005, much of the democratic world saw it as yet another sign of Beijing’s authoritarianism, its contempt for international law and its aggressive posture toward Taiwan. Rightly so — on the surface. However, this move, often dismissed as a uniquely Chinese form of legal intimidation, echoes a legal and historical precedent rooted not in authoritarian tradition, but in US constitutional history. The Chinese “Anti-Secession” Law, a domestic statute threatening the use of force should Taiwan formally declare independence, is widely interpreted as an emblem of the Chinese Communist Party’s disregard for international norms. Critics
RSS