The Changhua County Government yesterday demolished a former temple that had been converted into a shrine to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while the owner protested by raising aloft the Chinese flag a final time.
Wei Ming-jen (魏明仁), a contractor and former military officer, bought the property and used it as a conduit of Chinese influence and his own interests, an official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
The temple was ordered demolished and its water and power supplies cut by the county on Friday last week. Changhua County Deputy Commissioner Lin Ming-yu (林明裕) yesterday oversaw the demolition work, which he ordered to commence at 10:05am.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
The county said Wei would be responsible for paying the NT$5 million (US$162,882) cost for demolition, adding that the work would take one week to complete.
On Tuesday, about 20 people showed up to support Wei, who wore a People’s Liberation Army uniform during the flag raising.
Wei told his supporters that the demolition had historical significance, adding that the communists would “rise up again at their base in Ershuei (二水)” — the township where the property is located.
Wei ended his speech by chanting: “Long live the Chinese Communist Party. Long live the teachings of Mao Zedong [毛澤東]. Long live the People’s Republic of China.”
He said his supporters should trust him, because their “great China dream would one day be revived.”
Before the demolition began, Wei raised the Chinese flag at the temple, gathered his belongs and left, accompanied by members of the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association (愛國同心會).
The nearly 100-year-old temple originally served as a place of worship for local Buddhists. The temple had hired Wei to build an expansion, but later lost the building to him due to a property rights dispute.
Wei kicked out the nuns residing at the temple and replaced Buddhist statues with images of Mao, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and other CCP icons.
The Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau said the temple was built in 1922 and expanded in 2002.
The temple had agreed to pay NT$70 million for the expansion, but as the work progressed, Wei increased the cost to NT$90 million, which the temple was unable to afford, the bureau added.
Wei took the case to court, where it was tied up for nearly 10 years.
The Changhua District Court ordered the temple be auctioned off.
Wei’s remodeling of the temple with CCP propaganda and Chinese flags caught media attention, with the New York Times running a feature story on Sept. 19.
The nuns have been forced to live as squatters in a makeshift shack next to the property, the temple priest said, adding that he hopes “everyone can help rebuild the temple someday.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Changhua County Councilor Hsu Shu-wei (許書維) said he was grateful to Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) for taking the lead in having the temple demolished, but added that only in deciding who had the rights to the land would justice be served.
At a news conference yesterday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) said: “This clearly demonstrates the DPP’s indulgence of Taiwan-independence activities while it attacks and persecutes Taiwanese who advocate unification.”
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS