The Administrative Enforcement Agency’s Changhua County branch yesterday oversaw the handover of a former Buddhist temple from a family that had turned it into a Chinese communist shrine to a former nun of the temple.
Biyun Chan Temple in Changhua’s Ershuei Township (二水) was in 2011 acquired by Wei Ming-jen (魏明仁), a contractor and former military officer.
The nearly 100-year-old temple had served as a place of worship for local Buddhists. The temple hired Wei to build an expansion, but later lost the building to him due to a property rights dispute.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Wei kicked out the nuns residing at the temple, adding on to the structure and replacing Buddhist statues with images of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and other Chinese Communist Party icons.
The Changhua County Government in September last year ordered that illegal additions on the property be demolished.
The contractor’s sister, Wei Su-tan (魏素丹), who had the rights to the property, failed to pay a NT$4.9 million (US$156,101 at the current exchange rate) demolition fee, so the government auctioned the property in April.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
As a result, Shih Huai-tsung (釋懷宗), a former nun of the temple, regained ownership of the property under her legal name, Chen Fu-mei (陳富美).
Agency officials arrived at about 10:30am for the handover. They were accompanied by Changhua County Councilor Hsu Shu-wei (許書維) and officials from the county’s Cultural Affairs Bureau.
Former Changhua County commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), who was in office when the demolition was carried out, was also there and livestreamed the handover so that the public could witness the event.
As the doors to Biyun Chan Temple had not been opened in nearly a decade, it took a locksmith considerable effort to open them, sources said.
Shih, 80, who became a nun at the temple at age 20, said she felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from her.
With others’ help, she finally regained the property rights to the temple after a lawsuit that lasted more than a decade, she said.
Shih said she was not sure when statues of the main deities, bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha, would be reinstalled, as much renovation is needed.
The contractor’s wife was at the temple with two of her friends to sign the paperwork for the handover, during which they accused the government of illegally demolishing parts of the temple.
The temple was acquired legally, but “illegal structures” are used for “political tactics,” she said, adding that plans were in place when asked whether her husband would “seek justice.”
The Changhua County Police Department deployed nearly 30 officers to the site to maintain order, but there was no physical violence, sources said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique