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Confucius' birthday celebrations held amid excitement

A group of students yesterday take part in a traditional ''six-fold formation dance'' at Taipei's Confucius Temple to celebrate the birthday of the greatest Chinese philosopher, which was also Teacher's Day. PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

While attending a ceremony yesterday marking the 2,554th birthday of Confucius (孔子), both Interior Minister Su Chia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) avoided discussing the recent brouhaha involving their subordinates in an apparent bid to put the issue to rest.

"We talked about many things -- except that," Ma said when asked by reporters whether the fight between Hsieh Ai-ling (謝愛齡) and a clerk was brought up in his conversation with Su.

Interaction between Su and Ma was closely observed by local media following the recent hoopla in which Hsieh, the director of the Population Administration Department under the Ministry of the Interior, last Friday was reported to have screamed at a clerk working in the Taipei City Government's Wenshan office.

Hsieh reportedly screamed: "Don't you know who I am?" to the clerk after being told that she did not have the correct paperwork to secure a household registration, and that she would have to come back at a later time. It was not immediately clear if the clerk knew who Hsieh was, or why he should recognize the bureaucrat by sight.

Although Hsieh, accompanied by Su, on Monday held a news conference and apologized for having caused a stir, reports speculated that the incident would escalate into tension between the interior ministry and the Taipei City Government.

Su and Ma remained courteous at the event, where Su attended the event on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma, as the chief executive official of the city, was the chief official.

A descendant of the sage was also present at the ceremony.

The 2,554 birth anniversary of Confucius was commemorated at Confucian temples around the country with traditional ceremonies, dancing, eulogy readings and incense and silk burning.

Dozens of elementary school students dressed in traditional yellow robes danced with feathers in their hands to a solemn drum beat.

The performance, dubbed the "display-presentation ceremony" is a part of an hour-long ceremony.
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