The establishment of the Taipei Tatung Cultural Park met with harsh criticism yesterday as a group of activists and local residents accused the Taipei City Government of damaging the Taipei Confucius Temple and other historic monuments and demanded it halt construction of the project.
The park, with an area that will include the Confucius Temple, Bao An Temple, Dalong Elementary School and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, is part of the city government's efforts to revive the old district.
However, local activists and residents opposed the project as they feared the park might become the next Jiancheng Circle (
"The Taipei City Government destroyed historic monuments in the name of community reconstruction. The district's history, culture and the memories shared by Taipei residents have all been effaced," said Chen Chin-tsung (
The park is scheduled to begin its first-phase construction later this month and be completed in one to two years.
Cheng, who has studied the history and culture of the Tatung District for over 20 years, accused the city government of violating the revised Cultural Heritage Preservation Law (
"According to Article 32 of the law, any historic monument should not be demolished except for national security concerns. What is the city government's review committee's decision to tear down those buildings based on?" he said.
The activists said they were particularly outraged at the Taipei City Urban Planning Department's decision to tear down the Confucius Temple's walls along Hami Street and Dalong Street and replace them with a lower, 120cm structure to expand the view of the future park.
"Tearing a historic wall simply because it's too high? [The city government] is totally lacking in cultural sense and respect for history," said Lin Chi-sheng (
The Taipei Confucius Temple was listed as a third-grade national historic monument in 1992, Shih Shu-li (施淑梨), the temple's secretary, told the Taipei Times. Its architecture, including the walls and the halls, and its location were designed and chosen in accordance with fengshui and traditional customs and are replete in symbolic meaning, Shih said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) cited the example of the Jiancheng Circle as proof of the city government's cultural ignorance.
In response, Lin Chian-hong (林建宏), the department's urban renewal division chief, said that the city government held nine meetings to discuss the reconstruction plan and promised that it would not damage the temple itself.
Taipei City Cultural Department division chief Wang Yi-chiun (王逸群) argued that while the temple is a historic monument, the walls surrounding the temple are not counted as part of the monument.
City government officials who attended the public hearing agreed to continue to communicate with the local residents, but declined to promise to halt the first-phase construction.
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