The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the death of Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), a trailblazer in the nation's democracy movement, brought together political leaders across party lines yesterday as they stressed the importance of democracy in Taiwan.
Vice President Annette Lu (
"Chiang Wei-shui dedicated himself to Taiwan's democratic movement for the duration of his life ? As we enjoy democracy and freedom in this country today, we should cherish the spirit he left behind," said Lu, addressing the ceremony held at Taipei's Ching Hsiu Girls' High School -- the original site of the headquarters of the Taiwan Cultural Association set up by Chiang.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
The vice president also used the opportunity to promote the "blue sky, green land, good Taiwan" alliance, a cross-party association proposed by her to work for political stability by calling on the pan-blue alliance and the pan-green camp to reconcile for the sake of the nation's future.
"Chairman Ma represents the pan-blue camp and Premier Su is a member of the pan-green camp. Only the blue sky, green land alliance can make Taiwan better," she said.
The Taipei City Government has renamed the Chinhsi Park in the city's Tatung District the Chiang Wei-Shui Memorial Park. It is located near a hospital formerly run by Chiang.
Presiding over the inauguration, Ma detailed Chiang's contributions to the nation's democratic movement, and pledged to continue Chiang's efforts to pursue a democratic Taiwan, regardless of political affiliation or ethnic background.
"Chiang Wei-shui's dedication and contribution to Taiwan's democracy is truly an act of love for Taiwan," Ma said.
A man of letters, physician and forerunner of the Taiwanese nationalist movement under Japanese rule, Chiang was born in 1891 in Ilan County. In 1923, Chiang was incarcerated for the first time, accused of violating a security law after he united students and social leaders to oppose Japanese colonization under the banner of the Taiwan Cultural Association.
He later founded the Taiwan People's Party, the nation's first political party, in 1927. He also organized the New Taiwan Alliance and the Taiwanese Labor Alliance in a quest for a more liberal and independent state.
He was jailed 12 times during his lifetime and was eulogized as "the savior of Taiwanese" when he died in 1931 at the age of 40.
Former Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), who initiated the memorial ceremony for Chiang five years ago, said that people from many sectors of society had used different methods to express their gratitude to the activist.
The Cabinet named the Taipei-Ilan freeway the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway, and the KMT also displayed a huge a poster featuring his achievements at its old headquarters, as Ma requested, in an attempt to push for ethnic reconciliation.
Saying that Chiang represented the Taiwanese spirit and the nationalist spirit, Huang called on the public to keep in mind the contributions Chiang made to the nation.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS