The sculptor of a statue of late dictator Chiang Kai-shek (
"Sculptor Lin Mu-chuan (
The bureau issued the statement after its director-general, Wang Zhi-cheng (
The city government broke up the statue for removal last Monday evening after it passed a draft bill to amend the Organic Regulations Concerning the Bureau of Cultural Affairs of the Kaohsiung City Government (高雄市政府文化局組織規程) on Monday morning.
The passage of the draft enabled the city government to not only rename its Chiang Kai-shek Culture Center but also to remove symbols of Chiang, including a huge statue sitting in the center's main hall.
Wang said Lin told him the way the bureau removed the statue was correct given the statue's size and weight.
The statue was divided into 79 pieces and not some 200 pieces as the Chinese-language United Daily News had alleged, Director-General of the Kaohsiung City Government's Information Department Hsiao Yu-cheng (
With a great understanding of the work, Lin said that it should not be difficult to recombine the statue's segments, Wang said, adding that the artist also offered to assist in the recombination of the statue in Taoyuan, where the segments were moved.
"It is a different era now. Everyone should be treated fairly and enjoy mutual respect," the statement quoted Lin as saying. "Art works should be returned to suitable places for exhibition instead of becoming the focus of political wrangling."
Removal of the statue had created tensions between the police and pan-blue city councilors, legislators and supporters on Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday, the city government was not willing to say where the segmented statue was to be delivered. It was discovered later that the statue was sent to the CKS Statue Park in Tashi (
The city government said on Thursday that the main hall of the culture center will be turned into a small exhibition hall.
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