The president of National Taiwan Normal University yesterday rebuffed the Taiwan Association of University Professors' call to remove a statue of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from the campus. Guo Yih-shun (郭義雄) told the group to mind its own business.
Guo said he respected the professors' opinions, but the fate of the statue should be decided by the school's faculty and students.
Following President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call for a purge of all relics related to Chiang, the association went to the country's most prestigious teacher training university to demand that its statue of Chiang be removed.
Association head Tsai Kuei-ting (蔡貴丁) said removing the statue would show the school's resolve to embrace a democratic Taiwan and bid farewell to the authoritarian era.
"Chiang was the main instigator of the 228 Incident and was responsible for the White Terror. History shows he was one of the most murderous dictators of recent times. He is definitely not a hero, but rather the biggest criminal in the history of Taiwan," Tsai said.
He urged the statue be removed immediately, before "more students are misled" on the real history of Taiwan.
Guo, however, said the statue should be regarded as a work of art, not a political icon.
"The statue was made possible by a school-wide fundraiser. It was completed by the students under the guidance of a fine arts professor and a sculpture master," he said.
"The artistic value of the statue is very high and it should not be politicized," Guo said, appealing to the public to view Taiwan's past with love and tolerance.
Sarina Lee, 22, a music major at the school, said the statue held no significance for her other friends because "it is just a lifeless object."
"I don't think people will be more patriotic once the statue is removed because no one really pays any attention to it. If the pan-green camp wants people to forget about Chiang, then they have failed because that's all people ever talk about now," she said.
Fine arts professor Yang Shu-huang (楊樹煌) said the school should auction the statue, which is estimated to be worth NT$100 million (US$3.09 million). The money could be used on a campus beautification project, while the statue would be owned by someone who would cherish it, he said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS