After three years of renovations, the Taipei Confucius Temple reopened yesterday with new multimedia simulations of the Six Arts — practical disciplines in ancient China — and dances to honor the Chinese philosopher and teacher Confucius (孔子).
The Taiwanese soap opera In Time With You (我可能不會愛你) has helped younger generations understand Confucius (551-479 BC) and his teachings, especially because several scenes were filmed at the temple, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said at the temple’s reopening ceremony.
Hopefully, the addition of multimedia simulations and movies that introduce Confucius’ life will make the temple an even more popular tourist site for Taiwan’s youth and international tourists, Hau said, adding that the new features will allow foreign visitors to understand Taiwan’s Confucian traditions better.
Photo: CNA
Hau said he hoped that in the future people would not only think of the temple on Teacher’s Day, a holiday celebrated annually on Sept. 28, the anniversary of Confucius’ birth, which is touted as a time to honor teachers.
The Taipei City Government has budgeted a total of NT$981 million (US$32.31 million) for the renovation and “Confucius revival tourism projects.”
The renovated traditional gardens at the temple were also opened to the public yesterday, and the multimedia simulations allowed visitors to experience the Six Arts. The Six Arts, the basis of education in ancient China, are rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics.
Kung Chuei-chang (孔垂長), a 79th-generation descendant of Confucius, also attended the opening ceremony.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard