While many couples opt for a church wedding and wedding party with lots of music and fanfare, a Japanese groom and Taiwanese bride yesterday tied the knot in a traditional Confucian wedding in Taipei, calling for a revival of the centuries-old Chinese practice.
The groom, Takuju Minakuchi, is an associate professor specializing in the history of Chinese philosophy at Musashi University in Japan.
Having participated in ceremonies and published articles on the issue, it made sense when the 38-year-old Confucian enthusiast decided to marry his Taiwanese bride in a wedding that followed traditional Confucian rituals.
Photo: Lin Hsiang-mei, Taipei Times
“Minakuchi begged us to help make his dream come true,” said Huang Lu Ching-ju (黃呂錦茹), commissioner of Taipei City Government’s Department of Civil Affairs.
This was the second time such a wedding was staged at the Taipei Confucius Temple since its establishment in 1925, with the first one held about 70 years ago, Huang said.
Few such weddings are held these days because they require a lot of preparation and participation by many people, but the government decided to make an exception for the Japanese -academic, Huang Lu said.
The wedding ceremony involved the efforts of local students and community members, who together prepared offerings, performed traditional Confucian dances and cooked sweet glutinous rice balls for participants, the commissioner said.
The interaction between the community and the Confucian temple has thus become more frequent and meaningful, an outcome Minakuchi said is beneficial to the preservation of culture and tradition.
“Confucianism is not only about memorization, but application in everyday life,” Minakuchi said.
Spectators seemed to agree.
“Taiwanese people now prefer Westernized weddings, so we don’t see this as often. I think it helps us understand more about our ancestors and where we come from,” a spectator surnamed Chen (陳) said.
However, asked if she would opt for the one-hour wedding with complicated rites and rituals, Chen said she thought the simpler the wedding, the better.
The Confucian wedding, costing NT$90,000 (US$2,810), was subsidized by the city government. Officials said the wedding was so successful that the government will draft plans to make the wedding available to all citizens in the near future.
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
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition