The son of a war hero in the Sino-Japanese war (1937 to 1945) yesterday announced that he intends to establish a museum in his father’s name in Taiwan to help preserve the memory of that period in history.
Kao Yao-han (高耀漢) made the announcement in Taipei during the inauguration of an association dedicated to the memory of Kao Chih-hang (高志航), who led the Republic of China’s (ROC) first successful air battle against Japan in 1937.
Former Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration director-general Billy Chang (張國政) and Veterans Association chairman Kuo Chung-yuan (高仲源) attended the gathering.
The Aug. 14, 1937, air battle near Hangzhou, China, was a setback for Japan’s military, which had been considered invincible at the time.
Kao Chih-hang died during a Japanese attack on Nov. 21, 1937.
The ROC designated Aug. 14 Air Force Day to mark the victory. The battle was also made into a film by the Central Pictures Corp in 1977 and a 30-episode TV series that was broadcast in China last year.
However, the plan to broadcast the TV series in Taiwan was rejected by the government. Commenting on the decision — blamed on historical inaccuracies — Kao Yao-han said the series was not a documentary, but it did highlight the contribution made by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) and the ROC Air Force during the war against Japan.
Kao Yao-han said that museums exhibiting his father’s achievements had been established in Beijing, Nanjing and his hometown of Tonghua in Jilin Province, adding that he hoped to do the same in Taiwan.
Chou Shan-tse (周善擇), a retired Air Force lieutenant general and co-founder of the association, said efforts had been made to secure funding for the museum project from the Ministry of National Defense, the Air Force and Chiayi City Government.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and