Once a popular gathering spot for former members of the dangwai (黨外, outside the party) and student movement, A-tsai’s restaurant (阿才的店), located at the crossroads of Jinshan S Road and Renai Road in Taipei City, is soon going to close down permanently or relocate as a result of an urban renewal project, according to A-hua (阿華), the store’s owner.
The term dangwai refers to individuals who participated in politics, but were not members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the period before the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986.
The student movement refers to the Wild Lilies Student Movement (野百合學運) in 1990, when over 6,000 students gathered in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to protest the National Assembly’s decision to grant its members a nine-year extension in office despite never having been elected in the 40 years since the Republic of China (ROC) government arrived in Taiwan.
Photo: Chiu Shao-wen, Taipei Times
A-hua opened the restaurant in 1987 and has been there ever since. It was five to six years ago that construction firms started making inquiries about possible urban renewal projects.
“I took those construction companies to court over the urban renewal project, but I lost the case,” he said
However, the judge ruled that the construction firms should notify him six months prior to the beginning of demolition work even though he was just a tenant.
“I have not received notification yet,” he said.
However, the road has been blocked and a banner hangs from one of the empty homes near the restaurant indicating that the area is due to be demolished for an urban renewal project
A-hua says that this has not only infringed on people’s right of way, but has also hurt his business because many of his customers thought he had closed.
Meanwhile, many former members of the Wild Lilies Student Movement and dangwai movement expressed sadness at the restaurant’s fate.
Former Governmental Information Office minister Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said “A-tsai’s restaurant holds many memories.”
Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠), another member of the student movement and now a New Taipei City DPP councilor, said there were very few stores or restaurants like the vintage atmosphere and decor of A-tsai’s, adding that even though many restaurants had attempted to capture the feeling, A-tsai’s was still the only one with that authentic feel
“During the student movement, if you wanted to have a drink, but you couldn’t find anybody to drink with, A-tsai’s was the place to go, because you were bound to meet someone you knew there,” Shen said, adding that “A-tsai’s was a location that held the memories of an entire generation, and if it [the store] just disappears, it would leave behind many regrets.”
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said A-tsai’s was the equivalent of the “holy land of democracy” and even now many who took part in the Wild Lilies Student Movement still get together there from time to time.
Urban renewal projects should benefit the public, but even before the project gets under way, the construction companies are closing off the roads and -undermining the public interest, Chen said, adding that such an approach was “little different to that of a local thug.”
“I would be very sad if A-tsai’s just vanished,” he said.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who also took part in the Wild Lilies Student Movement, recalled that those who gathered at A-tsai’s usually discussed the student movement itself and revolutionary ideas.
“The restaurant, for these people, represents ‘years of youth and rebellion,’” she said.
As to the issue of urban renewal projects, Cheng said far more factors should be taken into consideration before they are approved.
They should seek to “rebuild” the city, she said,, adding that the “historical, sentimental, and cultural value” of existing buildings should also be taken into consideration.
“It would be hard to preserve the original atmosphere of A-tsai’s restaurant even if it relocated,” she added.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying
RSS