A memorial exhibition and musical concert in honor of late minister of justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) are to be held today in Yilan County, featuring a retrospective of past major events, performances in various musical genres and poetry recitals to mark the sixth anniversary of the passing of Taiwan’s “Mr Clean.”
Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party, died of lung cancer in Nov. 5, 2006 at the age of 63. Throughout his political career, which began with his election as Yilan County commissioner in 1981, Chen was described as being a long-term progressive force in the drive against corruption.
With the theme of “Those Days Without You,” the event is to commence at 4pm this afternoon at the Chen Ding-nan Memorial Park which is located near Chen’s former residence in the county’s Sansing Township (三星).
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
Visitors to the six-month exhibition will first come to a blue-and-green bead curtain hung over the entrance and walking through it is meant to signify “living a life of practicality and rectitude,” as Chen did.
A trail of footprints symbolic of the road Chen had traveled is also featured at the event guiding visitors on a tour from Chen’s former residence to various themed exhibition halls allowing them to gain a more in-depth understanding of the politician.
The tracks are seen gradually disappearing toward the end of the exhibition to signify Chen’s departure from life.
Accounts of major events in the past six years — from the controversial Suhua Highway improvement project in 2010 and the decriminalization of special fund abuses in 2011 to the widespread protests by peasants from Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔) against government expropriation of their farmlands ─ are projected onto the floor at the exhibition, highlighting the setbacks that have occurred in the country in the absence of Chen’s relentless fight against social injustice.
“He was and will always be my pride, “said Chen Jen-chieh (陳仁杰), the eldest son of Chen Ding-nan.
As for the musical concert, several bands and celebrity singers, including Contemporary Music Workshop and Hoklo singer Chen Liang-yin (陳亮吟), are scheduled to perform at the memorial to honor the late minister of justice.
All attendees at the concert are due to sing in chorus Chen Ding-nan’s favorite song ─ Happy Sailing (快樂的出帆) ─ while holding a candle and a wreath to finalize the event by encircling the park.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai