A museum honoring former -Chiayi mayor Hsu Shih-hsien (許世賢) opened on Saturday, with an exhibition showcasing her memorabilia and diaries.
Hsu was a significant influence on the development of Chiayi and the nation, exhibition convener Tsai Shu-chuan (蔡淑娟) said.
The opening ceremony was attended by former Chiayi mayor Chang Wen-ying (張文英) and Central Election Commission Chairperson Chang Po-ya (張博雅) — both Hsu’s daughters — as well Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) and other friends and family.
Photo: CNA
“Hsu’s attitude reflected the spirit of what it meant to be a Chiayi resident, and more over, a citizen of Taiwan — to do what was right no matter the cost,” Huang said.
“Hsu’s abilities and far-reaching vision were well known by all those who knew her, but her letters and diaries also help reveal a more personal side to her,” Tsai added.
In 1941 when Hsu and her husband Chang Chin-tung (張進通) first opened the Shun Tian Tang hospital in Chiayi, Tsai said Hsu Shih-hsien had written in her diary: “My greatest wish for starting the Shun Tian Tan Hospital is the hope of seeing the sick able to leave with [a heart filled with] gratitude.”
Hsu was not well-off at that time, in fact she had to write to her mother and ask her for help in raising the funds to start the hospital, Tsai said, adding that Hsu had never taken even a single cent from the poor who came to the hospital to be treated.
“She was very concerned about both the common people and the affairs of state, and even wrote to her husband when she was in Japan wishing to immediately return because she had heard of the difficulties with which Taiwan’s government was faced,” Tsai said, adding that Hsu had also written to her children telling them of scenes of suffering during World War II.
Her concern for the people was not confined to private messages between family members either, Tsai said, adding that after being elected as a provisional, and later full-time member, of the Taiwan Provincial Council in 1954, she had been almost the first to raise proposals for the draft jury act, the concept of governmental insurance subsidy for the unemployed, and the need for a consecutive state education plan.
“Hsu had also been a great proponent of women’s rights in Taiwan, having famously told her husband: ‘Females can also do great things’ when both of her male children died in early childhood,” Tsai said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS