Lively debate ensued yesterday after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) announced his housing policy, promising to build 20,000 apartments, with most attention focused on his plan for a public housing complex to be built at the site of the Taipei First Municipal Funeral Parlor.
Lien’s proposed government-run housing program would include only properties for rent rather than for sale.
Lien’s more contentious proposal calls for “Relocating the Taipei City Mortuary Services First Funeral Parlor” (第一殯儀館), with the vacated land to host public housing and generate urban renewal in its surrounding areas.
Photo: Lu Hsuan-chien, Taipei Times
The Taipei First Municipal Funeral Parlor is next to Rongxing Garden Park (榮星花園) at the intersection of Minquan E Road, Sec. 2 and Jiangguo N Road, in the city’s Datong District (大同).
Lien’s campaign spokesperson, KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), added that they would hire world-renowned architects to design the public housing, which will be known as “The Little Palace for Young People” (青年小帝寶), in reference to The Palace (帝寶) luxury complex, where Lien lives.
Tsai said that the funeral parlor and its mortuary services could be relocated to the Shanzhuku Landfill Site (山豬窟垃圾掩埋場) in Nankang District (南港).
Netizens ridiculed Lien’s proposal, highlighting what they called strong taboos in Taiwanese folk beliefs about souls and spirits of the dead, and saying that most people are afraid of living near graveyards because they do not want to disturb the dead.
“So this is Sean Lien’s great idea? To get young people to live in a place for underworld souls and ghosts?” a commenter wrote.
“Instead, [he] should relocate ‘The Palace Mansion’ to the funeral parlor site, then public housing for 20,000 can be built on the land vacated by ‘The Palace,’ which is closer to the downtown core, so residents can enjoy city conveniences better. This is a much better idea,” wrote a netizen using the name Lu Zhi.
“I would be scared to live in housing units built upon a funeral parlor; I would not be able to sleep well at night,” a commenter surnamed Tai (戴) said.
Lien said that he would be willing to live for two days at the public housing complex, if it is built.
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