Senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members, friends and fans lamented the death of former Academia Historica president Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲), who passed away during a research trip to the US on Friday evening Taipei time.
“Thank you, Professor Chang, thank you for what you have done for Taiwan, it was because of your insistence on researching the 228 Incident and White Terror that the younger generation are able to get to know more about this island from a Taiwan-oriented perspective, and write about our own history,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on her official Facebook page. “May you rest in peace, we will always remember you.”
Former DPP chairperson Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said Chang had made great contributions in academic research and education, as well as building a Taiwan perspective.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Many of Chang’s friends and fans have also posted messages or photographs with him online to remember him.
Taiwan Association of University Professors president Lu Chung-chin (呂忠津) praised Chang as the top researcher in Taiwan’s history, adding that “we could justly say that he has devoted his whole life to history research.”
“May his spirit protect the island and the generations of Taiwanese to come in the mountains as well as on the coast, in the city as well as in the rural areas,” Chang’s friend Liau Kian-tshiau (廖建超) said as he posted a photograph with Chang on Facebook.
The messages appeared as the news came on Friday evening that Chang had passed away in the US, where he was conducting interviews for a historic research project.
Chang lost consciousness unexpectedly on Friday last week and was rushed to a hospital emergency room due to myocardial infarction.
Despite efforts to save his life, Chang passed away at 5:55am Philadelphia time.
A historian renowned for his research into Taiwan’s history, particularly on the 228 Incident and the White Terror, Chang served as the head of Academia Historica from 2000 to 2008, and made the nation’s history a popular subject among academics, as well as the general public.
Prior to 2000, local history had often been overlooked, as education curricula drawn up by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) often focused on the history of China.
Chang was also a frequent guest speaker at conferences and seminars on Taiwan’s history, as well as a prodigious writer.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS