Protesters clashed with police outside New Taipei City Hall yesterday, accusing the city government of dragging its feet, which led to the cancelation of Buddhist sanctuary Puantang’s (普安堂) designation as a historic site.
The Taipei High Administrative Court on Wednesday last week canceled the designation of the sanctuary as “historic architecture,” on the grounds that the city government’s public announcement covered too much land.
“Because it is in the mountains, [Puantang’s] continued existence is contingent on its location in a safe area,” said Lee Jung-tai (李榮台), administrator of the sanctuary in Tucheng District (土城).
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
“The reason its designation as historic architecture was canceled was because the city’s own lawyer said it had ‘no relation’ with the surrounding land,” Lee said, criticizing the city government for failing to appeal the decision.
Commercial development of surrounding land should be subject to review by the cultural heritage committee of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs to ensure that it does not lead to rock slides or other hazards to the historic landmark, she said.
Lee said that Puantang, including its prayer hall, entrance gate and stone-paved stairway, deserves protection because it has more than 100 years of history and is the only remaining sanctuary of its kind in the city.
She said that the city government’s failure to effectively defend the site’s status came after foot-dragging over its initial designation as historic architecture, which came only after direct intervention by the Ministry of Culture following a hunger strike by activists.
The city’s previous insistence on gaining the approval of the site’s landowners before making the designation had already led to half of the sanctuary’s buildings being demolished, she said.
While the temple had been recognized by the Japanese colonial government, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government had failed to provide guidance on how it should be officially registered, leading to it being registered by Cih-you Temple (慈祐宮) in the city’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), she said, adding that Cih-you’s plans to build funerary facilities are a threat to the site’s safety.
Protesters repeatedly clashed with police as they attempted to force their way into city hall, after department officials said the department would call a meeting of its cultural heritage review committee to adjust the size of land included in its public announcement.
Tseng Chi-tian (曾繼田), head of the department’s Cultural Heritage Division, said the original announcement was never intended to restrict development of nearby land.
Following the court’s decision, the site remains an “interim historic site” protected from demolition, he said, adding that its status as a permanent “historic architecture” would be restored as soon as December.
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