The Taipei City Government’s Cultural Heritage Evaluation Committee on Thursday designated a memorial cemetery in Liuzhangli (六張犁) as a municipal cultural landmark, overriding the recommendation of its parent organization, Taipei’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
Built in 2003 by Taipei’s Department of Social Welfare, the Memorial Cemetery for Victims of Political Persecution during the Martial Law Period (戒嚴時期政治受難者墓園) is the final resting place for many people killed during the White Terror era, when the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government implemented martial law, purging dissidents and suspected communists.
The graves of at least 200 people killed during the White Terror era are in the memorial cemetery, including that of Huang Jung-tsan (黃榮燦), the artist that carved the famous Horrifying Inspection (恐怖的檢查) depicting the 228 Incident that took place in 1947.
In July, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) and Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) slammed the city government for neglecting to designate the cemetery as a cultural landmark, in spite of a pledge from the municipal administration to do so 14 years ago.
Warning that the cemetery was at risk from soil erosion, the councilors also criticized the city government over failing to maintain the site or provide guided tours.
Pursuant to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) promise to make policymaking processes more transparent, the committee meeting was open to the media and a video record of its proceedings was made available to the general public.
Representatives from the Department of Cultural Affairs resisted the motion, saying that the cemetery lacked cultural value.
Instead, they suggested that a mortuary tower “museum” be built over the site.
Civic group representatives contested the department’s claims, arguing that the cemetery is a unique historical site.
They said that building a mortuary tower would negatively affect the cemetery by altering its features.
Committee member Hsia Chu-chiu (夏鑄九), an urban-planning professor emeritus at National Taiwan University, said the cemetery’s historical value is “beyond doubt” and that technical difficulties should not exclude it being designated a cultural landmark.
Additional Reporting by Yu Pei-ju
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,