People who want to gain a better understanding of the prehistoric age are invited to an annual fossil exhibit at the Municipal Linyuan Junior High School in New Taipei City’s Linyuan District (林園).
Biology teacher Yang Ching-hung (楊慶鴻), whose collection is being exhibited at the museum, said he decided to start collecting fossils after what he called an embarrassing incident 10 years ago, when he could not tell the difference between ortheceras and graptolite fossils that a student showed him.
It was this incident that started him down the road to collecting fossils, Yang said, adding that he has since received instructions on the care and identification of fossils from various people well- known in the field, such as Darwin Museum owner Hsu Wei-chieh (許威傑) and an academic named Daniel Chen.
Purchasing fossils was not enough to satisfy his needs, Yang said, adding that he has been digging for fossils in Sigou Township (四溝) in Pingtung County’s Hengchun (恆春) area, Miaoli County’s Sihu Township (溪湖) and Tsailiao (菜寮) in Tainan.
Yang said that after a visit to China in 2011, his collection was lauded by Chinese Web sites endorsed by Chinese Academy of Sciences, commending his skills on cleaning and repairing fossils.
Yang said that he decided to establish a museum at the school compound to overcome the trouble of moving his collection to the school every December during ceremonies to celebrate the school’s founding and every April for his classes on evolution.
Yang said he asked the school administration if it could provide him room for a museum, and it agreed.
Looking at his collection of thousands of fossils and comparing them with his starting collection of about 70 pieces, Yang said he was grateful for the school’s assistance.
Yang said he has more than 500 pieces of ammonitida fossils in his collection and stromatolite fossils of ancient seaweed dating to Precambrian era, adding that he has made a separate section specifically for Taiwanese fossils, with pieces dating back to 65 million years ago.
Yang said he has kept his promise to Chen that he would teach what he had learned, as “what one hoarded could not be considered knowledge or technique,” adding that he has been teaching his students how to clean and repair fossils, just as Chen had taught him.
People can visit the museum free of charge, with Yang acting as tour guide in the mornings from Monday to Thursday.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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