The funeral of Lee Hsin-kai (李新凱), an uncle of China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), was held yesterday in Chiayi.
Lee, a long-time Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and Chiayi resident, died on Nov. 11 at the age of 86.
As Peng was not able to attend the ceremony, her brother, Peng Lei (彭磊), represented the Lee family.
Peng Lei arrived at the Chiayi Funeral Parlor at 8am and left at about 8:40am after burning incense and paying his respects.
The funeral was a low-key affair and the service was not open to the media. The family had hired security personnel to keep the event private.
KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), KMT Vice Chairman Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) and other party officials attended to pay their respects to Lee, as did People First Party Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) and Deputy Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄).
The Democratic Progressive Party was represented by Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福),
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) sent flowers.
Lee fled to Taiwan as a student and joined the army after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. He later taught elementary school.
After his retirement more than two decades ago, Lee, his daughter and son-in-law lived in Chiayi.
Lee led an unassuming life and after Xi Jinping (習近平) became Chinese president, he was particularly cautious, with only a few people in the neighborhood aware he that he was related to Xi’s wife.
Peng Liyuan, a singer who served as a civilian member of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, visited Taiwan in 1997 as part of a cultural exchange group. Since Chiayi was not on the group’s itinerary, she invited Lee and his family to Taipei for a family gathering.
She later invited her uncle to visit her in China.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit