A dispute over the preservation of Jinyin Hall — a historic building in Changhua County’s Lukang Township (鹿港) — might be resolved by relocating the building if township residents support the measure, Lukang Township Mayor Huang Chen-yen (黃振彥) said.
The building was constructed in 1935 and was one of 20 local attractions at the time. It was the site of many salon-style meetings on photography and philosophy, and was considered emblematic of the mansions of rich people in central Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era.
The land on which the building stands was sold in 2015 and the demolition of a shop once owned by the Huang family — the hall’s former owner — soon afterward prompted concerns that Jinyin Hall would follow.
Preservation advocates sought to have the building classified as a temporary heritage site and in March last year the designation was approved.
The landowner owns 90 percent of the building as well, a source said, adding that the building spills onto a neighboring plot of land, which means that 10 percent of the building is owned by the county.
The landowner applied to demolish the building, as it has deteriorated, the source said.
The landowner filed an administrative suit against the Changhua County Government, saying that the county government should have listed the entire building in the sale.
However, he said that he would accept the relocation of the building as a resolution to the administrative suit.
Changhua Department of Culture Director Chen Wen-pin (陳文彬) said that the county must find a suitable location that has been assessed by academics before establishing a project to relocate the building.
The project would also have to be reviewed by the county government’s Cultural Assets Review Committee, Chen said.
However, preservationists said they hoped the building would remain where it was and the department would continue negotiations with the landowner.
They said they hoped the building would be included in the Lukang National History Scenic Area, which would benefit the government and the public.
Should township officials decide to preserve the building at its current location, about five years would be needed for research, planning and restoration, the county government said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods