Workers on Sept. 20 began restoration work at Tainan’s Tang Te-chang Memorial Park (湯德章紀念公園), with city officials saying they hope the park can fit in better with the surrounding Japanese architecture that dates to the colonial period.
Restoration of the park, which is situated atop the city’s largest traffic circle, is to cost NT$8 million (US$263,713) and take 150 days to complete, at the end of February, the Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau said.
The bureau said the park is a focal point of urban development efforts due to its important position at the confluence of seven major avenues that spread out to every area of the city. In the park’s immediate vicinity are the Land Bank of Taiwan branch, the Hayashi Department Store, Wude Temple — originally established by the Japanese as the Butokuden, a martial arts center — and other examples of period Japanese architecture.
The park at the south slope of Jiou Ling (鷲嶺) — the city’s highest point — was originally the site of the San Jie altar (三界) built during the Qing Dynasty.
In 1907 local residents erected a statue at the site to commemorate Viscount Kodama Gentaro, a general in the Imperial Japanese Army who became the fourth Governor-General of Taiwan.
Walls surrounding the park came down after the site became a traffic circle under new urban planning designs in 1911.
The park and its surrounding traffic circle were officially named Kodama Park in 1916, but were shortly after renamed Taisho Park after the town, then called Taisho Township (大正町), in which it is situated.
Upon the arrival of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to Taiwan following World War II, the park was renamed Min Sheng Green Park (民生綠園).
The park was given its current name in 1997 by then-Tainan mayor George Chang (張燦鍙). Chang erected a bust at the section of the traffic circle leading to Zhongshan Road, where lawyer and democracy advocate Tang Te-chang (湯德章) was shot by soldiers during the 228 Incident in 1947.
A statue of Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) stood in the center of the park until 2014, when it was defaced and torn down by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan and its supporters.
In December 2015, artists working in the old Japanese Imperial Army barracks found the original head of the Kodama statue that had long ago been torn down and gone missing.
Research by the bureau found that the bust was made in Italy from gypsum and was imported to Taiwan in 1904. In 1905 it was shipped to Tainan and the statue was erected in 1907. The bureau had the bust restored and put away in storage, saying there are no plans to rebuild the entire body of the statue or re-erect it in Tang Te-chang Memorial Park.
This cultural landmark will be a site for exhibiting artwork once the restoration is completed, bureau Division of Cultural Assets Director Lin Chiao-in (林喬彬) said.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS