Vegetable vendor Chen Shu-chu (陳樹菊), who became famous a few years ago for her philanthropy, is recovering at home after undergoing emergency gastrointestinal surgery last month, her friends said.
Chen, 64, became ill early last month, about two weeks before the Lunar New Year holiday, but refused to see a doctor, a vendor who has a stall next to hers at the Taitung County Central Market said.
Shortly before the holiday, Chen collapsed at her stall and was rushed to hospital, where she was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal problem that required surgery, other vendors said.
Photo: Chang Chun-wei, Taipei Times
Her absence from her stall is very noticeable because she had always been there, rain or shine, they said.
Since Chen’s hospitalization, there has been an outpouring of get-well messages on social media from the public.
Dubbed “the pride of Taiwan” and “the pride of Taitung,” Chen has contributed more than NT$10 million (US$341,297) to various charitable causes over the years, despite her humble means.
“Money serves a purpose only when it is used for those who need it,” she was once quoted as saying in the media.
She has donated US$32,000 to a children’s fund, US$144,000 to build a library at a school she once attended and US$32,000 to an orphanage in Taitung, to name a few.
In 2010, Chen was named by Time magazine as a hero of philanthropy, known for her generosity and willingness to help.
She later won a Ramon Magsaysay Award, a prize established by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York with the concurrence of the Philippine government, for her charity work.
The award included a cash prize of US$50,000, which Chen donated to Taitung’s Mackay Memorial Hospital to help build a new medical wing.
In an interview with the BBC in 2014, she said that what she was doing was not difficult or a big deal.
“Everyone can do it,” Chen said. “It’s not just me. It’s not how much money you make that matters, but how you use your money.”
With her unassuming outlook and generosity, Chen has won the hearts of many people at home and abroad.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition