Calls for a literary museum to honor and commemorate poet Mo Yun-tuan (莫運端), better known for his pseudonym Lo Fu (洛夫), who passed away on Monday at the age of 89, have prompted the Kinmen County Cultural Affairs Bureau to mull the project’s feasibility.
Born in Hunan Province in 1928, Mo was drafted into military service in 1949 and came to Taiwan with the Nationalist government.
He wrote his first poem while serving in Kinmen and continued to publish throughout his life.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Bureau Director-General Lu Kun-ho (呂坤和) said the agency had planned to invite Mo to present a talk in Kinmen in July or August last year, but was forced to cancel when he fell ill.
The cancelation forever deprived Kinmen residents of the opportunity to see the great poet, Lu said.
It was in 1959, while Mo was serving as a soldier in the Wu Yang trenches on Taiwushan (太武山) in Kinmen under on-and-off shelling by the People’s Liberation Army after the 823 Artillery Bombardment, that he wrote his first long poem, Death of a Stone Chamber (石室之死), Lu said.
Also in Kinmen, Mo met the woman who would later become his wife, Chen Chiung-fang (陳瓊芳), Lu said, adding that the bureau was planning to hold a music festival to commemorate Mo choosing to reside in the county.
Mo returned to Taiwan in 2016 after emigrating to Canada in 1996.
The bureau had always planned to found the Kinmen Literary Museum, even considering land near Jinsha Township’s (金沙) Jui Yu School, but had canceled the plans after discovering that it was private land, Lu said.
In the past, Kinmen County Councilor Chou Tzu-chieh (周子傑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had also arranged for Mo to meet with bureau officials and officials from the county’s public works department to discuss setting up the literary museum, Lu said.
The plan was for the department to provide the land, but the project has been put on hold as the county government wished to consider opinions from all sides, Lu said.
Former National Museum of History director Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰) had made known his support for establishing the Lo Fu Literary Museum in Kinmen, saying that Mo had deep ties with Kinmen.
A literary museum to preserve and annotate the literary works with which Mo had graced posterity is the best way to commemorate the late poet, Chang said.
Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) praised Mo for being “a leader of Taiwanese modern poetry,” adding that she would recommend that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) give Mo a commendation.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS