Controversy recently broke out over money from Chinese sources showing up in the finances of Nanjhuang Junior High School in Miaoli County’s Nanjhuang Township (南庄).
During the 2016 and 2017 academic years, the school received donations from the Quanhua Temple on Shitoushan (獅頭山) to pay for lunches for disadvantaged children.
At the end of last year, temple chairman Huang Chin-yuan (黃錦源) said that some generous people in China wanted to donate money to the temple, so it transferred that money to the school.
The school said that NT$600,000 (US$19,029 at the current exchange rate) was donated by the temple, to whom a receipt was made out.
However, the real donors were Beijing-based liquor packaging and marketing company Wuzhou Shibo, and Jiuzhou Shengping Culture and Communications Co, which organized the donation ceremony.
A banner displayed on the day of the ceremony stated that the money was donated by Jiuzhou Shengping and the temple, not by the temple alone, as stated by the school.
As of this academic year, the high school, which is under the authority of the county, has 212 students, 68 of whom are financially disadvantaged.
According to principal Jan Ji-siang (詹吉翔), the donation was used to subsidize lunches for students who do not receive subsidies available to disadvantaged children. At a rough estimate, the subsidy should come to more than NT$2,000 per child, leaving a surplus that must be intended for other purposes.
Publicly available details of the school’s educational savings account show that its total revenue since 2008 is NT$1,441,157 and its total expenditure for the period is NT$1,364,885.
The account has 190 entries and its current balance is NT$76,272. It includes no record of any donations in the name of the Quanhua Temple or Huang. How are the authorities supposed to keep an eye on such unidentified donations?
How can educational institutions get by without begging for money? How can they be in a position to refuse assistance from Chinese sources or wine merchants?
Let us hope that the local government and central authorities promptly review this case and prioritize educational funding and personnel, so that those who work on the front lines of education can do their jobs and not worry about such things.
It does not seem right for school lunches to have the aroma of Chinese liquor wafting around.
Following the controversy, Jan said that he had transferred the money back to the Chinese company a little after 8am on May 10, adding that there had been no wrongdoing.
This confirms that the cash did not pass through the hands of the temple.
The Miaoli County Government Education Department and other relevant agencies should investigate why a school could so blatantly receive backdoor donations, especially from commercial Chinese donors, and how many more educational institutions are linked to Chinese “united front” activities.
Lim Ui is a high-school social science substitute teacher and a former candidate for the Tainan City Council.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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