One year after Wang Kuan-ying (?y?e-^) passed away, a Taipei city library has been renamed in memory of the famous ragpicker, a tribute that officials claimed is the best way to honor the legendary figure who donated books in Taiwan and abroad throughout his life.
"This library, with its mementos of Wang's life, is the best education for society," said Wu Ching-ji (
The library's special collection features 2,040 books selected from Wang's original library in the Chungcheng district, appreciation certificates Wang received from various institutes in Taiwan and abroad, records of his life, his manuscripts and others things he left behind.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Also opened yesterday was a memorial garden outside the building, with an abstract stone stature of Wang as well as a small fountain.
Tuan Tsai-hua (
"He was an altruist, and future generations may emulate themselves on Wang's philanthropical efforts," he added.
Wang, who passed away last December at the age of 94, began his career as a ragpicker in Taipei at the age of 50 in 1955. Over the next four decades, Wang pedaled his three-wheeled cart about the city's streets, collecting people's discards and accumulating less-than-ideal savings out of the resale value of the items he salvaged.
While most of the city's other ragpickers barely make ends meet, Wang somehow found his income sufficient not only to support himself but to indulge in the philanthropy that made him a Taiwan legend.
He not only donated money to establish scholarships to support outstanding students from poor families, but donated scholarly Chinese books to schools, colleges and universities in Taiwan and abroad, said Lin Cheng-chih(
In 1978, Wang also set up a library in an 80-ping basement in the Chungcheng district -- property lent to him free-of-charge by the Chungcheng district office. By the end of the 1990s the basement library housed nearly 10,000 books.
"He was driven by his determination to promote the appreciation of Chinese culture, centered around Confucianism, to donate books to foreign countries," said Tuan. His personal background, which had prevented him from becoming a learned man, was perhaps another factor behind his philanthropical efforts, Tuan added.
Born into a peasant farming family in China's Shantung Province in 1905, Wang grew up in the turmoil of war and revolution. "This situation made me unable to receive any formal education until I was 18, turning me into an old student," Wang wrote in one of his manuscripts on display in the memorial library's exhibition.
In 1990 Wang became too ill to pedal his three-wheeled cart around the city and he became eligible for government subsidies for the low-income elderly. On Dec. 15, 1998, Wang passed away. At his funeral last January, high-ranking officials covered his coffin with the national flag to honor his life.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Tsai Chung-han(
Tsai added, "perhaps he has gained greater sense of accomplishment by doing so.
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