National Palace Museum Director Chou Kung-shin (周功鑫) yesterday managed the rare feat of uniting both ruling party and opposition lawmakers in fury as she defended her administration of the museum and plans to open a southern branch of the museum in 2015.
Chou told the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee she hoped her team could begin looking for architects for the Chiayi branch museum by the end of this year and complete construction of the facility by the end of 2015, provided everything goes smoothly. She said the museum had earmarked NT$114 million (US$3.78 million) in next year’s budget for the four-year, NT$7.9 billion project.
The original design, by Antoine Predock Architects and Lord Cultural Resources, called for a multi-functional museum to handle research, display, education and storage. It was supposed to be completed in 2008, but years of delay led the two firms to lose the contract.
Photo: CNA
Chou told lawmakers the delays stemmed from a number of factors, including concerns about flooding in the area and problems with the two major contractors, who are now involved in a contract dispute with the government.
The meeting got off to a rough start in the morning when Chou upset Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators by interrupting as they were speaking.
At one point, KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) pounded the table and told Chou to shut up as Yang was talking, while KMT Legislator Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲) was so angry she slammed Chou’s report on the table and threatened to cut the museum’s budget.
Matters didn’t improve when Chou called the DPP and KMT legislators’ questions unprofessional and told them she was speaking as an expert in museum management.
Yang refused to shake hands with Chuo during the meeting’s recess and said all the museum’s problems would be resolved if Chou were replaced.
Asked about public complaints of overcrowding at the museum and it being turned into a “market” or “wholesale store” because of the dramatic increase in Chinese visitors, Chou said certain measures should be implemented to address the problem, including extending opening hours and increasing the number of service people.
She said it might also be necessary to turn away visitors once the daily limit of 7,000 and 8,000 has been reached.
The museum also planned to spend NT$16 million on an expansion project approved by the Executive Yuan in August, she said. However, DPP legislators accused Chou of jumping the gun by spending NT$900,000 on a feasibility assessment for the expansion, even though the legislature has yet to approve the project.
Chou said the museum’s gift shops and restaurants have generated revenues of NT$550 million this year and should reach NT$700 million next year.
She also said the museum had stopped distributing profits to its employees this year — a practice the Ministry of the Interior said in June last year was illegal — and began paying 10 percent of annual revenues to the treasury.
DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said it would make more sense to place all the museum’s revenues under legislative oversight because they were generated by national treasures that are state property.
Building a southern branch of the museum was first announced by then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2003. In October last year, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised the branch would be open in 2012 as he campaigned for a KMT candidate in last December’s local elections.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
‘EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE’: If the Biden administration suspends arms sales to Taiwan, the military could still ready a nimble fighting force for defense, an analyst said The “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” last week sparked debate among analysts after US President Donald Trump declassified the document 20 years ahead of schedule. Trump on Tuesday last week released the document that had governed US strategic action in the region since the US leader approved its use in 2018. The document, which outlines US priorities in the region, emphasizes the importance of defending Taiwan against military aggression and facilitating the country’s development of asymmetric strategies and capabilities. The overall directive of the document is for the US to prevent China from establishing sustained air and sea dominance inside the first
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
A legislator yesterday called for authorities to investigate the sale of Chinese-made, Internet-connected karaoke machines containing “propaganda songs.” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said she was approached by a person who had discovered Chinese patriotic songs such as My Motherland (我的祖國) — which is commonly referred to as China’s “second national anthem” — in Chinese-made karaoke devices sold in Taiwan. The machines are popular, as they can connect to the Internet, providing access to thousands of songs, she said. One retailer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the machines first entered the local market about three years ago, starting with