Unlike other stone lions stationed on either side of traditional buildings’ gates, a male and a female that sit in front of the Martyrs’ Shrine in New Taipei City (新北市) appear very lifelike.
This is not only because of their stateliness, but also because of their obvious sexual characteristics.
Many visitors to the shrine have been seen staring closely at the pair of stone lions, as the male one has a rare penis, while the female has a pair of slightly swollen breasts and holds a little stone baby lion down with one paw.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
Some adults blushed upon looking at the statues’ obvious sexual characteristics, while young children said they were embarrassed.
Sanchong District (三重) chief Yang Yi-te (楊義德), the former director of the city’s department of civil affairs, said the department had received complaints from residents who find the sexual features disturbing.
Some feel that the authorities should “clothe the x-rated sculptures” that are on display in an open area where children and tourists often visit, Yang said.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
“The public should not overly interpret the appearances of the two stone lions, or look at them with a prejudiced view, as they are merely traditional pieces of art that are of cultural significance,” he said in response to the complaints.
“This is like the statues of urinating little boys installed in European-style gardens — people no longer find them strange, as such sculptures have become commonplace,” Yang added.
A local resident surnamed Huang (黃) said the public should not take the exposed sexual characteristics too seriously, saying they posed no serious harm and that people should simply laugh the matter off.
Some parents even praised the stone lions as “great statues of personification,” which they said serve as good models for them to teach sex education to their children.
Religion and Customs Division chief Chen Yi-chun (陳怡君) said that only a fraction of stone lions across the country have sexual characteristics — an obvious way for the people to distinguish their gender.
“However, since the city’s Martyrs’ Shrine only dates back about four decades, it is difficult to determine the reasons behind the pair’s rare natural design,” Chen said.
As for the possibility of covering up the stone lions, Chen said the department would deliberate on the matter and it would consider putting a proposal in next year’s budget.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS