The Taoyuan County decided on Tuesday to override a construction company’s decision to demolish the Tao Ton Tang Yu Ming Ti (道東堂玉明邸) house in Taoyuan County’s Yangmei Township (楊梅), reclassifying the building as a “temporary heritage unit” after writers and activists opposed the demolition.
The construction company initially planned to demolish the house today.
If the site is recognized as a full county government-approved heritage site within the year, it would gain government protection, activists said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
The house, with 87 years of history, is a rare construction, mixing Hakka, Southern Min and Western construction techniques. The entire complex is built as a Sanheyuan (三合院), with a main building and seven side houses forming the two “wings” of the complex.
It was sold to a construction company which intended to demolish the complex and build a high-rise building in its place, but news of the pending demolition caused many activists, including writer Chang Tian-wan (張典婉), to call for the building’s preservation.
The county government’s Cultural Assets Review Committee — including the county government’s Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tian Wei (田瑋), National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of Taiwan History’s Tai Pao-tsum (戴寶村), Chinese Culture University Department of Architecture and Urban Design lecturer Sung Jui-hsuan (宋蕊璇), National Taipei University of Arts (NTUA) Graduate Institute of Architecture and Cultural Heritage assistant professor Huang Shih-chuan (黃士娟) and Tamkang University Department of Architecture associate professor Mi Fu-kuo (米復國) — visited the building in person on Tuesday to make a final decision.
After the on-site review, the committee said that the house was intact and merited preservation as part of Taiwanese’s cultural heritage.
Tian said that as the house’s cultural asset value has been confirmed at least initially, the department was announcing the house’s change in status to a “temporary heritage site” in accordance with Article 17 of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保護法).
The article allows the county government to reclassify certain buildings as “temporary heritage sites” for half a year and may extend the reclassification by another six months if needed. The county government must finish inspections and debate on the building within one year.
The department is to meet with the site’s proprietors and the construction company to mediate a solution acceptable to all parties based on protecting cultural assets.
NTUA professor Chern Ban (陳邦畛) said the reclassification of the house is a victory for society as it means the government has officially intervened.
However, Chern said that the government should also find a way for the construction company not to lose its money.
While activists have conveyed their support of the county government’s actions, one of the proprietors, surnamed Cheng (鄭), said that the government was intervening in private business and failed to consult them in the process.
“One day it’s a house, the next it’s a heritage site,” the Cheng family said.
The construction company manager, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), said that he had spent nearly a year negotiating the deal, finally concluding a deal with the price tag of NT$100 million (US$3.3 million) for the land and the buildings.
Hsiao said he had already paid the Cheng family NT$70 million of the funds, adding that he had originally planned to build a house on the land.
Hsiao said he was not excluding the option of terminating the contract to buy the house and resorting to legal means in order to recoup his money.
‘VIRUS DIPLOMACY’: The nation’s expertise in handling COVID-19 was among the reasons that it should not be excluded from the WHO, the European Parliament said The European Parliament this week passed resolutions that support Taiwan’s bid to participate in the WHO and its intention to negotiate a trade pact with Taiwan. During its plenary session from Monday to Thursday, the parliament approved resolutions on the foreign policy consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and the EU’s trade policy, parts of which were viewed as friendly toward Taiwan by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a statement yesterday, the ministry welcomed the passage of the resolutions and thanked the parliament for its support for Taiwan. In the first resolution, the parliament cited Beijing’s increasing threats to Taiwan, the crackdown on
The gig began with a nun chanting on stage, but suddenly erupted into a wall of noise unleashed by distorted guitars and screamed sutras — the unique sound of Taiwan’s first Buddhist death metal band. The nation has a vibrant metal scene, but few outfits are quite as eye-catching as Dharma (達摩樂隊), a band that aims to deliver enlightenment via the medium of throaty eight-string guitars and guttural roars. Dressed in robes — black, of course — they use traditional Sanskrit sutras as lyrics, but everything else screams death metal, from bloody face paint on stage to growled vocals, relentless riffs and
LOOPHOLES: The people behind biased media content produced by a Chinese network, likely without sending staff to Taiwan, remain anonymous, a source said Beijing’s latest attempt at psychological warfare through heavily biased online media is aimed at sowing discord and polarizing Taiwanese society, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. The council’s comment came in response to Chinese network Southeast Television, which late last month began broadcasting an online program featuring commentary by Taiwanese unification supporters that authorities suspect was filmed illegally in Taiwan. To circumvent cross-strait regulations, the broadcaster collaborated with online service provider Baidu to air the series titles Diverse Voices From the Taiwan Strait (台海百家說). Only Taiwanese are shown on camera, without revealing the host, interviewer or production team. In one video, political commentator and
SUPPRESSION: Michael Tsai, a former defense minister, said that Beijing’s list of Taiwan independence advocates contravenes the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights The best way to respond to threats from China against Taiwan independence advocates is for the president to publicly reiterate Taiwan’s sovereignty, former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said on Sunday. Chinese media on Nov. 15 said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was compiling “a list of stubborn Taiwanese separatists and will severely punish them in accordance with [China’s] Anti-Secession Law and hold them accountable for their actions for the rest of their lives.” Chinese media subsequently accused Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of being a “first-rate war criminal,” because of his policy on mask exports. “The vast majority
RSS