The Chilin Foundation, founded by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), is set to inaugurate a museum in Yilan County in May, although a pre-opening exhibition began on March 3, that is aimed at introducing a history of Taiwan’s democratic development.
The exhibition includes a speech on anti-nuclear movements by renowned film director Ko I-chen (柯一正) on March 21, the foundation said.
The new museum consists of an exhibition hall for democratic movements, a library of social movements — the first of its kind in Taiwan — and an art gallery, the foundation said.
Photo: Chu Tze-wei, Taipei Times
History of the nation’s social movements in textbooks is far from informative and comprehensive, foundation chief historian of Taiwanese social movements Chen Feng-ping (陳鳳萍) said, adding that the foundation is devoted to collecting documents relating to the nation’s democratic development, including those concerning the 228 Incident, the Kaohsiung Incident, Lin I-hsiung’s family tragedy and the more recent anti-nuclear movements.
Oil paintings and photographs, in addition to earlier publications, are to be put on display to chronicle the lives of human rights champions and the obstacles they faced under former authoritarian regimes, the foundation said.
Founded in 1991 by Lin and his wife, Fang Su-min (方素敏), the foundation houses a small exhibition center at its headquarters in the county’s Wujie Township (五結), the foundation said.
The foundation decided to build a more spacious museum to store and exhibit historical materials and Taiwanese art, the foundation said.
Exhibits originally collected at the foundation’s headquarters would be relocated to the new museum, with the headquarters’ exhibition center turned into a calligraphy gallery, including Lin’s artworks, the foundation said.
Open every week from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 2pm, the exhibition is scheduled to run through the end of next month, with guided tours available upon reservation for groups of 10 or more people, the foundation said.
Lin is scheduled to inaugurate the museum on May 9, the foundation added.
Lin built a Chilin Cultural and Education Center in Wujie over a decade ago, housing historical data and pictures of past dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) rallies and election events. The term dangwai referred to all political activity during the 1950s conducted by people outside of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Lin participated in every part of the museum’s construction, the foundation said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a