Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) on Saturday marked National Cultural Heritage Day by commending people and groups that contributed to the cultural heritage conservation in a ceremony at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industry Park.
Archeologist Chen Chung-yu (陳仲玉), formerly a researcher at the History and Philology Institute, Academia Sinica, was commended for the groundbreaking discovery of the remains of a neolithic man on Liangdao (亮島), Matsu Islands, Cheng said.
“Liangdao Man No. 1” lived 8,300 years ago; his bones are the oldest neolithic cadaver to have ever been found in the Min River (閩江) region, Cheng said.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
Ceramic figurine master Wang Pao-yuan (王保原), 90, was this year the only person to receive a commendation for contributing to intangible cultural heritage.
Wang has been teaching traditional ceramic art techniques for six years, Cheng said.
Japanese professor of heritage restoration Tsutomu Kimura was the sole foreigner to be commended this year, Cheng said.
Kimura has contributed to the research and restoration of many heritage sites, including the Presidential Office Building, and has made a profound contribution to improving Taiwan’s heritage preservation techniques, she said.
Taerhchieh Cultural Foundation was commended for combining cultural conservation and community development in its approach to protecting and revitalizing heritage throughout Yilan, Cheng said.
The Tainan District Court’s refurbished colonial courthouse, now a municipal heritage site, received a commendation as an outstanding cultural conservation project, she said, adding: “The example of the Tainan courthouse shows that cultural conservation and economic development are not in conflict.”
Built by the Japanese colonial government, the courthouse was in use throughout much of Taiwan’s history and played a part in major events, she said.
The courthouse was the backdrop for the trial of the armed insurgents of the 1915 Tapani Incident and is where 228 Incident hero Tang Te-chang (湯德章) worked.
In the 1960s, the courthouse was the site of an electoral fraud trial that invalidated the city’s mayoral election, she said.
A museum about the judiciary is planned to be housed in the old courthouse, Cheng said.
“Cultural heritage is the foundation of cultural self-identity and a progressive country must carry its soul and memory when it moves forward,” she said.
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