A plaque at a tourist spot near an Atayal community in Hsinchu County is to be replaced after complaints from visitors that its inscription could offend Aboriginal visitors.
“Warship Cliff” in the county’s Jianshi Township (尖石), named for its ship-like appearance, is a popular destination, the township office said.
The cliff is approximately 300m from the Atayal community in Siouluan Village (秀巒), the office said, adding that visitors often view the large natural stone formation from a suspension bridge that crosses the gorge next to it.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
However, visitors have expressed their concern over an inscription at a pavilion next to the bridge, which is dated “the second year of Emperor Taisho (1913),” using the Japanese calendar.
The inscription describes the effectiveness of three cannons that were installed by the Japanese to suppress Atayal and other Aboriginal communities in the nearby mountains.
During the colonial period, a force of 3,000 Japanese soldiers stationed throughout the area employed the cannons against Aborigines in Hsinchu and New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來), visitors said.
“The inscription is written from such a historical perspective that keeping it there is akin to helping the [colonizers] show off their success in suppressing Aborigines,” one visitor was quoted as saying.
As the inscription does not say who installed it, it is in the government’s best interest to have it removed or replaced to avoid misunderstanding, a visitor was quoted as saying.
Visitors also expressed regret over the closure of the paths to the cannons’ remains due to landslides, the office said.
“How can someone say that ‘suppression of the Aborigines was effective?’” township Mayor Yun Tien-pao (雲天寶) asked, adding that whoever installed the inscription probably took it from a historical document without enough consideration.
Yun said he would look into the matter and make improvements.
While the suspension bridge, built in 2014, is under the jurisdiction of the Hsinchu Forest District Office, the pavilion and paths to the cannons are the responsibility of the county government, which rented the land from the Forestry Bureau, the bureau said.
Hsinchu Department of Transportation and Tourism Director of Engineering Yeh Sung-hung (葉宋宏) said he would ask the township office to submit a report requesting rushed repairs due to natural disaster and would have the paths opened as soon as possible.
Yeh would work with the office to have the inscription fixed or replaced, he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
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
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
RSS