In a Facebook post on Thursday last week announcing the closure of its permanent exhibits until October, the National Museum of Taiwan history described the statues in its exhibits as “foreigners under isolation at the museum.”
The Tainan-based museum has since January made several Facebook posts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including one on Feb. 3 linking to an online virtual exhibit on the history of mask usage in Taiwan.
The administrator of the museum’s Facebook page said that they generally aim to link the museum’s exhibits with current events.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
Its most recent pandemic-related post features statues of 17th-century merchants with a caption that reads: “People from China, Hong Kong and Macau have temporarily suspended travel to Taiwan.”
Other statues of contemporary foreigners — including a Spanish missionary, a Dutch official and a foreign merchant from a Qing Dynasty company in China — are depicted as “foreigners who are required to undergo 14-day quarantine,” while Chinese stowaways shown peeking out from the hold of a ship are referred to as “illegal immigrants.”
The caption reminds people to avoid using public transportation if they have a fever, and to avoid confined spaces.
A picture of an exhibit depicting the Taiwanese Cultural Association, which was founded by Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) to further the resistance movement during the Japanese colonial era, is accompanied by a caption reminding people to avoid crowded events.
An image portraying a household embroidery factory is accompanied by a caption reminding people to stay home as much as possible.
The post also includes a photograph of a statue of Taiwan’s first female physician, Tsai A-hsin (蔡阿信). The caption thanks frontline doctors and nurses for their efforts amid the pandemic.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS