The Ministry of Culture on June 4 upgraded the heritage designation of the last remaining marker for a Qing Dynasty boundary between Han Chinese and Aboriginal land on Taiwan proper to “significant.”
The marker, which is in Taichung’s Shihgang District (石岡), was erected in the mid-18th century to delineate the tuniu boundary (土牛界線, a line formed by oxen ditches) around the central mountain range.
Hakka and Minnan people migrating to Taiwan were encroaching on Aboriginal land, so the Qing court prohibited Han Chinese from settling east of the boundary and strictly punished offenders.
Photo courtesy of Taichung Department of Cultural Heritage
On Aug. 1, 2013, the Taichung City Government recognized the Shihgang boundary marker as a “regular heritage item,” but the item is now a nationally recognized “significant heritage item,” the ministry said, adding that the central government would contribute more to the marker’s upkeep and repair.
A cultural heritage review committee yesterday said that the ministry approved the upgrade because of the marker’s significance to policies related to Aborigines in Taiwan and to the history of the nation’s development.
The name tuniu (clay ox) came from the shape of the mounds of earth that formed the ditches along the boundary in some areas, the Taichung Department of Cultural Heritage added.
The ditches, along with natural land formations and stone markers, informed Han settlers where they could farm, conduct business or develop the land, it said.
The policy of allowing Aborigines to have autonomy on their land was first instituted by the Qing court in 1722 and a map of Aboriginal land was drawn in 1735, while the boundary markers were erected over the following decades.
The Shihgang boundary marker was one of 19 markers that were erected in 1761 by then-Changhua County head magistrate Chang Shih-chen (張世珍).
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS