The Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs plans to file a request with the Ministry of Culture to upgrade the status of the Taoyuan Martyrs’ Shrine and Cultural Park from a municipal heritage site to a national one.
As Lee Teng-fan’s (李騰芳) Ancient Residence in Dasi District (大溪) is the only national heritage site in Taoyuan, the department on Sunday said that it had commissioned a consulting firm to thoroughly evaluate the city’s four municipal historical sites in the hopes that their status could be upgraded.
The evaluation results suggest that the Taoyuan Martyrs’ Shrine and Cultural Park meets the requirements to be designated a national heritage site, the department said, adding that it would file the request by the end of the year.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
The other three municipal historical sites in Taoyuan are the Ching Tzi Ting (敬字亭), the mini-pagodas dedicated to the pursuit of scholarly excellence in Dasi; the Shengjiting (聖蹟亭), or Pavilion of Sacred Relics, in Longtan District (龍潭); and the Shengjiting in Jhongli District (中壢).
Department Director-General Chuang Hsiu-mei (莊秀美) said that the Taoyuan Martyrs’ Shrine and Cultural Park is in the best condition among Japanese shrines nationwide, preserving a lot of architectural elements authentic to Japanese culture.
If the ministry approves the request, it would be the first national heritage site in the city, Chuang said, adding that it would be the pride of Taoyuan.
During the Japanese colonial era, Japan built about 200 shrines across Taiwan, including the Hsinchu Shrine and Kagi Shrine in Chiayi City, both of which are bigger than those in Taoyuan, she said.
After Japan switched its diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing in 1972, the Ministry of the Interior issued an executive order demanding that all Japanese shrines be torn down, she said.
The Taoyuan Martyrs’ Shrine and Cultural Park, which contains the former Taoyuan Shrine, although smaller, is one of the few that remains, she said.
The location gained prominence due to the Taiwanese film Kano, which was released in 2014 and became a hit, as the scene where the coach and other baseball players gathered for the first time was shot there.
The city government has twice carried out repairs to preserve the shrine, which is managed by the city government, Chuang said.
Management of other spaces in the park would be outsourced to private firms, and they would serve as locations for school field trips, environment or history lectures, exhibitions and performances, she added.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS