The Aboriginal Traditional Culture and Arts Enhancement Project in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復) is to serve as a culture and history research base for indigenous people in the area, Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said at a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday.
The project, proposed in 2012, went through 14 rounds of bidding until it secured a contractor last year.
The council is to allocate NT$179.75 million (US$6.1 million) for the project, making it the biggest council-funded project to date.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
The project is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
Village council chairperson Tsai Yi-chang (蔡義昌) said that the land on which the center is being built originally belonged to the Amis community of Fataan, but a dispute over its ownership arose after it was turned into a camping park.
Tsai thanked the council and Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) for their assistance in regaining the land over the past decade.
Icyang said he was honored to represent President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at the ceremony, and that the amount of funding for the project symbolized the government’s recognition of Amis and other indigneous cultures.
The project would not only be an important place for residents to pass down their culture to young people in the village and to host the Ilisin (harvest) ceremony, but also a palce for local and foreign tourists to better understand the Amis people and their culture, Icyang said.
Initial funding for the project in 2017 was insufficient as the prices of materials have increased over the years, Icyang said, adding that the project would be separated into two phases.
He urged the Yilan County Government to finalize its proposal for the project’s second phase as soon as possible, adding that the Executive Yuan would provide whatever assistance it can.
Fataan elder Tsai Chih-hui (蔡智輝) said the village was excited that the project was finally proceeding after 10 years, adding that the village has been in discussion with Academia Sinica over the past two years for the return of the village’s cultural and historical relics.
Researchers from Academia Sinica in the 1950s visited Fataan many times, cataloging and taking more than 533 relics for preservation, as well as compiling texts on village culture, Hualien County Councilor Tsai Yi-ching (蔡依靜) said.
The recordings Academia Sinica made with the last sapalengaw chief Unak Tafong in 1959 were a critical piece of the village’s culture and history preserved, Tsai Yi-ching added.
Sapalengaw means a chief and priest who is recognized by the ancestral spirits.
The council said it supported the move to bring cultural relics back to the village, adding that this was a representation of transitional justice and respecting the culture of indigenous people.
The council said that as long as the village and local governments arrive at a consensus, the council would fully support any applications made.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS