Kinmen County’s program to train artisan builders would help the archipelago preserve the cultural heritage of traditional Minnan-style buildings, county Deputy Commissioner Li Wen-liang (李文良) said at the certification ceremony for trainees on Monday last week.
The program to train qualified builders is aimed at increasing the county’s ability to restore and maintain the Minnan houses found throughout the area, he said, adding that the county government is committed to preserving the architectural jewels of Kinmen culture.
The educational program is preparing to launch a joint initiative with the Ministry of Culture to train builders as part of the nation’s certified traditional crafts-people system, National Kinmen Senior Vocational School principal Wu Chih-yen (吳志衍) said.
Photo: CNA
“Kinmen could become the cradle of certified craftspeople for Taiwan,” he added.
The county created the program with the vocational school in 2018 to preserve the craft of restoring traditional buildings, a profession that has become endangered due to a lack of new talent, the Kinmen Economic Affairs Department said.
The program offers courses in brickwork, carpentry, project management and drafting, with each section divided into basic and advanced skill levels, it said.
The graduating class included 18 builders with basic skills and 15 builders with advanced skills who completed their training last year.
The department has since 2001 provided NT$1.02 million (US$33,542) in subsidies for the restoration of 721 privately owned traditional buildings as part of an effort to protect local culture and boost tourism, it said.
The county and the Kinmen National Park management office have directly or indirectly contributed to the restoration of 1,100 traditional buildings over the past two decades, National Quemoy University assistant professor of architecture Tseng Yi-jen (曾逸仁) said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
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
RSS