A plaque from President William Lai (賴清德) has been delivered to Tainan’s Confucius Temple and would be unveiled in a ceremony in November, which Lai is to personally attend, the temple said on Thursday last week.
Lai’s plaque would be the 16th to grace the temple’s eaves, alongside plaques from Qing Dynasty emperors and Taiwan’s presidents, making it a truly unique cultural asset.
From the Qing Dynasty to the present day, rulers and presidents have observed the tradition of presenting the temple with plaques honoring Confucius’ ideals to teach everyone, regardless of status, who came to him wishing to learn.
19.Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei
The temple’s Da Cheng Hall houses all the plaques given to the temple since Emperor Kangxi (康熙) of the Qing Dynasty from 1683, except for the plaque of Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi, or Emperor Xuan Tong (宣統), Tainan Confucius Temple Culture Foundation director Shih Mu-min (石牧民) said.
Xuan Tong ascended the throne in 1909 after the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded Taiwan to Japan. He was the final emperor of the Qing Dynasty, which ended in 1912.
The plaques are even more precious, as they were only preserved thanks to the Fang (方) family, who had moved them to rural areas before the bombing of Tainan by the US Air Force during World War II.
The plaques from the Qing emperors were hung on the eaves over the center of the temple, while the plaques from the various presidents were hung on either side, Shih said.
The temple has eight plaques from Qing emperors — Kangxi, Yongzheng (雍正), Qianlong (乾隆), Jiaching (嘉慶), Daoguang (道光), Xianfeng (咸豐), Tongzhi (同治) and Guangxu (光緒), Shih said.
From the Republic of China government, the temple holds plaques from former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Yen Chia-kan (嚴家淦), Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Shih added.
Shih said that customarily, the plaque from the current president was always placed in the upper right corner, as the position, from the vantage point of the cartouche representing Confucius in the temple’s center, was considered the “dragon side” (龍邊) by feng shui principles.
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
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
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
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
RSS