The nation's only public leprosy hospital, the Lo Sheng Sanatorium (
The book, entitled Outside the World (
"This is a book that has life in it," said Minister of Health Chen Jian-ren (陳建人) yesterday at the launch. "We see how the patients can live more optimistic, positive lives than people who don't suffer such physical problems."
"It teaches us at the Department of Health a lesson," Chen said. "We cannot put labels or stereotypes on patients with debilitating diseases, ignoring their humanity."
The bilingual edition features interviews with longtime sanatorium residents along with historic photographs and pictures by China Times photographer Lin Guo-chang (林國彰). Journalist Chang Ping-yi (張平宜) interviewed the residents and edited the text.
"Our lives as humble citizens are preserved as history," said sanatorium superintendent Huang Long-de (
Leprosy patients from Leseng met invited dignitaries yesterday at the launch ceremony.
Chen Zai-tian (陳再添), a resident at Leseng, thanked the writer and photographer for their honest reporting, and shared some of his painful experiences. Leprosy patients are often shunned, even feared, because of their deformities, said Chen.
Chang and Lin are members of the Wings of Hope Charity Group (
The photographs used in the book won a first prize at the In-ternational Dong Gang Photography Festival in South Korea. Lin himself will also receive a prize for his work, and promised to donate the prize money, estima-ted at US$10,000, to aid leprosy patients in Taiwan and China.
Vice Chairman of Academia Sinica and former education minister Tseng Chi-lang (曾志朗) helped auction off ten copies of the new book and its photos.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS