Hundreds of local and foreign visitors crowded the Taipei Confucius Temple early yesterday morning to watch the traditional bayi (八佾) dance and eat wisdom cakes in celebration of Confucius’ (孔子) 2,560th birthday.
The dance, a ritual performed to pay respect to emperors, was performed by 64 students and was only the second such performance in Taiwan in 12 years.
The temple sparked controversy when it performed the ritual two years ago to welcome President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) attendance at the ceremony, attracting criticism from opposition parties that the temple was “worshiping Emperor Ma” with the dance.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma attended the ceremony again yesterday to pay his respects to the philosopher by burning incense and watching the bayi dance. The temple also opened the Lingxing Gate, the main entrance of the temple that is usually closed during the ceremony, and arranged for the president to enter the temple via the route traditionally taken by emperors.
Shih Su-li (施淑梨), the temple’s secretary, declined to confirm whether the temple performed the dance and opened the main entrance specifically for the president and insisted that all rituals and arrangements followed ancient traditions.
The temple usually performs the liuyi (六佾), a ritual performed to pay respects to feudal barons, to celebrate Confucius’ birthday.
Addressing the ceremony after the two-hour ritual, Ma cited the Analects to emphasize the importance of politicians taking a righteous path and said he chose to attend the ceremony to promote Confucianism.
“I have attended this ceremony twice because I think Confucianism and the rituals should be part of our lives ... Confucius taught us that a politician must take the righteous path, and if you take that path, your subordinates would not dare to take an evil path,” he said.
Ma is the first president to participate in the ceremony at the temple. Former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) visited the temple one day before the ceremony in 1968, Shih said.
The ceremony was presided over by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
The temple is one of the few Confucius temples that still performs ancient rites that strictly follow the ancient rules with 37 steps in the ceremony sequence.
After the performance of the ritual, some visitors rushed to the center plaza of the temple to “pull” writing brushes from an artificial cow’s back as part of the “pulling of wisdom hair” ritual, creating a chaotic scene when some ran into each other and fell down.
Shih said the temple had 2,000 brushes at the ceremony, and it did not expect to have so many people participate in the activity.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS