An animal rights group yesterday called for an end to the “divine pig” contest held annually at New Taipei City’s (新北市) Sansia Tsushih Temple (三峽祖師廟), saying the method of raising and slaughtering the pigs was abusive and inhumane.
The annual contest is held on the sixth day of the first month of the Lunar New Year during the temple’s prayer ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Master Chingshui (清水祖師).
An award is given to the owner of the heaviest pig, which is seen as a symbol of future blessings, while the head and some of the body parts of the pig are put on public display during the ceremony.
The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan said that among the 126 temples dedicated to Master Chingshui in Taiwan, the Sansia Tsushih Temple is the only one that has not put an end to the contest.
The winner of the temple’s “divine pig” contest this year was the owner of a pig that weighed 1,061kg — 10 times the normal weight of a commercially reared pig.
Showing photographs of large pigs being force-fed and confined in pens with so little space that it was difficult for the pigs to even turn their bodies, Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said: “These pigs have become so fat that their whole bodies are sick and paralyzed, so that they are unable to move at all.”
“We are not against religious worship, but we are strongly against the ‘divine pig’ weight contest. And we urge all the remaining temples that insist on holding this kind of contest to stop,” she said.
Some owners said they feed the pigs with good quality food, give them massages and even use fans to keep them cool in summer, but these measures are only to prevent the overweight pigs from dying suddenly and causing financial loss to the owners, Chen said.
The society said that although it had negotiated with the temple’s management a few years ago, the contest was still being held at the temple every year.
The group therefore called on the public to boycott the event as a protest against animal abuse.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS