Artists and writers yesterday called for the protection of the famous sunset at Tamsui River’s (淡水河) mouth as a piece of cultural heritage, while they protested against a planned bridge construction project.
However, the city’s department of cultural affairs said the sunset does not match designated criteria for cultural heritage.
The planned Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋), which will connect Tamhai New Town (淡海新市鎮) in Tamsui and the Taipei Harbor (台北港) in Bali (八里), both in New Taipei City (新北市), received approval from an Environmental Impact Assessment meeting in June.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Holding replica works of the sunset by famous painters, the representatives, accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party legislators Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), spoke out in a bid to preserve the scenery at the river mouth, which has been voted more than once as one of Taiwan’s top-eight scenic spots.
“The key point is where to construct the bridge and how to balance economic development and cultural preservation... Many countries would not build a bridge that blights their most beautiful scenic view,” orchestra conductor Tseng Dau-hsiong (曾道雄) said.
Cheng said it was sad that the famous painting of the Tamsui sunset by renowned painter Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波) was sold for about NT$210 million (US$7 million) to Hong Kong, and now the government was unwilling to keep the real thing for future generations of Taiwanese to enjoy with their own eyes.
Sophie Seeing (施云), a documentary filmmaker, said the petition to the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs to designate the Tamsui sunset as cultural heritage was refused under the Enforcement Rules of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法施行細則), which says cultural heritage requires the interaction between humans and nature, whereas the sunset is pure natural scenery that cannot be managed.
Liu Hsin-jung (劉欣蓉), assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Department of Architecture, said in order for the residents in Japan’s Kyoto to see giant bonfires lit on mountains surrounding the city during the annual Daimonji festival, the Japanese government had even set regulations on the height of buildings in the city, which he says means the preservation of culture must also consider symbolic meanings and people’s feelings for history and tradition as a whole.
Tseng Chi-tien (曾繼田), chief of the Cultural Heritage Division at the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, said the sunset should not be tied together with the river mouth, because it can be seen in other places too.
If the bureau designates the Tamsui sunset as cultural heritage, it still lacks a property owner, manager and users, so it will be impossible to establish management plans, he added.
However, the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Cultural Heritage Deputy Director Nien Chen-yu (粘振裕) said the ministry cannot interfere with the city government’s authority on individual cases.
He said the ministry discovered that local governments have different identification criteria for designating cultural heritage, so the ministry will further discuss and communicate with the local governments on this aspect, adding that the education on the significance of cultural heritage in Taiwan must be improved too, especially among government officials and teachers.
While Tien suggested that the government spends more money to build an underwater tunnel to solve the traffic problem, Seeing suggested that the government should at least hold community consultation in the Tamsui area to gather public opinion.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS