A man was remanded by Kaohsiung police on Wednesday for allegedly stealing a painting by renowned Taiwanese painter Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波) with an estimated value of NT$30 million (US$960,614).
Liu Ching-mao (劉警懋), 45, was turned over to the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office on charges of larceny.
According to police reports, Liu was the owner of a camping ground in Alishan (阿里山), but had a falling out with a long-time friend, an antiques dealer surnamed Chao (趙), after Chao refused to loan Liu NT$20,000.
Liu allegedly drugged Chao’s German shepherd at his residence at 5am on May 25 before breaking into the home and leaving with Chen’s Second Painting of Gulangyu, reportedly worth NT$30 million.
Police said they used CCTV footage of a vehicle to help identify a suspect and offered a NT$200,000 reward for information on the case.
After receiving a tip off, a plainclothes officer visited Liu’s camping ground in the guise of a teacher wanting to rent a site and found the vehicle from the video footage, making Liu the prime suspect in the theft, the police said.
Police said they obtained a search warrant for Liu’s residence and business in Chiayi County’s Jhuci Township (竹崎) and on Wednesday found not only the Chen painting, but four other paintings, including one by Qing Dynasty official Zeng Guofan (曾國藩).
Liu was quoted by police as admitting that he had stolen the painting to “get back” at Chao for refusing to lend him money, adding that he intended to lie low until the theft blew over before contacting Chao through an intermediary and selling him back the painting.
Later on Wednesday, Chao collected his painting, saying that it is authentic and he had bought in Hong Kong five years ago.
Ministry of Culture official Hsiao Chong-ray (蕭瓊瑞), who convenes the antiques review committee’s modern arts division, has said he “does not recall” if Chen painted the Second Gulangyu.
Chen’s grandson, Chen Li-pai (陳立?), said he has not seen the painting in person and declined to make any further comment.
Chen Cheng-po, born in 1895, was a renowned painter and his work On the Streets of Chiayi was selected for the seventh Imperial Japanese Arts University Exhibition.
The artist was shot dead in 1947 during the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s crackdown on antigovernment uprisings that began on Feb. 27, 1947 — known as the 228 Incident.
Chen Cheng-po’s works are highly sought after and sell for between NT$500,000 to NT$2 million.
Two of his works, Chiayi Park and Sunset in Tamsui, sold for HK$5.79 million and HK$50.7 million (US$747,000 and US$6.5 million) 2002 and 2007 respectively, are designated important heritages by the ministry and are now in the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts’ collection.
Additional reporting by Yang Yuan-ting
‘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 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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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
RSS