Taoist deity Shennong (神農大帝, God of Agriculture) was yesterday conferred with a distinguished honorary doctorate by the Chiayi County-based National Chung Cheng University in a gesture of gratitude for a local temple’s donation of land during the university’s founding.
Shennong was the first deity to receive a diploma from a Taiwanese university and possibly the world’s only divine being with a doctorate, university president Wu Jyh-yang (吳志揚) said.
When the school was founded in 1989, it was built on 131 hectares of farmland previously owned by the the Shennong-worshipping Gufeng Temple, 60 hectares of which were a donation, a crucial factor in the decision to build the university in Chiayi rather than Yunlin or Tainan, which were vying to host the new university, Wu said.
Photo: Yu Hsueh-lan, Taipei Times
For the conferment ceremony yesterday, the divine being’s idol was clothed in an custom-tailored academic robe and its head was adorned with an academic square cap.
Wu moved the cap tussle, in view of people who attended as Shennong’s guests of honor.
Renowned embroider and tailor Chou Jang-ting (周讓廷) from the county’s Putzi city (朴子) was commissioned by the school to make Shennong’s academic robe.
Chou said tailoring Shennong’s robe took 100 hours in comparison with the typical 10 hours needed for most other temple idols.
The decision to accept the conferment of the degree from the school was made unanimously by the temple’s board of directors, Gufeng Temple Secretary-General Lai Hsiao-te (賴孝德) said, adding that members of the board felt this was a happy event.
Wu said that while many universities had conferred honorary degrees to people who had contributed to their founding or distinguished members of society, including former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) who received a National Chung Cheng University honorary doctorate, the distinguished honorary doctorate given to Shennong was the highest honor of its kind.
“It is only appropriate for us to demonstrate our gratitude to the temple,” he said, referring to the temple’s donation.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS