A group of Buddhist volunteers led by Wang Yi-sheng (王義生) visited Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township (古坑) on Monday morning to help clean the bones of unclaimed or unidentified bodies at the public cemetery, blessing them in a rite they say allows their spirits could move on.
The Chipingchiu (崎坪坵) public cemetery was busy on Monday morning as people placed bones from urns onto canvas-covered ground, while others cleaned them with brushes.
Gukeng Township Office official Tseng Chun-hun (曾春渾) said the construction of the public cemetery and the Formosa Freeway overpass two decades earlier unearthed about 100 unidentified and unclaimed remains.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
“We have been storing the bones in a shed next to the cemetery since unearthing them,” Tseng said, adding that the Wang family learned about the remains after attending a ceremony at the cemetery in 2014.
Wang asked members of a Bhuddist group based in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (岡山) to help him clean the remains and put the spirits to rest, Tseng said.
The group of about 200 members is based in Gangshan District’s Jhongsiao Borough (忠孝里), Wang said.
The group has made visits across the nation over the past decade to help clean unidentified or unclaimed remains, Wang said.
The group’s members are between five and 80 years old, Wang said.
The group volunteered to help after the tower holding the remains of Minsyong Township (民雄) residents collapsed in the 921 Earthquake, Wang said
It took the group more than three months to reassemble the bones of 9,000 people who had been entombed within the tower, Wang said.
The magnitude 7.3 earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999 killed 2,456 people and injured 10,718 and destroyed 53,661 homes with 53,024 damaged. Total damages were estimated at NT$300 billion (US$8.92 billion).
A hair stylihest surnamed Chen (陳), 25, went with her family to help clean the bones.
She said it was her second time on such a trip and that her first trip had been out of curiosity.
When asked if she was afraid of coming into contact with the remains of the deceased, Chen said the act was for the good of others and she was not afraid.
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