Aboriginal ruins in Taitung County’s Dawu Township (大武) are to be preserved in accordance with famed mountaineer Yang Nan-chun’s (楊南郡) last wish, Forestry Bureau Director-General Lin Hua-ching (林華慶) said yesterday.
Yang, who was the nation’s leading expert on ancient mountain trails and spent years researching Aboriginal trails, was born in 1931 and died of cancer on Aug. 27 last year at age 86.
“The bureau in 2001 began to map mountain trails nationwide, 700km of which we have indexed to date. Without Yang’s contributions, the trails would simply be skeletons devoid of life,” Lin told a seminar in Taipei that was held to commemorate the legendary mountain climber and researcher on the first anniversary of his death.
Photo courtesy of the Forestry Bureau
Preserving the ruins in Dawu was Yang’s last wish and the bureau has been collecting information on the site since last year, Lin added.
Yang and his wife, Hsu Ju-lin (徐如林), were inseparable as they researched the island’s mountain trails.
During the seminar, Hsu presented her new book titled The Footprint of Taiwan Mountains — Legendary Life of Yang Nan-chun.
It documents Yang’s childhood in Tainan during the Japanese colonial period, his work at the then-US embassy in Taipei — and their adventures in the mountains.
Yang’s hiking career was inspired by some US soldiers during the 1960s, Hsu said.
Yang had told her that a group of US soldiers hiking the Nenggao National Trail (能高越嶺道) had shared their experiences with him, she said.
They asked Yang why he did not try to explore the nation’s beautiful mountains instead of staying in the narrow and crowded plains, Hsu said, adding that these remarks inspired Yang to embark on his adventures in the mountains.
His friends said Yang’s greatest contribution to trail research came from his translations and publication of materials written in Japanese, which he spoke fluently.
Hsu would take Yang’s findings and turn them into academic reports, preserving accounts of culturally historic events that occurred on the trails.
The couple’s published research includes works on the Nenggao National Trail, the Jinshueiying Ancient Trail (浸水營古道), the Hehuan National Trail (合歡越嶺道) and the Batongguan Ancient Trail (八通關古道) that were commissioned by the Forestry Bureau and Council of Agriculture, as well the migration history of the Aborigines.
In light of the current debate over traditional Aboriginal land rights, Yang would not have agreed with the people who say that “Aborigines cannot clearly define their land,” Control Yuan Vice President Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川), a lifelong friend of Yang, said at the seminar.
“The problem is whether authorities are willing to take Aboriginal history and geography seriously,” Sun said, adding that Yang’s writing compels readers to reflect on “the roots of Taiwan.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘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
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
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
RSS