Taichung police on Saturday released 14 people suspected of vandalizing murals at the city’s Rainbow Village tourist site.
The village contains murals and other street art by 98-year-old veteran Huang Yung-fu (黃永阜), who in 2008 started painting on the buildings of a military dependents’ village that were slated for demolition.
Police said that 14 workers from Rainbow Creative Co, which the Taichung City Government contracted in 2013 to maintain the designated cultural landmark, including company head Wei Pi-jen (魏丕仁), were caught painting over Huang’s murals.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government via CNA
Taichung prosecutors are investigating.
Wei told local media that the action was to protest the government’s unilateral decision to have them move out of the village today.
However, a dispute over profit sharing has emerged as Wei argued that Huang’s murals were “passed down” to his company five years ago and that the village was now part of the company’s intellectual property.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
The Taichung City Government said its contract with the company to run the village and sell related merchandise was terminated yesterday ahead of the start of construction to reinforce buildings in the village.
The park would be closed for six months before resuming operations in February next year, city officials said, adding that the intellectual property issue is being reviewed in court.
Regardless of the dispute, any damage to the village is intolerable, the Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau said, adding that it would sue Rainbow Creative for damages.
Upon learning of the vandalism, Huang yesterday called Wei a “bad guy” and told reporters that his lifework was ruined.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS