A trove of artifacts, including coins dating to China’s Song Dynasty 900 years ago, have been uncovered at a construction site in Hualien’s Chongde (崇德) area, the Hualien Cultural Affairs Bureau said on Monday.
Workers reported finding what appeared to be the corner of a tomb while laying a foundation in Sioulin Township (秀林) last month, bureau Director Wu Chin-yi (吳勁毅) said.
The owner of the land agreed to let the bureau investigate the site before construction resumed, Wu said, adding that its work is expected to take another two months due to the abundance of items.
Photo courtesy of the Hualien Cultural Affairs Bureau
One of the most exciting finds so far is coins from the Xining period (1068 to 1077) of Song Dynasty Emperor Shenzong (神宗), Wu said.
While coins from that era have been found before in Taiwan — at the Lingding (嶺頂) site in Hualien’s Shoufeng Township (壽豐) — there is debate about whether they were deposited there at the time they were in circulation or disposed of much later, he said.
The coins, as well as bracelets and agate beads found at the Chongde site, showed that people living near the mouth of the Liwu River (立霧溪) at the time had much more extensive trade links with China than was previously known, Wu said.
Other items found at the site include fish bones, which are evidence that residents at the time were adept at fishing in the sea, as well as a lot of the gray and black pottery typical of the middle Iron Age in Taiwan, he said.
The artifacts would be put in a collection at the Hualien Archeological Museum, where they would be available for researchers of the region’s early history to study, Wu said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
‘POOP ON STAGE’: The song, which talks about the reluctance to graduate and anxiety about a lack of job opportunities, resonated with many students’ feelings The original song Poop on Stage has been chosen as National Taiwan University’s (NTU) graduation song this year, sparking much debate regarding the song’s title and content, which describes students’ anxiety about post-graduation unemployment. The title, Shang Tai Da Bian (上台大便), is a play on words that literally means “go on stage to poop.” The first three characters, shang tai da (上台大), also mean “to attend NTU,” as “Taida” is a common abbreviation for the university. The last character, bian (便), can mean “convenient” or “then,” but is more commonly associated with defecation. The lyrics of the song describe students’ reluctance to graduate and
RSS