National Chengchi University (NCCU) yesterday approved a student proposal to remove a portrait of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and change a bus station’s name referencing the former president.
The NCCU Student Association on Facebook said that the portrait — the only known one of its kind — hanging in Siwei Hall was not in memory of Chiang as founder of the school, but a sign honoring Chiang’s status as a dictator.
The Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) says such signs should be removed, it said, forming the basis of the association’s proposal that the handling of the portrait should be decided via a democratic vote.
Photo courtesy of National Chengchi University Student Association
A vote to remove the portrait passed eight to six, the association said.
A photograph of the building with the portrait intact for archival purposes would be added to the university Web site, NCCU said, adding that the portrait would be kept at a suitable location to be decided pending a discussion between the university’s Department of Student Affairs and the library.
The association also moved to rename the bus station currently named “Chiang’s Statue Station,” saying that it was not near enough to the statue to merit the name.
The association said that the bus station, closer to an inclined slope that the school’s faculty and student population refer to as Haohanpo (好漢坡), should instead take the slope’s name.
The NCCU Department of General Affairs said the name change had already been implemented on campus, but was not yet official, as it has only recently notified the Taipei Public Transportation Office, as the bus station is also used by city buses.
The association also discussed whether portraits of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) and other buildings named after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, such as Chen Kuo-fu (陳果夫) and Tai Chi-tao (戴季陶), should be renamed.
These individuals have never held power in Taiwan nor held a position at the university, and it is debatable whether they should be memorialized at the university, the association said.
These are questions best left for future students and Taiwanese to answer, the association said.
Chen was highly influential within the KMT, while Tao was the original author of the lyrics that were later adopted as the national anthem.
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS