Starting a thread on the hot topic today and in the last days:
The Jinfu Men gate is being restored by the Department of Cultural Affairs of Taipei City Government (at a cost of NT$7 Million)
They did restore it, but back to it’s 1966 state - which means with a big KMT logo on it
DPP city commissioners cried fault (as in, gosh, that is Qing Dinasty, not Chiang Dinasty…)
DPP City Councilor Chuang Rui-hsiung (莊瑞雄), along with fellow colleagues Huang Shiang-chun (黃向群) and Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁), erased the emblem with white paint as a protest this morning after climbing on a scaffold.
Now, we all know this is politics, but putting back the KMT symbol into a national historic monument just seems awkward, and justifying it by saying it was restored to look like it was in 1966 (but not like when it was originally built)… even worse. Now, let us all restart the renaming of places back to their 1966 “Golden Age of the KMT” Era and everyone will be happy…
if only they could restore economic growth to their Golden Age…
We are talking about a big blue sun with flags and military symbols, nested between ceramic -not fiberglass- traditional multicolored figurines and swallow wing architecture. It just clashes with the decorations and ruins the ambiance.
There is a place and time to honor whoever they want -it would make a nice pedestal, I think, next to the temple, or they can add a plaque with the names on the side-, but this is not it. This kind of heritage should be restored to its original glory. Or are they afraid they would have to go back and put all shinto shrines back as they were?
Yep, painting over it is extreme, but then so is the double discourse of Hau: he agreed it was wrong in the first place. Now he has to put his money where his mouth is.
Yes, childish of the DPP to paint over it. They should have found a more dignified way to deal with it. They need to shake the image of being lawless hotheads.
And yes, it’s blatantly cheezy politics to put the emblem on it in the first place. If the DPP had done something like that the blue camp would be up in arms making a media bonanza of the whole thing.
In no democracy parties go on and put their symbols on Heritage… that is not “making corrections”…
Also, the DPP went on to do what every other ex-dictatorship did: to rename things connected with the authoritarian regime to reflect the new values of democracy. Of course, people like you can imagine that the CKS Memorial Hall is full of democratic value… Or can you exactly tell me which national Heritage was defaced with the DPP logo? Or which park, street or avenue carry CSB name?
If you’re trying to argue that the KMT is not part of ROC history and Taiwan is not part of the ROC, then there isn’t really much to discuss.
If you’re trying to argue that the KMT, who won the presidency and the LY majority, don’t have a democratic mandate to propose various public work projects, then there isn’t much to discuss either.
Seriously, celebrating the Qing Dynasty is worst then celebrating the KMT in Taiwan. Those Manchu were more delusional than the current DPP, not to mention dictated the fugliest hairstyle that Han subjects had to wear.
When the DPP started their renaming campaign, they were setting a precedent in Taiwan politic that benefitted no one in Taiwan. This is the legacy of such ill though out policies. So everytime their a change of ruling party in Taiwan, expect some foolish public works projects.
So the question is can the DPP be patient and come up with a real political strategy to win back the majority or will they further isolated themselves from mainstream politics by behaving like idiots…
Anyways didn’t the DPP bring up this topic like 2 years ago with the ROC flag, the ROC military emblem, etc. The shock value of such a radical position has worn off. People are just jaded to these antics now.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]You mean like when the DPP administration changed the name parks and various government departments.
The KMT just waited till they regained the majority to make corrections. They didn’t engage in graffiti.[/quote] Well, I was tempted to use the name change analogy but decided against it. But as long as you bring it up as a smear against the DPP… I guess it doesn’t say much for the KMT either now does it? Evaluating the DPP reaction to it is a separate issue…
As I mentioned this is a DPP pet issue. KMT symbols are the ROC flag and ROC military insignias. It’s an intergral part of ROC history and modern Taiwan history.
The white sun symbol on the gate is not very big and it’s been there since 1955. The only change was to restore the blue colour for the sky, which the DPP councilors have now painted back to white.
The DPP councilors set a very bad example by climbing around on a monument. They could easily have broken the roof tiles or something. If they don’t like a dab of blue paint, they can complain about it in the council chamber. That’s what we pay them for.
[quote=“Juba”]
The DPP councilors set a very bad example by climbing around on a monument. They could easily have broken the roof tiles or something. If they don’t like a dab of blue paint, they can complain about it in the council chamber. That’s what we pay them for.[/quote]
No way, they should get extra for not sitting around on their behinds.
It’s a political protest, and not a wholly unjustified one–it goes well beyond “a dab of blue paint” at least. I think the nation will survive the “bad example” of people climbing on a roof–we’re not talking about the Taj Mahal here.
I guess you don’t know or don’t care about all the heritage Taiwan has lost. If elected representatives go vandalising monuments then why shouldn’t everyone else do it?
Don’t you think that they would be stirring up a lot of problems just by painting (again) the KMT symbol on it?
This is not a dictatorship anymore, where we need to see symbols of the ruling party everywhere. Probably, the government just needed another fait divers so that the mawvellous GDP numbers would pass completely unnoticed, and everyone still thinks we are living Ma’s dream…
And about the National Heritage that is lost, what is the KMT gonna do to ammend all the heritage they destroyed or defaced when they arrived to Taiwan? Or that one doesn’t count?
[quote=“Juba”]I guess you don’t know or don’t care about all the heritage Taiwan has lost. If elected representatives go vandalising monuments then why shouldn’t everyone else do it?
[/quote]
I don’t feel that way. These guys didn’t take a sledge hammer to the thing first of all. It’s fine. Second there’s a clear reason why they would do it from the viewpoint of political protest. That is a politically important area, pretty much the focal point of all political protest in Taiwan in recent years. It’s more than simply an everyday historical monument–and while it may not be of earth-shattering importance either way I don’t believe for a second the government didn’t know exactly what they were doing with this plan.
The KMT destroyed heritage so the DPP can do it too? Poor Taiwan!
What on Earth is an “everyday historical monument”? Historical monuments are not commonplace in Taiwan. Most of them have been lost already. We don’t have a Taj Mahal. All we have is a few little things like Jingfu Gate. If they aren’t preserved, we won’t have any monuments left at all.
What on Earth is an “everyday historical monument”? Historical monuments are not commonplace in Taiwan. Most of them have been lost already. We don’t have a Taj Mahal. All we have is a few little things like Jingfu Gate. If they aren’t preserved, we won’t have any monuments left at all.[/quote]
A run of the mill, ordinary historical monument. That may be all we have, but these guys were not leaving their dirty footprints all over the Mona Lisa, however you look at it. It was not damaged. It is not so fragile that people cannot walk on scaffolding around it, as the newspaper says–did they even climb on the roof? According to your link if I am reading it correctly only the stone base and gate are original. I would deplore any damage done to it but I stand by the qualifier “everyday.” It would take a tank to really hurt anything significant. There is no change to its level of preservation, and people are just not going to start wrecking historical monuments all over Taiwan because of the protest made here.
There was no attempt made to damage the monument, or damage done, except to the political symbol on it.
So everytime we see a green color Taiwan on a random map are we to deface it too because it reminded us of the 8 years of Green Terror?
Letter writing campaigns to map makers world wide to put a stop to using a political party symbol on maps.
Almost as silly as misguided Jews going after Buddhist symbols in Asia.
Honestly you can barely see those logo on top of the gate…
Well we would hope. The DPP already cut up one bronze statue of CKS a few years back. I think that’s what most people are concerned about, that the DPP in the past decade have behaved quite poorly when it comes to artifacts that they feel are too closely associated with the KMT.
Almost like they are on their own little cultural revolution to wipe the KMT off of Taiwan.
Not to mention the 1000s of other political parties on Taiwan, will their logos be defaced one day when they become a crediable challenger to the DPP, because some DPP members disapprove.
Evaluating the DPP reaction to it is a separate issue…
