OVERABUNDANT:While the ceremonies at the Martyrs’ Shrine are reasonable, honoring other figures needs to be reconsidered, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi said

Taipei Times
Date: May 08, 2016
By: Tseng Wei-chen / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have called on the incoming government to look into memorial ceremonies of uncertain origins observed by the state.

Memorial ceremonies have been held for those honored in the Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei, as well as for the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi, 黃帝), the mythical ancestor of the Han Chinese, Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, and Koxinga, the lawmakers said.

They said that the incoming government should look into the necessity of the ceremonies, adding that the Yellow Emperor and Genghis Khan have tenuous relations with Taiwan and that people’s views about Koxinga have been changing.

Ceremonies at the Martyrs’ Shrine are held by the Presidential Office on March 29 and Sept. 3, while the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for paying tribute to the Yellow Emperor ahead of Tomb Sweeping Day, the lawmakers said.

The ceremony dedicated to the Yellow Emperor used to be headed by the minister of the interior, but President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) began to lead the ceremony himself, they said, adding that he led the ceremony a total of six times.     [FULL  STORY]