LANDMARKS:The minister of culture has long wanted to guide policy toward human rights activism, and now she and her team have a plan to educate coming generations

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 12, 2016
By: Lin Liang-sheng and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of Culture said its planned “Taiwanese Trail of Democracy and Human Rights” project would stand witness to the nation’s ongoing implementation of transitional justice and would also provide future generations with lessons from the past.

The project stems from an initiative Minster of Culture Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) proposed in November last year when, as a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker, she said she hoped to emulate the Freedom Trail in Boston and link important historical sites on the path along the development of democracy and human rights in Taiwan.

Cheng’s aides said Cheng has always been interested in the preservation of sites that witnessed the development of Taiwan’s democracy and human rights, and “her dreams will guide the ministry’s policies in years to come [now that she is the minister of culture].”

The ministry said that over the past year, National Democracy and Human Rights Museum staff have been conducting on-site inspections of various historical landmarks, as well as researching historical files and housing records to better understand how sites related to the White Terror era are preserved.    [FULL  STORY]