Xindian First Public Cemetery is the last flat-land cemetery left in the Taipei basin, but is in the process of being demolished.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/06
By: James X. Morris
Researchers conducting an informal audit at Xindian First Public Cemetery in Taiwan’s
James X Morris
New Taipei City have uncovered important archaeological artifacts which help build a biography of Xindian District’s Qing Dynasty and Japanese period residents.
The audit occurs at a critical time for the cemetery, which is in the process of being exhumed and bulldozed to make room for a controversial urban renewal project. Protests, formal complaints to Taiwan’s central government, and the possible loss of protected stones have all contributed to a temporary moratorium on demolition.
Newly discovered are texts dating to the Qing Dynasty and the earliest settlers of the Taipei Basin, written and inscribed on the inner lids of ossuary jars (clay jars that contain the remains of the deceased) that have been exhumed by the city’s demolition contractors. [FULL STORY]
