I was on a southbound train, and while passing Hsinchu-Miaoli area, I caught a glimpse of an odd, abandoned Ancient Greek-styled, temple-like building. Bored as I was, I looked it right up on google map and went down the investigatory rabbit hole.

Here’s a thread🧵: This place is located at Zaoqiao, Miaoli along the Prov 13a highway and right next to TRA Main Line. Its facade a mixed bag of ionic columns, bizarre lion head sculptures and some cheap acroters on the frieze and Pediment. An elaborate plaster fountain sits right in the front.

News popped up today as Confucius' 76th gen. descendent in TW receives Double Ninth Fest' gifts (holiday celebrating longevity), while months ago, a TWnese actress starring in a new show, also made the news as his 76 gen. descendent. Just how many descendants are there, a thread: So Confucius is no stranger to most folks around the world. Born in 551 BCE during Spring and Autumn period, he travels around then different Chinese states to spread his philosophical and political ideas. And his influences on most East Asian societies are still strong today.

In light of NTU's long overdue decision of approving the text on the plaque in commemoration of its late professor & Taiwan's democracy activist Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), who died under mysterious circumstances in 1981 during White Terror, here's a long and heart-wrenching thread. Chen was born in the family of 8 kids in Taipei in 1950, studious like most students back in those time in Taiwan, he graduated NTU and left for US in '75 to UMich (Go Blue!), earning both a master and a PhD in statistics under just 3 years. He soon joined the faculty at CMU.