《TAIPEI TIMES》 ‘Reading Boy’ sculpture hoped to inspire youth

健康 國際 地方 蒐奇 影音 財經 娛樂 汽車 時尚 體育 3 C 評論 藝文 玩咖 食譜 地產 專區 TAIPEI TIMES 求職

The Reading Boy bronze sculpture, front, and the Reading Girl, back, are pictured on the western side of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall grounds in Taipei on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei on Tuesday held a plaque-unveiling ceremony for the Reading Boy bronze sculpture by artist Wang Hsiu-chi （王秀杞） on the western side of the hall’s grounds.

The Taipei Capitol Lions Club and its Japanese sister Aomori Mahoroba Lions Club had jointly commissioned the statue as a companion to Reading Girl, which the former donated to the museum a decade ago.

The statues celebrate the joy and intellectual benefits of reading as electronic devices increasingly compete for the attention of their users, the hall’s director-general Wang Lan-sheng （王蘭生） said.

The pair of bronze statues are also part of the memorial hall’s project to beautify its surroundings to become a more cultured space that art enjoyers can appreciate, he said.

The hall hopes that gathering such creations would make the garden around it a landmark for people in the city, Wang said.

Taipei Capitol Lions Club president Kuo Su-mei （郭素梅） said that the group hopes the new sculpture would encourage a passion for reading in Taiwanese youth amid distractions from phones, the Internet and television.

The group hopes the memorial’s visitors would to rest and read on the three granite benches placed near the statutes, which the club also donated to show its concern for the public good, she said.

Together, the club’s gifts of the Reading Boy and Reading Girl set an example that urges people to rediscover the pleasure of reading, Wang Hsiu-chi told the event.

Wang Hsiu-chi grew up in poverty, having had to walk an hour to school and help his father tend to the family orchard after returning home, with little time left for reading, the sculptor said.

“Although my father used to tell me all the time that I must have an education if I wanted to have a future, I did not study well and chose to create sculptures,” he said. “I am thankful that the organizations involved gave me the chance to contribute to the future generation by creating something beautiful.”

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