The Taichung city government said today that it had decided not to designate
the remains of the Huguoshan temple as a historical site.

This comes after a cultural heritage review said that it was insufficiently
representative of its era and thus failed to meet the standards to be
designated as a cultural heritage site.

The Huguoshan temple, which dates back to 1902 during the era of Japanese
colonisation, was unexpectedly discovered last year during the demolition of
a tin-roofed house in Taichung's Central District.

Cultural workers and DPP opposition city councillors announced yesterday that
they had discovered that the site had already been demolished.

But the city's Cultural Affairs Bureau said that that the temple's main hall
was already demolished by 1982, and that the structure that remains was just
a later addition used to store the remains of ancestors.

It said that the most important components of the temple, such as the
entrance hall, were already lost.

(JM)