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Culture Minister Lee Yung-te visits historic Lin Kai-tai Clinic in Chiayi

  • Date:2021-08-16
Culture Minister Lee Yung-te visits historic Lin Kai-tai Clinic in Chiayi

The Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te visited Chiayi County on Aug. 16 to inspect the restoration progress of the historic Lin Kai-tai Clinic (林開泰診療所), pointing out that the building contains a wealth of cultural history in addition to being the former residence of national treasure Lin Hwai-min’s (林懷民) grandfather.

The old Lin Kai-tai Clinic house was built in 1933 with the house facing the street serving as a clinic, and the main building behind it the living space of the family. The elegant-looking mansion combines Minnan, Japanese and Western-styled architectural elements, with red bricks and tiles as well as logs and white walls.

The Chiayi County Government designated the old Lin Kai-tai clinic as a historical monument in 2016, after which it was donated to the government by the Lin family. Upon obtaining the ownership, the county government began to conduct pre-investigation and restoration planning and design. Having received subsidies from the Bureau of Cultural Heritage (BOCH), the restoration began in September last year.

Lin Hwai-min said that his grandfather Lin Kai-tai (林開泰) is proficient in medicine and writing poetry. He often provides free consultations for economically disadvantaged townsmen, which had earned him the reputation of "poet and virtuous doctor."

Lin’s 11 children were all well accomplished, with Lin Hwai-min's father Lin Jin-sheng having once served as the Chiayi County mayor, Lin Hwai-min added.

In addition, Lee Yung-te, accompanied by Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁) and others, also inspected the Suantou Sugar Factory (蒜頭糖廠) built in 1906 in the morning. The Ministry of Culture had previously subsidized the Chiayi County Government to handle the reconstruction plan of the historic Suantou Sugar Factory, and approved the subsidies for the project management of the reconstruction plan, the sugar factory reconstruction plan, and the east-side warehouse repair and reuse plan.