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2012 ELECTIONS: DPP
overwhelmed by clinking piggies
PORK POWER: The DPP said about 70,000 piggy
banks were returned to campaign headquarters, including banks weighing 70kg
delivered on a shoulder-pole
By Hou Cheng-hsu, Lo Hsin-chen, and Wang Shan-yan / Staff
Reporters
Democratic Progressive Party
campaign staff pose with 71-year-old grandfather Huang Shih-ming, center, and
three-year-old triplets whose donation in October led to the piggy bank
campaign, each wearing three piggy banks on their heads, at DPP presidential
candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s regional campaign headquarters in Greater Tainan
yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Democratic Progressive Party
supporters in Chiayi County yesterday hold three piglets as piggy banks filled
with campaign donations were being handed in.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party
volunteers in Hsinchu City yesterday hold piggy banks filled with campaign
donations sent in by supporters.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was
overwhelmed by support yesterday as its piggy bank fundraising event came to an
end.
The “three little pigs” fundraising event began in the middle of October after
the Control Yuan said the donation of a piggy bank to the DPP by three-year-old
triplets in Greater Tainan was in violation of the Act Governing Political
Donations (政治獻金管理條例).
Thousands of supporters returned piggy banks yesterday, with the DPP’s
headquarters in Pingtung County receiving about 1,200 piggy banks within two
hours of opening its doors at 10 am.
The DPP’s regional campaign headquarters in Greater Taichung also saw a huge
response, with supporters bringing in piggy banks weighing 70kg on a
shoulder-pole. In Chiayi County, a supporter showed up with three live piglets,
which immediately became the focus of many photographs.
In Greater Kaohsiung, a centenarian named Chien Chao Shuang-tsen (簡趙雙岑) showed
up at the DPP’s regional campaign headquarters and returned a piggy bank, which
was filled with coins donated by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Chien Chao was personally greeted by Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who
expressed gratitude and said that “each piggy bank represented the expectations
of a family.”
Meanwhile, the triplets who sparked the fundraising event and their 71-year-old
grandfather, Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), caused a stir when they showed up at the
DPP’s Greater Tainan campaign headquarters.
“I didn’t expect it to become a nationwide trend,” Huang said.
“The piggy banks, which used to be lifeless money-saving objects, have gained a
life of their own because of the heart-stirring emotions surrounding them,” he
added.
Chuang Chin-pao (莊金胞), another supporter from Greater Tainan, custom ordered a
large piggy bank made from fiberglass. Chuang then had it sent to the DPP’s
regional campaign headquarters in Greater Tainan.
“The pig was to commemorate an important hour in the development of Taiwan’s
democracy and to stand witness to the election of Taiwan’s first female
president,” Chuang said.
According to the DPP, about 70,000 piggy banks were returned to its campaign
headquarters nationwide yesterday.
The branches have said they will hire security services to protect the piggy
banks, adding that they would be sending them to Taipei on Sunday in a creative
manner.
Additional reporting by Lin Meng-ting and Yang Yi-min
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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