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What are Taiwan's cultural goals?

A lot of people are relieved now that the presidential election is over. Since the central issue of the campaign was the economy, there was no place for even the country’s most important ethnic issues. Culture, of course, was only a side issue of a side issue.

What should we expect from the cultural policy of the next government? No one can tell for sure. The cultural sector will be pleased so long as cultural spending is increased and that some of it will trickle down to them, either directly or indirectly.

Since the establishment of the Council for Cultural Affairs, it has never been clear just what the government thinks about culture. In the beginning the emphasis was on preserving historical monuments, then it shifted to community building, and, in recent years, to the cultural creativity industry.

Although all of this is important, these pursuits could be the responsibility of other departments, and so it is only natural that the council doesn’t do too well when it gets involved.

Now the council may be converted into a ministry of culture and be given charge of tourism as well. What great goal is the government trying to realize?

Neither the outgoing nor the next government can give a reasonable explanation.

Since Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was president, every presidential candidate has wanted to present himself as a “cultural president” during the campaign, yet after taking office they merely treat culture as an ornament to their power.

When it really counts, they have no solutions and at most they feed the cultural sector some pocket money to keep them quiet. They cannot really be blamed for this since in the political arena, culture is not important.

The cultural world does not have a vote and the people working in it often aren’t very political. They think culture is being ignored, but cannot say clearly what they want the government to do.

Why does the government need a ministry of culture? What use would such a ministry be, apart from keeping cultural-sector workers happy?

Pacifying the cultural sector by randomly handing out goodies to cultural workers without a grander plan behind its policies, so that they fight over the spoils is actually a master stroke by the government. It makes the cultural world forget the bigger picture and reduces pressure on the government.

If the government really knows what it wants and sets about establishing a system, these academics and artists will loose their goodies and that would be a terrible disappointment. When politicians ask them for ideas, they only say they want more money.

Or they suggest more construction. The government can build a few more beautiful theaters. This is what governments like, to create tangible achievements.

I’ve heard everyone complain that there are not enough cultural venues, but I never hear anyone complain about a lack of audiences. This is the key to cultural policy. The majority of the public are indifferent to culture and it seems culture only exists for the small minority involved in the field, and this is because cultural needs don’t put pressure on the government. Those who really care about culture all know that the most important goal in cultural construction nowadays is to build public interest in culture and eradicate public indifference.

“Culture” is connected to “cultivation.” It does not just mean supporting performances.

I am against converting the council into a ministry of culture, and here is why: Many years ago, the government established the council to further public cultural education. It was established in the spirit of improving the quality of life because it was thought that the public was too coarse and too materialistic. It was an attempt to improve this situation and re-establish Taiwan’s reputation as a cultured country.

After all these years, the council has done very little toward fulfilling this goal.

The problem is that the council has not found ways to eliminate public indifference toward culture, but still wants to do the work of a ministry of culture.

The work of a culture ministry is to serve the cultural sector and fulfill its needs. It can only do that if the public has more cultural requirements and only then are large subsidies reasonable.

The council has not succeeded in its task and there are no grounds for establishing a ministry of culture. A focus on tourism will only force culture in the direction of industry and the original cultural goals of the council will be diffused even further.

I hope that the next government will establish new cultural policy goals.

Is the cultural foundation in Taiwan ready for this? Can we begin the industrialization of culture?

Judging from the situation at Huashan Culture Park, in the current democratic society not even the cultural sector is privileged enough to waste limited national resources for no particular reason.


Han Pao-teh is the director of the Museum of World Religions.

Translated by Anna Stiggelbout
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