Its been nearly seven years, but finally the NT$120 million Hakka museum in Meinung township officially opened yesterday in a colorful ceremony at which President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) put in an appearance. Hakka culture, like many other minority cultures around the world, is receiving greater recognition by government agencies, and while this museum is far from the first to be devoted to Hakka culture, it is remarkable for its effort to become an integral part of the Hakka community in Meinung.
President Chen used the opening of the museum to emphasize the government's efforts to preserve Hakka culture and give it the recognition it deserves. Hakka people represent about 15 percent of Taiwan's population, and in townships such as Meinung, Hakka people make up over 90 percent of residents. The Hakka, who traditionally have emphasized education even more than most Chinese, are disproportionately represented in the upper levels of academia and government, and current legislation is being reviewed that will create a central government agency for Hakka affairs.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The museum, designed by the Hakka architect Hsie Ying-jun (謝英俊) is a modernized representation of a traditional tobacco smoke house. These buildings, which used to dominate the landscape in Meinung, have now largely fallen into disrepair, as the government tobacco monopoly has reduced its purchases of local product. Nevertheless, smoke houses are a potent symbol of Meinung, for it was the tobacco industry which provided the economic foundations for earlier generations of highly-educated Hakka people.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
A number of smoke houses have been converted to recording studios, the best known of which is probably the one owned by Labor Exchange (交工樂隊), a local folk rock group.
Wang Hsiu-mei (王秀美), who has worked with the museum over the last three years in its preparation phase, said that an important aspect of the museum's concept is as a community museum. The exhibits, dedicated to all aspects of daily life in Meinung, has a slight feel of a beleaguered community protecting its identity, not that this makes the show any less interesting.
Margaret Wang (王長華), director of the Kaohsiung City Government's Cultural Bureau and head of the museum, pointed out that the Hakka of Meinung, with their almost obsessive respect for education and the written word, have maintained exhaustive records of their community, providing a uniquely solid foundation for the work of cultural preservation. Unfortunately, it is this emphasis on the written word that makes the museum hard going, and tends to emphasize its role as a cultural preservation project. But for those with the time and inclination, the combination of audiovisual elements, with extensive texts and photographic material, along with a comprehensive collection of local publications on Hakka culture, make it an invaluable resource.
The museum's association with Meinung differentiates it from other Hakka cultural centers around the island. "The Taipei and Kaohsiung Hakka cultural centers are cultural facilities forcibly grafted into an alien environment," Margaret Wang said. "Here we are an organic part of the environment."
The museum is located among uncluttered fields, and provides a focus for the scattered tourism attractions of the Meinung area, such as old smoke houses and Butterfly Valley (黃蝶翠谷). "We hope it will serve the role of an information center for the area," Margaret Wang said. Another role the museum aims to play is that of a Hakka community center, were Hakka people will have a chance to get in touch again with their culture.
Although currently operated by the Kaohsiung County Cultural Bureau, Wang said that consideration is already being given to handing the venue over to private interests in the next few years in line with a government policy of localization in which communities take on an increasing responsibility for their cultural and tourism resources.
What: Kaohsiung County Meei-nong The Hakkas Museum (高雄縣美濃客家文物館)
Where: 49-3, Minchu Rd., Meinung Township, Kaohsiung County (高雄縣美濃鎮民族路49之3號)
Open: 10am to 4pm (closed Monday and public holidays)
Free entry.
On the Net: http://www.kccc.gov.tw
Taiwan has next to no political engagement in Myanmar, either with the ruling military junta nor the dozens of armed groups who’ve in the last five years taken over around two-thirds of the nation’s territory in a sprawling, patchwork civil war. But early last month, the leader of one relatively minor Burmese revolutionary faction, General Nerdah Bomya, who is also an alleged war criminal, made a low key visit to Taipei, where he met with a member of President William Lai’s (賴清德) staff, a retired Taiwanese military official and several academics. “I feel like Taiwan is a good example of
“M yeolgong jajangmyeon (anti-communism zhajiangmian, 滅共炸醬麵), let’s all shout together — myeolgong!” a chef at a Chinese restaurant in Dongtan, located about 35km south of Seoul, South Korea, calls out before serving a bowl of Korean-style zhajiangmian —black bean noodles. Diners repeat the phrase before tucking in. This political-themed restaurant, named Myeolgong Banjeom (滅共飯館, “anti-communism restaurant”), is operated by a single person and does not take reservations; therefore long queues form regularly outside, and most customers appear sympathetic to its political theme. Photos of conservative public figures hang on the walls, alongside political slogans and poems written in Chinese characters; South
Institutions signalling a fresh beginning and new spirit often adopt new slogans, symbols and marketing materials, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no exception. Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), soon after taking office as KMT chair, released a new slogan that plays on the party’s acronym: “Kind Mindfulness Team.” The party recently released a graphic prominently featuring the red, white and blue of the flag with a Chinese slogan “establishing peace, blessings and fortune marching forth” (締造和平,幸福前行). One part of the graphic also features two hands in blue and white grasping olive branches in a stylized shape of Taiwan. Bonus points for
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) announced last week a city policy to get businesses to reduce working hours to seven hours per day for employees with children 12 and under at home. The city promised to subsidize 80 percent of the employees’ wage loss. Taipei can do this, since the Celestial Dragon Kingdom (天龍國), as it is sardonically known to the denizens of Taiwan’s less fortunate regions, has an outsize grip on the government budget. Like most subsidies, this will likely have little effect on Taiwan’s catastrophic birth rates, though it may be a relief to the shrinking number of
RSS