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Culture Passport uncovers Taipei’s hidden treasures

Culture Passports can be picked up at South Village, 10, Ln 80, Shida Rd, Taipei City, (台北市師大路80巷10號), the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs, 4F, 1 Shifu Rd, Taipei City, (台北市市府路一號四樓), at visitor information centers, and at various cultural sites around the city. It can also be found at culturepassport.culture.gov.tw. Call (02) 8369-2963 for more information. The Culture Passport is available in Chinese only. South Village head Lulu Han recommends the following activities for people who are new to Taipei or want to learn more about the city. All activities are conducted in Mandarin, and Han suggests non-speakers bring a friend along to translate. Sunday What: Nature writer Liu Ke-xiang (劉克襄) leads a walking tour around the Pingdengli/Yangmingshan area (北邊山區的小村落 – 從平等里看陽明山) Where and when: The tour starts from Pingdeng Elementary School (平等國小), 101 Pingjing St, Taipei City (台北市士林區平菁街101號) at 9am and runs until 11am Tickets: Free. The tour is limited to 35 people, so call (02) 8369-2963 in advance to reserve a place. For further information, call South Village at (02) 8369-5076 Sept. 7 to Sept. 21 What: Green Gold: One Hundred Years of Tea in Taiwan (綠色流金 – 台灣百年茶文物小展), an exhibit about the history of Formosa Oolong Tea Where and when: Yeh Tang (冶堂), 1 F, 20-2, Ln 31, Yongkang St Taipei City (台北市永康街31巷20之2號1樓), daily from Sept. 7 to Sept. 21 from 2pm to 9pm Tickets: Admission is free. For more information, call Yeh Tang at (02) 3393-8988 Sept. 19 What: Learn about Ximending’s buildings and attractions with architecture professor Lee Ching-chih (李清志) (都市偵探的西門町探險地圖) Where and when: The tour meets in front of the main entrance of Red House Theater, 10 Chengdu Rd, Taipei City (台北市成都路10號), at 3pm and ends at 5pm Tickets: Free. The tour is limited to 35 people, so call (02) 8369-2963 in advance to reserve a place. For further information, call South Village at (02) 8369-5076 Sept. 21 What: Get an insider’s look at the area around Longshan Temple and Snake Alley (艋舺生活圈漫步) with architecture professor Li Chian-lang (李乾朗) Where and when: The tour meets at the main entrance of Longshan Temple (龍山寺), 211, Guangzhou St, Taipei City (台北市廣州街211號), at 3pm and runs until 5pm Tickets: Free. The tour is limited to 35 people, so call (02) 8369-2963 in advance to reserve a place. For further information, call South Village at (02) 8369-5076

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Even the most jaded Taipei resident might discover new things in the city’s nooks and crannies — or xiangs (巷) and nongs (弄) — with a copy of the reinvigorated Culture Passport.

Since 2004 the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs (台北文化護照) has distributed the Culture Passport every summer in the form of a brochure listing notable stores, galleries and exhibits. This year marks the first time that the city government has worked with South Village, an arts and culture center, which is co-producing the event.

Lulu Han (韓良露), the head of South Village, jumped at the opportunity. “We saw it as a way to promote Taipei culture, as well as ourselves. The city government didn’t give us a lot of dictates, so we had a chance to put our own mark on Culture Passport,” she says.

South Village’s first step was to revamp the event’s format. Previously, the Culture Passport had listed sites of interest that participants could direct themselves to.

South Village organized a series of nearly four-dozen activities that started on July 19 and runs through Sept. 21. The Culture Passport itself also evolved from a modest brochure into a multi-page, newsletter-size calendar of events. South Village invited several artists to contribute whimsical graphics, as well as hand-drawn maps tracing the routes for walking tours.

Many of the activities, including the walking tours, food tastings, Aboriginal music performances and a flea market where famous artists donated the wares sold, are designed to be interactive.

“Culture isn’t static, it is alive and needs to be actively enjoyed. If you are engaged in something like a tea ceremony, you will have a deeper experience of the meaning and history behind it,” says Han.

Culture Passport’s walking tours, which center on a neighborhood, have proved popular, especially among residents who want to have a deeper appreciation for their home. Forty-four people participated in a tour of Muzha Old Street (木柵老街) last Saturday, during which they shopped for locally grown vegetables and herbs at a farmer’s market, sampled handmade mian xian (棉線) and fresh roasted chicken, and learned about the area’s flora from nature expert and author Liu Ke-xiang (劉克襄).

Han hopes South Village will produce next year’s Culture Passport and already has plenty of ideas percolating in her head (though she wants to keep them a surprise for now). South Village and the Department of Culture also plan to combine photos and notes from this year’s activities into a book that will be available in Chinese in October and in Japanese and English by the end of the year.

The book is meant to be a guidebook that will allow Culture Passport to continue highlighting new or overlooked facets of Taipei culture throughout the year, and prove the city is as dynamic as other major metropolises across the globe.

“People say, ‘think globally, act locally.’ I believe that you can also think locally, and act within your neighborhood,” says Han.

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