In searching for a national identity and cultural consciousness, Taiwan should transform the influence of Chinese history and culture to shape its own unique culture and identity, said Kim Young-oak (金容沃), founder of the Korea Institute for Classical Studies in Seoul, during a cultural identity forum yesterday.
"Desinicization is a negative concept and a goal that is almost impossible to achieve. Rather, I think Taiwan should develop its own cultural identity through transforming the impact of Chinese culture into something new, and popularizing Taiwan's culture and identity among both its own citizens and to the world," he said.
Kim made the remarks yesterday during "Taiwan's Search for National and Cultural Identity" forum co-organized by the Council of Cultural Affairs, the Taiwan Professors' Association and the Taiwan Pen Club.
The forum invited the South Korean academic and local experts to explore issues regarding Taiwan's national and cultural identity.
National Policy Advisor Lee Yung-chih (李永熾) said that the Taiwanese people have to differentiate between the concept of "a nation" from the monopoly of "a ruling party."
"To develop Taiwan's national and cultural identity, people need to have a sense of territory that is based in Taiwan. No political party represents a nation and they should not shape our national identity," Lee said.
Chen I-Shen (陳儀深), the Northern Taiwan Society's deputy chairman and a research fellow at Academia Sinica, said that without an unequivocal sense of national identity, Taiwan is a state but not a nation.
Echoing Kim's remarks, Chen said that the key to constructing Taiwan's national identity is to localize the Chinese cultural and historical influences and transform them into Taiwan's own, unique culture.
"Unlike the relationship of `one nation, two states' between North and South Korea, where the two states enjoy equal resources and political power, Taiwan is a tiny island whose territory and resources are no comparison to China's," Chen said.
"The concept of `one nation, two states' is dangerous for Taiwan. Instead, we should think about how to establish our own cultural and political identity through the transformation from `Sinification' to `Taiwanization,'" he added.
While approving the localization of Taiwan's culture, Chiu Kuen-liang (邱坤良), president of the Taipei National University of Arts, said that "the lack of a clear and definite social consciousness and the politicization of cultural events" has made a negative impact on the development of the country's cultural consciousness.
"The government's recent efforts to promote traditional art and culture, such as Chinese opera or puppet shows, are often based on political or economic concerns," Chiu said.
"The transformation from suppressing traditional cultures to highly valuing those so-called second-class cultural activities or art forms is often too fast to include deeper discussion. Developing our cultural identity based on politics is not the way to go," he said.
Sharing his observations on the development of cultural and national identity in Taiwan, Kim said that Korea has faced a similar dilemma in an attempt to save the nation's traditional culture.
"Speaking from personal experience, I came to Taiwan to learn about Chinese philosophy in order to understand more about traditional Korean culture, which is partly rooted in Chinese culture," Kim said.
"So I think that to develop Taiwan's own cultural subjectivity it is crucial to overcome political confrontation with China and embrace its cultural influence," he said.
Kim obtained a master's degree in comparative philosophy from National Taiwan University before going on to a doctoral degree at Harvard University.
Known as "The King-Maker" for his election campaign strategies that helped South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun get elected two years ago, Kim is currently serving as one of Roh's key advisers.
He was invited by the Council of Cultural Affairs to an eight-day visit to meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), travel to southern Taiwan to visit local Aboriginal tribes and talk to artists and cultural figures.
Meanwhile, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday spent 30 minutes discussing "the search for self-identity" with Kim, and both agreed that "Taiwanese people should not look down upon themselves ... Long or short, difficult or easy are only human comparisons according to human standards. It is only a human evaluation," Hsieh said.
"So, whether Taiwan is important cannot be evaluated by human's standards. We have to believe in ourselves," he said.
Hsieh started the conversation by talking about globalization and localization.
"Globalization" is the main value in today's society, and we cannot live without "localization" because we have to recognize ourselves, our own soil and our motherland, Hsieh said.
"If we do not recognize ourselves, our own culture will not be recognized, either," Kim said, adding that keeping "self-identity" is very difficult because it requires people's recognition.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
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