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Taiwan signs museum exchange

The nation's work in preserving its intangible cultural heritage received a boost yesterday when the Council of Cultural Affairs penned a memorandum of understanding with the Pacific Islands Museums Association to increase exchanges between museums in Taiwan and Oceanic countries.

The director of the National Taiwan History Museum, Wu Mi-cha (吳密察), said that although Taiwan was the root of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic family, it had much to learn from its Pacific counterparts.

Unlike museums in the Pacific islands, where the preservation of intangible culture is highly valued, Taiwan focuses mainly on preserving tangible artifacts, he said.

"Pacific island museums are also very keen to preserve their indigenous cultures. But here we often look outward to introduce foreign cultures, and do not look inward enough to showcase our native culture," Wu said.

Museums on the Pacific Rim are neighborhood-friendly and are closely involved with the community, whereas museums in Taiwan are frequently dissociated from the public, he said.

Pacific Islands Museums Association secretary-general Meredith Blake said she was impressed by the high level of professionalism of Taiwanese museum workers and hoped the memorandum would strengthen working relationships and expand mutual research.

Blake added that the association hoped to take advantage of Taiwan's digital capacity to help the museums better organize their collections.

The association is a regional, multilingual and non-profit organization consisting of more than 20 countries.

The Council of Cultural Affairs and the Pacific Island Museums Association will hold an international symposium on intangible cultural heritage preservation tomorrow at the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature in Tainan City.

More than 13 museum directors and cultural preservation experts from Taiwan and eight Pacific island countries -- Tonga, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Palau and Papua New Guinea -- will contribute to the discussion.
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