New ideas and practices are needed to imporve the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), academics and professionals said at a national forum yesterday, held by the Ministry of Culture to seek public opinions on the nation’s cultural policy.
There are currently 744 designated monuments, 1,031 historical buildings and 42 heritage sites in Taiwan. Since its implementation in 1982, the law has been amended six times.
Taiwan’s way of dealing with cultural preservation is materialistic and focuses only on “objects,” National Cheng Kung University’s professor Fu Chao-ching (傅朝卿) said.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
“We spend huge amounts of money restoring buildings, but pay no attention to people,” he said. “It is an elites’ heritage building, since you can’t hear voices from inside.”
National Taiwan University’s Graduate School of Building and Planning professor Hsia Chu-joe (夏鑄九) said this object-obsessed thinking prevents Taiwanese from seeing culture as alive.
“The idea of objects is the origin of Western modernity. This hegemonic discourse views culture preservation in a materialistic manner, as grand monuments,” he added. “Material and non-material cultural heritage is an integral whole. Only the so-called ‘experts’ can’t see it clearly.”
Hsia also said that future amendments to the law should encourage participation from local communities and non-governmental organizations and take into consideration the preservation of collective memories, grassroots identities, traditional living and craftsmanship. Otherwise, it will be difficult to properly preserve sites like Ri Xing Typography (日星鑄字行), one of the last factories in Taiwan to produce traditional Chinese-character lead type, and the Yehyin (野銀) village of the Tao Tribe on Orchid island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), he said.
Meanwhile, Wang Hui-chun (王惠君), a professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, said the notion of culture as a living thing is important when it comes to preserving Aboriginal cultures.
“We have to think what we want to preserve,” Wang said. “Culture that is constantly changing or items in people’s houses?”
Others urged the government to establish a set of operational guidelines for the implementation of the act so that there are standards for operation.
“When it comes to what to do and how to do things, there is a vast difference among local governments and committee members,” Fu said. “There are many things left unexplained, so people have to make their own decisions that differ from each other and sometimes conflict with international conventions.”
Having been isolated from the international system since its withdrawal from the UN in 1971, Taiwan has a lot of catching up to do to meet international standards, Fu added.
To archeologist and Academia Sinica research fellow Liu Yi-chang (劉益昌), the act reflects a Sino-centric way of thinking.
“Ninety-five percent of the designated historical sites are Han Chinese. Yet Han Chinese heritage only makes up for 1 percent of the human history on the island,” Liu said. “The history of human activities in Taiwan dates back to 50,000 years ago. If we think about it, then we will find the 42 designated heritage sites are far too few.”
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face