Taoyuan officials are on the defensive over plans for a Minnan (閩南) culture festival in July to celebrate Minnan, or Hoklo, culture.
The festival is “not divisive” and the Hoklo population is “a culturally disadvantaged group,” despite its national majority, Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs Director-General Chiu Chuang Hsiu-mei (邱莊秀美) said on Thursday last week.
The Hoklo people are the largest ethnic group in Taoyuan, with an estimated population of 1 million out of the city’s 2.11 million registered residents.
The July festival has come under criticism by some groups who say that city resources would be better spent on those ethnic minorities who are struggling to preserve their cultures, and that organizing a culture festival for just one ethnicity is not conducive to “ethnic harmony.”
Chiu Chuang said that the department might change the name of the event to a more neutral-sounding “Taiwan culture festival” or “Taoyuan culture festival.”
However, she denied that celebrating Hoklo culture favors an already thriving culture or could be considered divisive.
Since the department has held similar events for other ethnic or cultural groups who live in Taoyuan, such as the Hakka, Mainlander military veterans, Aborigines and new immigrants, there is little reason to think a festival celebrating Hoklo culture would be divisive, she said.
The numerical preponderance of Hoklo in Taiwan “does not mean their culture has been promoted in the past,” Chiu Chuang said.
During the Martial Law era, Hoklo culture and language were “suppressed by educational brainwashing” and “labeled as vulgar and inferior,” leading to the loss of Hoklo “cultural heritage, history and traditions,” she said.
The traditional Hoklo opera stage known as yige (藝閣), which has been featured in Taoyuan’s previous Minnan culture festivals, is an example of the kind of activities needing promotion because many young Taiwanese know very little about such customs, she said.
The July festival “is the right policy, and should be continued regardless of the government in power,” she said.
The department hopes that the festival will be a platform for civic engagement to boost local culture, and NT$720,000 has been budgeted for prize money for five competitions to be held during the festival, she said.
There are to be competitions in composing Hoklo lyrics, dancing, yige performance, yige photography and storytelling.
People interested in participating can begin signing up with the city government from June 10, the department said.
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