The Taoyuan City Government is holding a Hakka fashion design competition that runs until August and it hopes the competition will foster creativity among young people in Taoyuan, which has the nation’s largest Hakka population of 830,000 people, it said at Friday’s opening ceremony.
The competition, which runs until Aug. 5, aims to incorporate “Hakka cultural elements” into modern fashion, it said.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said NT$200,000 (US$6,429) prize money would be awarded in two categories — vocational high-school students and college students.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
The government has raised also raised the subsidies for participants to buy materials from the originally planned NT$3,500 to NT$6,000, Cheng said.
The final is to held on Sept. 28 along with a fashion show, and the winners would have the chance to design outfits for the members of celebrated Hakka band Gina’s Can (吉那罐子), he said.
“We encourage participants to adapt elements from traditional Hakka culture and to reflect the beauty of this culture in their designs,” he said.
Taoyuan is an important center for Hakka culture, he said, adding that the city government regularly works with the Hakka Affairs Council to organize Hakka cultural activities showcasing food, art, music, history and literature.
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