The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) dedicated cultural unit celebrated its 60th anniversary earlier this month, but it will soon be history as the ministry’s General Political Warfare Bureau (GPB) has scheduled the unit for disbandment in 2014.
After the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) feld to Taiwan in 1949, the ministry set up the Leisure Corps, which later changed its name to the MND Arts Corps. This became a major unit, catering to each branch of the armed forces and even individual corps within the different forces.
It was primarily responsible for putting on performances and promoting the arts within the armed forces, such as arranging get-togethers for veterans, and also put on shows for the public.
PHOTO: MILITARY NEWS AGENCY
In its heyday, the unit was divided into two divisions, Division A and Division B, the former responsible at the branch level — the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Reserves — and the latter for different corps.
Division B was disbanded in 1985 and reorganized into two separate units. Further consolidations were made in 1995, leaving only the ministry’s cultural unit, a part of the former Division B, and the group originally responsible for the Reserves.
This was further reduced and reorganized into the Arts Promotion Corps, currently under the jurisdiction of the GPB, with the final remnant of Division B completely dissolved.
On Aug. 1, 2008, the Reserves team was moved over to the Arts Promotion Corps. At this point, the Arts Promotion Corps was renamed the Arts Promotion Center and the Reserves Command team became the present-day MND cultural unit.
The GPB has rules requiring a minimum number of performances over a certain period of time: 15 performances for disabled servicemen every month, or at least 180 annually.
The performances generally last an hour, but they also occasionally do special shows lasting 90 minutes.
Certain servicemen and women get priority, with those who served abroad getting a show once every quarter.
Further down the list are those who have taken part in military exercises and those who are stationed at a base.
The team often has to take its own equipment with it, such as sets, lighting and costumes when it performs far away.
A demobilized member of the group wrote on his blog that for one trip to Little Kinmen (小金門), the unit traveled with the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Although he became tired just at the thought of carrying all that equipment around, he considered it worth it because of the reaction of the enlisted men and women in the audience.
The cutbacks are part of a larger policy of reducing the size of the military and with combat units exposed to major cuts, “soft” units such as the Arts Promotion Center are among the first that will go.
This is a necessary measure if the target of reducing the armed forces by 215,000 personnel is to be met, ministry officials said.
An army spokesperson said it was regrettable that the Arts Promotion Center was to be disbanded just as the unit was celebrating its 60th anniversary and at a time when attention is being paid to the benefits of soft power in the military.
The pounding hooves of the cavalry can be heard in the distance, however, as the opposition is hoping to step in and save the arts in the military.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) said she wants to propose that the government set up a “national arts promotion group” along the same lines as the cultural unit, bringing together performing talents from the three national arts universities and the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts.
This would have the added benefit of employing these talented performers and give them the opportunity to hone their skills, she said.
Hsueh said that Chinese audiences abroad love traditional Taiwanese shows and are not too keen on performances of peasant “liberation” of China.
The cultural unit will stop touring abroad and entertaining overseas Chinese at a time when China is changing its strategy and trying to promote its pro-unification message abroad through cultural events, Hsueh said.
If Taiwan doesn’t have its side represented abroad by a national performing arts group, it will be a public relations coup for China, she said.
KMT Legislator Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝) said the cultural unit was very popular in southern Taiwan.
“It is a real pity that they are to be disbanded,” she said.
The troupe doesn’t just perform for veterans, as it also does invaluable work by bringing entertainment to local communities, she said.
Liao said that this kind of service would still be needed in future, but as the unit will have been disbanded, the money will have to be found elsewhere to hire other performing companies to do the job.
The military is going to have to think about whether it would make more sense to keep on a dedicated entertainment unit or outsource the shows when the need arises further down the line, she said.
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