Taiwan Today

Cultural Heritage Park in Taichung fosters tangible and intangible skills in close proximity, with lively results.

As central Taiwan’s Taichung skyline rises ever higher, the city retains a calm oasis where large trees shade wide paths between inviting courtyards and the facades of low-rise industrial buildings are rendered graceful through age and careful restoration. Just three minutes’ walk from Taiwan Railways Administration Taichung Station, this urban haven is Cultural Heritage Park (CHP), a collection of buildings with a rich history. The site was set up by a private Japanese company in 1916 during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) before becoming part of a government monopoly in 1922 and growing into the largest distillery in Taiwan. In 1998 production was relocated to a new factory in Taichung Industrial Zone, and in July 2002 the city government registered 16 of its structures as historic monuments, enabling the area to become one of five cultural and creative parks now under the Ministry of Culture (MOC).

Comprising both the 1916 Workshop and the Artisan Workshop, CHP is operated directly by the MOC’s Bureau of Cultural Heritage (BOCH) based in the park. The bureau’s Chief Secretary Lin Man-yuan (林滿圓) said that unlike the other four MOC parks with briefs to revitalize and transform local industry while expanding public access to culture, CHP’s mission is to preserve traditional culture via education. Exhibitions at the venue focus on heritage crafts such as textile conservation, including a recent exhibit that demonstrated how repairs are carried out on objects like pilgrimage banners affected by incense smoke, light, humidity and microorganisms. Another interactive technology exhibition introduces archeological discoveries from waters around Taiwan since the Underwater Cultural Heritage Preservation Act took effect in 2015. It is the largest show of its kind in the park to date.
  A 3D scanning art exhibition, “The “Midas Touch,” displayed CHP’s documentation of historic locations over the past eight years. Images of architectural structure, lot configuration and topography of many national-level sites were included, such as the Old Taichung Railway Station. “The 3D images of tangible heritage are of great significance as historians can refer to them for reconstruction or restoration,” BOCH’s Director General Chen Chi-ming (陳濟民) said.

Building Skills
CHP also has the unique job of cultivating architectural renovation personnel. This task is implemented through its Artisan Workshop. Launched in 2019, the project offers courses in joinery, carpentry, tile roofing, masonry and temple mural painting. Applicants need to have one year of related work experience and pay a deposit of NT$10,000 (US$327), which is refunded if they complete 80 percent of the course hours and take a certification exam administered by CHP within a year of training.

  The courses are popular with those pursuing careers in structural conservation, partly because a certificate issued by CHP is increasingly essential in the sector. In addition, many of the instructors are experts in their respective fields such as Fu Ming-guang (傅明光) and Tsai De-tai (蔡德太), who are recognized by BOCH as living repositories of traditional skill in overlapping tile roofing and decorative temple woodcarving, respectively. Zheng Ming-wei (鄭銘瑋) worked for 19 years as a roofing tiler before taking a training course in 2021 at the workshop. The 35-year-old benefited greatly from Fu’s teaching and passed the certification test the following year. “The octogenarian is still among the best in the trade, and he shared all he knows about it. He overturned the use of many methods I’d taken for granted for a long time, convincing me to change my tiling process,” he said. “The class was doubly valuable in that it provided a rare opportunity to meet peers from around Taiwan and learn from each other.”

Forging Links
To preserve the nation’s cultural heritage, since 2009 the BOCH has designated individuals and organizations as living national treasures, meaning they hold valuable knowledge in traditional crafts and performing arts. In 2010 the title was extended to workers with structural heritage skills. Altogether there are now 75 such honorees, guardians of both tangible and intangible heritage.

  In addition to housing 25 cultural and creative studios, the CHP’s 1916 Workshop promotes traditional fields by inviting experts to teach classes passing on their knowledge. Last year’s selection included bamboo weaving, lacquer art and glove puppetry, with 34 students completing the 25-hour courses. Studio tenants are encouraged to take them as a way to imbue their innovative products with a traditional sensibility, and as an incentive they receive a rent discount. Other creative connections are forged between tenants in the studio cluster, such as the partnership between Ho Tang-li (何堂立), who specializes in metalwork in tandem with materials like jade and lacquer, and Chen Jing-cong (陳景聰), who was recognized by Taichung City Government for making calligraphy brushes with hair from animals and newborn babies. Last year the two collaborated for the first time to produce a set of limited-edition earrings and brooches made of brushes by Chen combined with more conventional jewelry elements by Ho. “I loved pushing my comfort zone by working with novel raw materials and other artists,” Ho said.

  Performance art is also represented among studio residents. Ati Chu (儲見智) and Lin Tien-an (林恬安) perform and coach an old Taiwan song style known as liamkua, in which singers accompany their ballads on a yueqin or another stringed instrument. On a recent afternoon, Chu and Lin were rehearsing for their 2023 show at one of the city’s elementary schools as part of CHP outreach activities to acquaint youngsters with this pop music of their grandparents’ generation. Chu and Lin are both disciples of late liamkua singer and national treasure Yang Xiu-qing (楊秀卿) and are dedicated to bringing the style to new listeners. They co-founded Smile Folksong Group 12 years ago and tutor students in the art form at CHP as well as touring the country to build a wider audience. One way the performers do this is through crossover productions. To celebrate the National Day for Cultural Heritage at CHP last year, the group gave a show conceived with a Taichung-based jazz band called Central Tavern. It has also cooperated with Taipei-based MiFuego Flamenco Dance Company to combine liamkua and traditional Spanish song and dance in a storyline Chu created about Spanish colonists in northern Taiwan in the 1600s. The show debuted last October during the Asia Pacific Traditional Arts Festival at the MOC’s National Center for Traditional Arts in the northeastern county of Yilan.

Chu also enjoyed a collaboration with painter Kao IQ (高智能), who has a studio in the 1916 Workshop. Kao made a watercolor image created with input from Chu and enlarged into a nine-meter-tall stage backdrop for the Yilan performance. “It only took five days to develop the final version of the backdrop. That would’ve been impossible if Kao and I weren’t both resident at CHP, enabling our constant discussion and feedback throughout the process,” Chu said. “All performers struggle to find rehearsal and equipment storage space, so it’s great for us to have CHP as a base in downtown Taichung.”

Cross-pollination of art forms is sure to continue among denizens of the 1916 Workshop as it expands to 28 studios this year. In addition, a further venue for the Artisan Workshop is currently under construction to give more space for training in architectural restoration. “As a form of soft power, cultural heritage shapes Taiwan’s identity and thus is receiving public-private attention,” BOCH Chief Secretary Lin said. “The CHP acts as a crucible for conservation skills and techniques in both tangible and intangible heritage.” 

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw