Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04TAIPEI3707
2004-11-19 07:05:00
CONFIDENTIAL
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Cable title:  

TAIWAN'S CULTURAL CRISIS

Tags:  KPAO PGOV PREL SOCI TW 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 003707 

SIPDIS

STATE PASS TO AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2014
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL SOCI TW
SUBJECT: TAIWAN'S CULTURAL CRISIS

REF: A. A. TAIPEI 02297


B. B. TAIPEI 03604

Classified By: AIT DIRECTOR DOUGLAS PAAL; REASON 1.4 (B/D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 003707

SIPDIS

STATE PASS TO AIT/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2014
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL SOCI TW
SUBJECT: TAIWAN'S CULTURAL CRISIS

REF: A. A. TAIPEI 02297


B. B. TAIPEI 03604

Classified By: AIT DIRECTOR DOUGLAS PAAL; REASON 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Recent conversations with Taiwan artists and
academics have revealed their growing concern that the ruling
DPP's political drive to create a new national identity has
created a battleground in the arenas of art and education.
Artists and officials alike lament the fact that culture is
not being viewed as a means to unite Taiwan's polarized
public, but as yet another weapon on the political
battleground. Our contacts agree that the DPP's political
agenda is, at a minimum, limiting the development of art,
film and education. At a maximum, they say the government is
making cynical use of a different sense of identity between
Taiwan's younger and older generations in order to further
its political goal of independence. END SUMMARY.

-------------- ---
Government Support of the Arts (or Lack Thereof)
-------------- ---


2. (C) Cultural Minister Chen Chi-nan and Taiwan's Council
for Cultural Affairs (CCA),have written a new mission
statement to guide cultural and art policies: Taiwan is
"facing a hard time of ethnic confrontation and national
identification" and "hopes culture and art can be a unifying
force." According to contacts in the cultural and
educational field, despite this mission statement the
government is taking politically motivated and divisive
actions to alter Taiwan's cultural identity. By way of
example, Liao Hsien-hao, Taipei City's Cultural Bureau
Commissioner, points to the CCA's decision to withdraw
funding from organizations which include references to
"Republic of China" in their mission statements or names. He
also decries the government decision to rename
organizations-- like the Han and Tang dance troupe-- or
rewrite traditions-- the Dragon Boat races as a celebration
of river gods as opposed to the original association with
China's poet Qiu Yuan. He believes the goal of the policy is
to desinicize Taiwan and ultimately increase the distance
between its people and Mainland China.

-------------- ---
Camouflaging Taiwan's Cultural Identity

-------------- ---


3. (C) While some of our contacts would argue that these
actions are necessary in order to compensate for decades of
KMT control and repression of non-Han culture, Liao and
others view the DPP actions as an attempt to redefine
Taiwan's identity for poltical purposes. In their eyes the
DPP's efforts to define a separate Taiwan identity, which
excludes Han Chinese culture, ignores the reality of Taiwan's
multi-cultural society. They view the DPP's effort to create
a new consensus on the definition of Taiwan culture as an
attempt to redefine what representing the people of Taiwan
means. Under this strategy, the KMT is viewed not only as the
historical oppressor, but also as a party representing a
foreign culture. The DPP, by defining culture and art in
such narrow terms as to exclude or camouflage any Han Chinese
content, has succeeded in alienating those artists whose
performance or artwork is steeped in such content. Many of
these artists have refused to change the content or name of
their organization because of their affinity to Han culture.
According to many contacts the CCA's support of art and
culture, so narrowly defined, has failed to unify Taiwan
society and only succeeded in limiting artistic expression
and development.

--------------
Taiwan's Foundering Film Industry:
A Victim of Politics or Free Trade?
--------------


4. (C) Robert Chen, Director of the Graduate School of
Applied Media arts at the National Taiwan University of the
Arts, and a DPP supporter, points to the decline in Taiwan's
film industry as a concern largely ignored by a government
content to embrace "all things international." Chen and some
aspiring young film directors we have met believe Taiwan is
in a unique position to be a leader in cultural content in
Asia, but has fallen behind Singapore and Mainland China,
even though directors and producers there are subject to
government control. In their eyes, the DPP leadership has
failed both to protect Taiwan,s nascent film industry from
international competition and to recognize the potential film
and art offer to help forge a Taiwan identity. They argue
that Taiwan, unlike South Korea, gave up any protection for
its film industry, under U.S. pressure, in order to join the
WTO. As a result Taiwan,s films are not commercially viable
even in their own theaters while U.S., Korean, and Japanese
films flood the market.


5. (C) While there are numerous explanations for the decline
of Taiwan's film industry, many local contacts focus on the
damage domestic politics has done to Taiwan's cultural
community. Many are quick to point out that artists have
been criticized if they try to maintain a neutral political
position. Hou Hsiao-hsien, a significant and important
Taiwanese director whose previous films depicted life and
change in Taiwan society, was accused of not "loving Taiwan
enough" and consequently turned to Japan for funding, actors,
and support for his next film.


6. (C) Young artists and directors say that they have had to
ask themselves over the past few years whether or not their
subjects or the content of their films would be supported by
the CCA. Wu Yi-feng, a film director and founder of the Full
Shot Communication Foundation, points to the controversy
surrounding his latest film as an example of the
politicization of culture. His documentary film, "Life"
which follows the stories of several Taiwan families
following the massive devastation of Taiwan,s 1999
earthquake, has generated great public interest and is
currently touring the island. With its success have come
numerous requests for Wu to participate in political
campaigns and, on the occasion of National Day, President
Chen Shui-bian openly praised the film. To his dismay, Wu
believes his film has been unfairly labeled a "Pan-Green"
film although it contains no political content. Pan-Blue
legislators accused the government of trying to brainwash
bureaucrats by screening the movie in Executive Yuan (EY)
agencies. According to Wu, when the movie was not included
in the Golden Horse competition, the Pan-Green media went on
to accuse the competition's chairman of political
partisanship and for not "loving Taiwan enough" despite prior
knowledge that his film could not be included in the Golden
Horse competition because it was shot with digital video as
opposed to 35 millimeter film.

-------------- --------------
Preservation of Indigenous Culture: Education or Commodity?
-------------- --------------


7. (C) The CCA has described as part of its mission, in
collaboration with the education ministry, to support the
development and cultural preservation of the indigenous
peoples of Taiwan. According to Tian Ming-sheu, a professor
at the Graduate Institute of Compulsory Education at the
National Hualien Teachers College and a member of the central
government ministry of education, over 20 billion NT dollars
has been spent to support the development of schools in areas
which have fallen behind the national average. Many of these
schools are located in remote areas that are home to Taiwan's
aboriginal peoples. Tian believes much of this funding has
been misspent, particularly with regard to improving the
education of Taiwan indigenous people. Instead of focusing
on their history, students in these areas, regardless of
ethnicity, are being forced from grade school on to take time
away from studies to prepare for performances to showcase
native aboriginal dance and dress. School principals in
Hualien, during a discussion of Taiwan's cultural identity,
expressed extreme anger and frustration with the central
government, which they describe as having done little to
improve the lives of the indigenous people while at the same
time exploiting their traditional dance and dress to promote
a new Taiwanese identity. Professor Tien Tai-wu, Director of
the Institute of Ethnic Relations and Culture at National
Dong Hwa University and frequent speaker on the issue of
national identity in Taiwan, has raised the concerns of
Taiwan's indigenous peoples to the central government with
little success. She says she remains pessimistic about the
government's motives because specific educational needs are
often ignored in favor of spending on cultural performance
events and conferences.



8. (C) COMMENT: Polls show that Taiwan's youth already have a
stronger identification with Taiwan than their parents'
generation (Ref A). The government is clearly attempting to
capitalize on or actively encourage the growth of this trend
to create a uniquely Taiwanese identity in arts and
education. The DPP's objectives are two-fold. Emphasizing
Taiwan's separate identity appeals to its core support base.
Programs that enhance the prominence of Hakka and Aboriginal
culture are calibrated to expand that base by attracting
ethnic groups that previously voted Blue (Ref B). Whether or
not this effort is simply partisan politics, or one further
step towards the larger political goal of creating a separate
Taiwan identity different than China is a matter of debate.
In the meantime, many artists and academics feel that while a
new cultural policy could have been a unifying, inclusive
force, they say in reality it is having the effect of
politicizing and polarizing the arts and education
communities in the way that politics has polarized Taiwan
society as a whole.


PAAL
PAAL