Department of Cultural Affairs

Preservation and reutilization of cultural assets

Taipei City was founded and developed against a special historical backdrop. Influenced by the colonization of the Spanish, Dutch and Japanese, the city boasts a diversity of place names, streets, buildings and cityscapes, whose cultural significance reflects the pioneering spirit and wisdom of the original settlers. The Department of Cultural Affairs is proud to promote cultural asset preservation, to maintain the collective memory of Taipei.

Preservation and promotion of traditional art

The Department of Cultural Affairs has a longstanding commitment to supporting the preservation of traditional art. Insisting on the principle that culture must be part of daily life, we advocate the inclusion of traditional art in contemporary living, and exploring its continuing significance for people today, to breathe new life into Taiwan's artistic tradition.

Chinese Character Cultural Festival

Chinese characters are a fundamentally unique form of writing. Monosyllabic, structurally independent and esthetically designed to fill out all quadrants of a square space, their shapes are a combination of pictographic representations and phonetic signifiers. Chinese characters, moreover, are a vehicle of culture and history, and the inspiration for the Chinese arts of calligraphy and etching. The many seminars and exhibitions of the Chinese Character Cultural Festival help the people of Taipei to reexperience the beauty of meaning and form that Chinese characters possess.

Public trusts (promoting historical sites and culture)

According to the current Cultural Assets Preservation Act, the restoration of historical sites should achieve the preservation of their original physical appearance and cultural import. Therefore, for both government bureaus and private owners, maintaining historical sites is a great responsibility. To raise necessary funds for restoration and management of historically significant properties, the Department of Cultural Affairs has actively adopted a comprehensive public trust management system, to bring together the resources of society to promote the preservation of historical sites, as well as their maintenance and reutilization, and use this process as a channel for encouraging the public to participate in public affairs related to culture.