Department of Cultural Affairs

Cultural Pioneer Ching-hui Hong Chien and Photography Master Chen-hsiang Liu Honored

Nominations for the 30th Taipei Culture Award opened in April, and more than 130 submissions were received, reflecting an enthusiastic response from across the city. 

Following a rigorous review by experts and scholars from a range of fields, a strong pool of outstanding candidates went head-to-head in a highly competitive selection process. In the end, Ching-hui Hong Chien and Chen-hsiang Liu emerged as this year’s winners, recognized as the candidates who best embody the award’s spirit of bringing culture into everyday life, reimagining tradition for the modern era, taking Taiwanese culture to the world, and making exceptional contributions to the shaping of Taipei’s cultural landscape.

Ching-hui Hong Chien | Half a Century of Championing Culture: From Setting up a Foundation and Promoting Reading to Advocating for the Aesthetics of Aging

Ching-hui Hong Chien has devoted decades to cultural and philanthropic work. Drawing on her background in education and her passion for reading, in 1971 she joined forces with her family business to establish the Hong Foundation. 

At a time when access to art and knowledge was limited, she founded Taiwan Review of Books, helping pioneer literary criticism in Taiwan. She also set up the country’s first audiovisual library, building a comprehensive collection and infrastructure that became a trailblazer in sharing musical knowledge.

With a humanistic vision shaped by her experience as an entrepreneur, Ching-hui Hong Chien has spent more than half a century promoting reading, publishing, cultural education, and artistic creation. Her work has made the foundation an important model for grassroots cultural development in Taiwan while enriching Taipei’s cultural and intellectual landscape. 

In her 2025 book Facing Old Age Prepared (面對老，我有備而來), Chien advocated graceful aging and a richer aesthetic life in later years, extending her commitment to cultural well-being to older generations. She has always believed that culture, more than just artistic creation, is also a vital force that nourishes society. As a cultivator and behind-the-scenes driving force in Taiwan’s cultural and artistic landscape, she has helped inspire new ideas, nurture artistic development, and support artists and cultural organizations. Through these efforts, she has built a forward-looking model of cultural practice that combines public engagement, education, and innovation, making a lasting contribution to Taipei’s cultural foundations.

Chen-hsiang Liu | 40 Years Through the Lens: Capturing Taiwan’s Changing Times and the Magic of Performance

Born in Taipei’s Shilin District, Chen-hsiang Liu has spent decades looking at Taiwan through his camera, documenting filmmaking, the performing arts, city life, and changing times. His photographs have created an invaluable visual record spanning generations and have preserved precious cultural memories for both the city and the country.

Liu began working as a photojournalist in the 1980s, during the period of democratic transition spanning the lifting of martial law. Moving through the streets of Taipei, he used documentary photography to capture a society in transformation, leaving behind an important visual record of Taiwan’s journey toward democracy. 

At the same time, he established himself as a leading photographer of film and theater. From Hsiao-hsien Hou’s Dust in the Wind and Edward Yang’s Terrorizers to Mong-hong Chung’s Parking and Hsin-yao Huang’s The Great Buddha+, his production stills have chronicled some of the most compelling works across different eras of Taiwanese cinema.

Liu’s work spans photojournalism, film, theater, and contemporary art. With his quiet, nuanced visual language, he faithfully captures the dedication and creative processes of artists and creators behind the scenes, while using his unique perspective to develop a distinctive photographic aesthetic. 

For many years, Liu has also been committed to visual arts education, passing on the humanistic spirit of documentary photography. His decades of dedication have traced the cultural evolution of Taipei, leaving Taiwan a priceless visual legacy. His work has helped establish photography as a vital vessel for collective memory and has demonstrated the enduring value of both cultural preservation and artistic creation.

Thirty Years and Still Going Strong: 30 Years of Taipei Culture to Be Celebrated at October Awards Ceremony

Established in 1997, the Taipei Culture Award is now celebrating its 30th anniversary. Looking back over the past three decades, we see how generations of award recipients have dedicated themselves to their respective fields, helping build the rich cultural and humanistic foundations of the city. 

Today, as technology and society undergo rapid transformation, Taipei’s cultural landscape is evolving in exciting new directions. This year’s recipients carry that legacy forward in their own distinctive ways. One has drawn on a visionary spirit to open new paths for cultural development, while the other has preserved the memory of an era through photography. Together, they represent two powerful forms of cultural contribution, cultural practice and artistic creation that demonstrate how Taipei’s culture continues to evolve, innovate, and look toward the future while honoring its heritage.

The 30th Taipei Culture Award ceremony will be held by the Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs in late October. The ceremony will publicly honor the two recipients for their outstanding contributions to culture and the arts over the years, with each receiving a newly designed award and a cash prize of NT$1 million. 

Previous Taipei Culture Award recipients will also be invited to a special dinner, bringing cultural practitioners from different generations and fields together to connect and exchange ideas. The gathering will celebrate three decades of cultural development and continuity in Taipei while paying tribute to the creators and practitioners who have devoted themselves to the city’s cultural life over the years. 

The ceremony will also mark the first public presentation of Look! These Taipei Culture Makers (看哪！這些臺北文化人), a special 30th-anniversary publication of the Taipei Culture Award. The book looks back at the city’s cultural journey and development over the past 30 years.

Looking ahead to the next 30 years, Taipei City Government will continue to use the Taipei Culture Award to recognize new cultural role models, encourage artistic creation, and foster the passing down of knowledge and traditions from one generation to the next. In so doing, we aim to make culture an even stronger force for urban innovation, sustainable development, and international exchange.