Department of Cultural Affairs

By Yali Chen
STAFF REPORTER
Photo Courtesy of Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs

Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs has announced that the three winners of the 2011 Taipei Culture Award are Tang Wen-hua, a Peking opera performer; Lee Chien-lang, a distinguished specialist in traditional Chinese architecture; and the Fubon Art Foundation.

Each of the winners was granted NT$500,000 at the December 24 awards ceremony attended by Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-pin and the department’s director Cheng Mei-hua.

Now in its 15th year, the award is granted to individuals and groups who make long-term commitments to promoting diverse culture and helping to shape the city’s image. Over the past 14 years, recipients of the award have come from many different sectors of the community including people involved in art, dance, literature, history and environmental care.

Tang, now 50, is considered one of the leading laosheng (older male role) opera performers in Taiwan. For more than three decades he has devoted himself to blending traditional and contemporary styles in his Peking opera performances.

The marquee actor won the cultural award for his efforts to explore the possibilities of Peking opera and make theatrical breakthroughs.

But the once-popular Chinese art form is losing its popularity among younger audiences in Taiwan.

“Despite this crisis, actors should work harder to draw audiences into the operatic world of singing, dancing and martial arts,” says Tang, who began studying traditional Chinese opera at the age of 8.

He eventually turned the crisis facing the genre into an opportunity by studying various schools of Peking opera and developing different singing styles.

“I hope the younger generation can gain a better understanding of the beauty and richness of Peking opera,” he notes.

Born in 1949, Lee grew up in an architect’s family. He followed in his father’s footsteps to study architecture and urban design at Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

During his college days Lee visited historical monuments in Tainan and Lukang with his classmates. Doing military service in Kinmen also inspired him to write his first book on the island’s unique traditional architecture.

The prolific writer is regarded as Taiwan’s first scholar to study historical buildings through field investigations. He clinched the cultural prize thanks to his devotion to architectural conservation.

The Taipei-based Fubon Art Foundation was established in 1997, and three years later it started out with a contemporary exhibition titled “Very Fun Park.” To celebrate the ROC centennial and the 50th anniversary of the Fubon Group’s establishment this year, the foundation launched 50 showcase areas and 50 recommended venues ranging from Songshan Cultural and Creative Park to Xinyi District in Taipei.