Department of Cultural Affairs

By Carol Hsieh
Staff Writer

To extol the cultural value of military dependents' villages concurrently with the Chinese Lantern Festival, a series of activities were kicked off on Feb. 22 in the Si-Si Nan Cun in Taipei, now part of the Xinyi Public Assembly Hall. Fun events for both children and adults will run till March 3, including an exhibition on the scenes of daily life in a military dependents' village, feasts of rice dumpling, and a stage drama.

The 2013 Taipei Military Dependents Village Festival showcases the unique cultural significance of the military families in Taipei that retreated from China during the Chinese civil war in the 1940s.

These families and dependents of Kuomintang soldiers and military officers later formed communities that serve as epitomes of life in China. At first, some of them stayed in poorly-built, small terraced houses whereas others lived in narrow blocks left after the Japanese occupation, such as the ones in Si-Si Nan Cun, literally meaning Forty-Four South Village in Chinese.

Since the first Taipei Military Dependents Village Cultural Festival launched in 2006, Si-Si Nan Cun has become one of the exemplars of military communities. This year, a reproduction of the old days and the course of development of the military community are exhibited in the Xinyi Public Assembly Hall. Historically significant objects, old photos, and doorplates are being displayed, lending visitors retrospective thoughts on the history of Taiwan.  A game zone is also set for children to try traditional paper cutting fun and make their own "old style toys" such as bean bags and lanterns.

On Lantern Festival on Feb 24, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin, along with Liou Wei-gong, Taipei City's Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner, arrived Si-Si Nan Cun to join the national treasure Lee Hwan-chang in cutting red paper into the shape of Chinese characters or animals, which are common wall and window decorations in Chinese households. Later they made lanterns out of milk powder can, which was widely practiced among children in the military families in early days.

On the same day there were a stage show by Stone Theatre depicting life in the military dependents' villages during the 1950s, and a feast of rice dumpling for attendees as part of the celebration for the Lantern Festival. On March 3 there will be a dumpling contest, where four dumpling restaurants will serve over 2,000 sets of dumplings for the visitors, who can also vote for their favorite. For more information, please visit the website at http://militaryhousing.culture.gov.tw (眷戀台北2013眷村文化節).