Department of Cultural Affairs

By Carol Hsieh
Staff Writer

Young couples, adults, and children crammed into Songshan Cultural and Creative Park Warehouse No. 1 in Taipei on February 16 to see shows and participate in activities that celebrate the beauty and culture of traditional Chinese characters.

Held by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government for eight consecutive years, the event features a series of free activities that promote the cultural value of traditional Chinese characters. Shows integrating the shapes and lines of the characters and traditional Chinese dance were performed on stage; afterwards, visitors tried their hand at paper-cutting and decorating lanterns with Chinese calligraphy and paper cut into Chinese characters.

Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin and Liu Chao-shiuan, president of the General Association of Chinese Culture, along with Liou Wei-gong, Taipei City's Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner, each wrote one character that combined to symbolize "good fortune" on paper boards that were carried aloft on a large traditional lantern produced by lantern master Zhang Jia-yen.

They also worked with young winners of calligraphy competitions to write beautiful characters saying "luck," "happiness," and "peace" as an act to pass down the tradition.

Mayor Hau noted that he used to practice calligraphy writing couplets with his father as a child during each Chinese New Year. This is a form of cultural inheritance as well as a way to pray for blessings.

Liu Chao-shiuan pointed out that each traditional Chinese character as a cultural carrier is an ideogram and remains the same and recognizable to people who speak different Chinese dialects. The character itself is art, and in Taiwan where creativity is encouraged, Chinese characters have been integrated with other forms of art such as dance and painting.

Other free, educational and fun events will follow. The Taipei City Chinese Character Cultural Map Treasure Hunt is a cloze test on Chinese inscriptions that can be found at major tourist sites in Taipei. Challengers who answer ten questions correctly can receive a gift bag or a set of paochung tea. Other events and activities include lectures on the culture underlying Chinese characters and a Chinese character DIY market.