Culture heritage and identity – some cases in Taiwan on the protection of cultural heritage
Rémi Wei-Chou Wang
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Dept. of Architecture, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan remi.wang2gmail.com
KEY WORDS: Cultural heritage, identity, Taiwan ABSTRACT:
The protection of cultural heritage relates to an issue of identity. How a nation or a state tries to face to its history is often revealed on the protection of cultural heritage. Taiwan is as a country with complex history, especially the period after World War II. This
article will work on some significant cases, regarded as ideological representation of identity. This article works on the cultural identity by observing and analyzing different cases of classified Historic Monuments. In different
political periods, we see how the government tries to fabricate on the identity issue by working on Historic Monuments preservation. During the presidency of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo, the classification of Historic Monuments tried to focus on
those make by former Chinese migrants. They tried hard to establish and reaffirm the ever existing “fact” of people in Taiwan. Whereas after the late 1980s and 1990s, after Chiang’s reign, local conscience has been awaken. Political ambience turned to a new
era. This freedom of speech of post-Chiang’s reign encourages people to seek on their identity. The complex political situation of Taiwan makes this seeking cultural identity related to the seeking of independence of Taiwan. The respect to the aboriginal people
also reoriented to include the preservation of their tribes and villages.
Corresponding author
1. QUICK BROWSING TAIWAN’S HISTORY OF TWENTITH CENTURY
Taiwan is an island considered to be the origin of Austronesian people. This theory is announced by a linguistic Blust in 1985
and an archaeologist Bellewood in 1991. Portuguese were the first European coming to Taiwan, and named it as “Ilha
Formosa” around mid-sixteenth century. In the seventeenth century, Dutch East India Company V.O.C. invaded
Pescadores Island, and fighting with Ming Dynasty and finally agreed to retreat Taiwan, which was not a territory of Ming
Dynasty. In 1624, Dutch established a trading post in present Tainan City, in the south of Taiwan, and built Fort Zeelandia.
Yet Spaniards built Fort San Salvador in the northern Taiwan. A Sino-Japanese pirate Koxinga resided in Taiwan by expelling
Dutch, took it as a base to fight against Qing Dynasty in Mainland. Chinese migrants from Fujian and Guangdong
crossed the Taiwan Strait after his surrendering to Qing Dynasty. This begins the Chinese migrants history in Taiwan.
Japan started its modernization or Europeanization in the second half of nineteenth century. The First Sino-Japanese war
took place in April 1895, Qing Dynasty was defeated and signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Taiwan has been ceded to
Japan by this Treaty. While Japan colonizes Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, till the end of World War II. During this fifty years,
Taiwan was modernized and industrialized by the colonial government.
After World War II, Japan surrendered. Japan’s Government was forced to abandon Taiwan and Penghu. Chinese
Government took in charge of Taiwan and sent Chen Yi to manage Taiwan. Then the Nationalist Government lost the civil
war against communist army and finally lost Mainland China in 1949. The Nationalist Government, led by Chiang Kai-shek
refuged in Taiwan after the civil war. Taiwan become “Republic of China” , and Kuomintang stay in power for many years..
Japanese colonial Government approved laws for the protection of heritage of different nature in this island. After World War II,
when Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Government come to Taiwan after Mao Zedong and the Communist Party took over
the Mainland China in 1949, we observe some interesting phenomena. There were some different ways of dealing with
buildings and infrastructures left by Japanese colonial Government. We might be able to conclude in two different
ways: destruction, and replacement. For those that have been destroyed, for example, the Nationalist Government destroys
systematically Japanese shrine, especially jinja temples. The Government
replaces with
National Martyrs’
Shrines systematically at the same sites. The Japanese colonial
government set a series of laws to protect historical monuments and natural resources. The Nationalist government of Chiang
Kai-Shek tries to protect historical monuments, however, the monuments to be protected is very selective.
2. THE FIRST LIST OF PRESERVATION
