Taiwan Today

Abundant heritage structures and traditional art forms imbue Yunlin County with rich cultural charm.

In the late 1990s, a group of cultural preservation enthusiasts in Xiluo Township of western Taiwan’s Yunlin County launched a campaign to save a bridge over the Zhuoshui River. The 1,939-meter structure, connecting Xiluo with Xizhou Township to the north in central Taiwan’s Changhua County, was among the longest in the world at the time of its completion in 1952. Activists and residents were united in their opposition to government plans to demolish the landmark, and ultimately proved successful in protecting this prominent piece of local history.

The group primarily responsible for saving the structure is the Luoyoung Cultural and Educational Foundation (LCEF). Founded by township native Louise Ho (何美慧), it organized the Xiluo Bridge Cultural Tourism Festival in 2001 to celebrate the triumphant conservation campaign. The event featured sculptures by some of Taiwan’s most celebrated artists such as Ju Ming (朱銘) and Yang Yu-yu (楊英風‬), and attracted more than 200,000 visitors.

Follow-up editions, held periodically until 2014, were smaller in scale but more localized in focus, spotlighting talents like teachers and students from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (NYUST). Some of the sculptures from these events have since been erected at a park near LCEF headquarters in downtown Xiluo. Ho said the pieces serve as a permanent reminder of residents’ commitment to protecting and sharing local culture and history.

Preserving the Past

The LCEF participates in a variety of central and local government programs to deepen awareness of Yunlin’s abundant heritage. It is based at a former tea shop in Xiluo built during Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945). In 2013, the foundation helped renovate the property, which was recognized as a historic building some six years previously by Yunlin County Government (YCG). This work was funded under the Local Cultural House Project (LCHP), a nationwide restoration initiative launched in 2002 by the Ministry of Culture.

From its office in Xiluo, the LCEF conducts historical surveys in cooperation with organizations like NYUST and Taipei City-headquartered Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s foremost research institution. According to Ho, the foundation uses the information gathered through these collaborative projects in community education and outreach activities, including field trips and workshops. “Many people have no idea what life was like here during Japanese colonial rule, so we work to share our findings with residents and deepen understanding of local history,” she said.

Yunlin boasts a rich and complex past that remains underappreciated within and without the county. Nearly four centuries ago, some of the first Han immigrants to Taiwan settled in Yunlin’s Beigang Township. Around the same period, the Dutch East India Co. established colonial rule (1624-1662) over parts of the island, basing an outpost in Beigang.

The county’s fertile soil has attracted settlers for millennia. The earliest known residents were a people called the Hoanya. In the city of Douliu, Yunlin’s largest and seat of YCG, archaeological artifacts have been discovered that date back more than 3,000 years. A widely shared local story states that the city’s name is derived from the traditional cry of Hoanya hunters, according to Kuan Yu-jen (關有仁‬), chairman of the Douliu City Taiping Street Development Association (TSDA).

As with the LCEF, Kuan’s group works with local organizations on heritage restoration and promotion. It is helping renovate a number of publicly and privately owned houses—most built during Japanese colonial rule—thanks to funding from the LCHP. “Douliu has a long history as a political and economic center, so we want to spotlight the old quarters of the city,” Kuan said.

In addition to refurbishing buildings, the TSDA supports efforts to showcase the county’s natural beauty. It is backing a major government initiative to remove concrete slabs covering much of the Yunlin River, a tributary of the Beigang River that runs through Douliu. In 2017, the association, NYUST and other groups including Yunlin County Mountain Line Community College formed an alliance to assist and promote the endeavor.

This is just the second initiative of its kind in Taiwan after a project to reveal portions of the Laojie River in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City, said Hwang Shyh-huei (黃世輝), dean of the NYUST College of Design. “Restoring the river, which for years was covered over to add parking spaces, will make Douliu more livable and provide a wonderful location for leisurely evening strolls.”

The ongoing Yunlin River project is part of the urban-rural portion of the central government’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program (FIDP), a comprehensive initiative aimed at addressing Taiwan’s key infrastructure needs for the next 30 years. The urban-rural component seeks to upgrade quality of life in mid-level cities and townships.

First String

Another major FIDP project in Yunlin is targeted at promoting glove puppetry, the county’s signature contribution to the nation’s cultural landscape. Yunlin’s prominence in the performing art is thanks to masters like Huang Hai-tai (黃海岱‬) and his son Huang Chun-hsiung (黃俊雄‬), as well as other members of the renowned Huang family.

Various types of puppetry such as hand, string and shadow have been staged in Taiwan for centuries, with glove typically cited as the most popular genre. Home to more than 100 groups, Yunlin has the highest density of glove puppetry troupes in the country.

Under the FIDP, a glove puppetry performance and training center is being built near the Taiwan High Speed Rail system’s Yunlin Station in Huwei Township. “The facility will take the art from simple outdoor stages to a well-designed indoor theater,” said Stacie Chen (陳璧君), director-general of YCG’s Cultural Affairs Department. “It’ll also facilitate exchanges among performers, who employ very different styles and stories.” The project is scheduled for completion within two years, she added.

The popularity of glove puppetry in the county is linked to the important role that faith plays in everyday life. Yunlin boasts one of the highest densities of temples in the nation. The best known is Beigang’s Chaotian Temple, which traces its origins to 1694. Glove puppetry is a key component of religious folk festivals held at these places of worship. “Yunlin is famed for the artistry and vibrancy of its traditional temple activities and parades,” Chen said.

Worth Sharing

Storytelling is at the heart of Yunlin’s cultural identity. This is evident at such sites as the Yunlin Glove Puppet Museum, a county government-designated historic building on Huwei’s Linsen Road. Constructed in the early 1930s as a Japanese colonial administrative office, in recent years it has served as a venue for the annual Yunlin International Puppet Festival.

Across the street is another restored Japanese-style house. Erected in the early 1920s as a residence for the area’s most senior colonial official, it was refurbished in 2006 before reopening the following year as Yunlin Story House. According to Tang Li-fang (唐麗芳), founder of facility operator Yunlin Storyteller Association (YSA), it now serves to highlight Yunlin’s proud reputation as a center of the traditional performing art.

The YSA trains people in storytelling and organizes shows in communities and schools in Yunlin and across Taiwan. It also collects classic and contemporary tales from home and abroad, and has published over 100 books spotlighting the best works.

One of Tang’s favorites is a new offering by Malaysian author Low Khay-hooi. It concerns a little boy from Huwei who falls asleep in Yunlin Story House and dreams of all the people and animals he has heard about in traditional tales from the county. The work’s message of linking the past, present and future through the invisible thread of stories firmly resonates with Tang. “In Yunlin, we have a wealth of timeless tales to tell,” she said. 

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw