Taiwan Today

Artistic exchanges and links between the cultural and creative industries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expanding at a rapid pace.

On a December afternoon in 2010, recitations of essays and poems, interspersed with occasional laughter, were heard emanating from a small room in a building on the compound of the Cardinal Tien Cultural Foundation in Taipei. The voices were those of three young mainland Chinese writers, who took turns reading the creative works they had completed during their two-month residencies in Taiwan. “From the first day I arrived in Taiwan I felt so at ease. Strangers would nod and smile at me when I went jogging on the street,” said 36-year-old Chai Chunya, one of the three writers who arrived on the island in mid-October 2010. “Taiwan has certainly satisfied my curiosity about a democratic society.”

On the eve of their return home last December, the mainland writers shared their creative writings and thoughts on Taiwan. They also gave a slide show about their experiences here, including exchanges with high school students and their backpacking trips to the island’s remote corners.

While cross-strait connections between artists and cultural organizations are growing, links between the cultural and creative industries on both sides of the strait are also developing. The increased focus on the sector is a reflection of an accelerating international economic trend and also dovetails with the Republic of China (ROC) government’s Cultural and Creative Industries Development Plan, which was implemented in 2009 and designates a total investment of NT$26.2 billion (US$873 million) through 2013.

Exchanges between artists from Taiwan and mainland China are continuing to increase, especially in the visual and performing arts. According to the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), 526 visual artists and 3,008 performing artists from the mainland came to Taiwan in 2008. The figures had already risen to 1,522 visual artists and 5,744 performing artists in the first 10 months of 2010. Mainland writers like Chai Chunya were much less numerous, with 210 visiting the island through the end of October 2010.

Statistics on the number of mainland artists entering Taiwan are easily available because they are required to register with Taiwan’s MAC. For Taiwanese artists visiting the mainland, however, there are no such control measures and statistics are therefore difficult to come by, although it is increasingly common for the island’s artists and art groups to journey across the strait. “Mainland promoters are so eager to attract talent from Taiwan’s art circles,” says sculptor Yang Feng-chen. Yang Feng-chen is the son of Yuyu Yang, an iconic figure in the sculpture world in both Taiwan and mainland China. The younger Yang also served as one of the judges who selected sculptures for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with the works going on display in public spaces in the city.

Yang believes the mainland looks to Taiwanese artists out of a desire to fill the void left by the mainland’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Taiwanese artists are not only known for their creativity, he says, but are also esteemed because they grew up in a traditional Chinese culture. “Mainlanders look to Taiwanese to lead them as they work to recover their traditional culture,” he says.

Organized by the Cardinal Tien Cultural Foundation and subsidized by the Chinese Development Fund (CDF) under the MAC, the project of inviting mainland writers and artists to take up temporary residence in Taiwan is part of a government effort to increase the mainlanders’ understanding of Taiwan’s free society. Since its establishment in 1994, the CDF has subsidized cross-strait cultural and educational exchanges by providing financial backing for trips by Taiwanese scholars, students and artists to mainland China. In 2008, the CDF also began subsidizing residencies for mainland writers and artists in Taiwan. In 2010, the Cardinal Tien Cultural Foundation and three other organizations were the recipients of those subsidies. Worth a maximum of NT$63,000 (US$2,100) per month for each writer or artist, the subsidies covered expenses including accommodation and meals. All told, three mainland writers and 10 artists received sponsorship under the program. To receive the subsidies, each artist or writer was required to stay in Taiwan between two to four months in order to gain in-depth experience of the island’s society and culture.

NGOs Play a Significant Role

Taiwan and mainland China began interacting in the areas of culture and the arts when the Republic of China government lifted the ban on cross-strait travel in the late 1980s. Due to the sensitive cross-strait political situation, Taiwan’s nongovernmental organizations (NGO) have long played a significant role in promoting cross-strait exchanges. One of the most notable NGOs is the Sheen Chuen-Chi Cultural and Educational Foundation (SCCF), which is named in memory of the father of Sheen Ching-jing, an entrepreneur in Taiwan who is known for being keen on cross-strait exchanges. Its counterpart in mainland China, meanwhile, is the China Friendship Association of Cultural Circles. The two organizations were established in 1987 and function as NGOs, but the Beijing-based association is actually staffed by government officials from mainland China’s Ministry of Culture. In Taiwan, the SCCF advises and works closely with the Cabinet-level Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA).

To carry out its task, the SCCF has built broad connections with people in the public and nongovernmental sectors in both Taiwan and mainland China. “The foundation has become a platform and information provider for those interested in cross-strait cultural exchanges,” says Kevin Chen, SCCF secretary-general. “But our most important job is to facilitate interactions between officials in Taiwan and mainland China that handle cultural affairs.” Chen also notes that the officials from the two sides need to have a good understanding of each other’s roles and areas of expertise in order to help artists engage in cross-strait exchanges.

The SCCF also organizes various art performances and exhibitions on both sides of the strait in order to build links between Taiwan and mainland China. Over time, the foundation has recognized the importance of introducing Taiwan’s arts across the strait in a professional manner. “Individual artists aren’t good at organizing events and they’re likely to end up seeing their works—and they can be really outstanding—exhibited in an offhand way at a mediocre venue. That’s why we need to step in,” Chen says. For instance, in 2000 the SCCF began organizing exhibitions about every two years that focus on a single Taiwanese master visual artist. The artist’s works are displayed in cooperation with top venues in major cities in the mainland. To date, a total of six Taiwanese artists have been introduced to mainland art lovers via this channel.

One major symbol of the improvement in cross-strait cultural dialogue since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008 is the unprecedented cooperation between the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taipei and the Palace Museum in Beijing. In the spring of 2009, the NPM’s director visited the Beijing institution, and soon after that her mainland counterpart responded by paying a visit to Taipei. Previously, no NPM director had ever visited the Beijing museum in an official capacity, nor had a Palace Museum director ever made an official visit to the NPM. In early October 2009, the two world-class museums held a joint exhibition for the first time, staging a show on art and culture during the rule of Qing dynasty (1644–1911) Emperor Yongzheng (1722–1735). At the Taipei show, the two museums set up exhibits that formed a relatively complete picture of the arts under Yongzheng. A three-day seminar on art under the Qing ruler was also attended by researchers from both museums, another first in the history of cross-strait cultural exchanges.

In June this year, the mainland’s Zhejiang Provincial Museum will cooperate with the NPM to exhibit a famous ink painting by Huang Gongwang named Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains. Completed around 1350, the painting was intentionally set on fire by its owner about 300 years later, but his nephew was able to put out the flames and salvage the painting, although it had been burned in half. The bigger piece was brought to Taiwan when the Nationalist government relocated to the island around 1949, leaving the smaller one behind in the museum in the mainland’s Zhejiang province. The exhibit will unite the two halves in Taipei.

The ROC government’s other focus in its effort to strengthen cultural relations with the mainland is on creating more links between the cultural and creative industries of the two sides. “The mainland market for cultural and creative products was not mature before its economy started to take off, but now the situation is changing,” Kevin Chen of the SCCF says.

“Mainlanders are keen on developing the local cultural and creative industry, but it will take some time before their homegrown businesses start to come of age,” says Lin Fang-yin, president of Bright Ideas Design Co. A major player in multimedia and animation design in Taiwan, the company is known abroad for productions such as Katz Fun, a series of animated television shows that was first broadcasted in 17 states in the United States in early 2010. “But Taiwanese businesses are quite mature,” Lin says. “We’re welcomed across the strait because we can help businesses there move up the value chain and develop the local market. In fact, to attract Taiwanese businesses, some exhibitions even provide them with free accommodation and free booth rental.”

Today, many such cultural and creative industry exhibitions are popping up across mainland China, with many focusing on cross-strait cooperation. The CCA commissioned Bright Ideas to oversee day-to-day operations for Taiwanese businesses participating at two of the biggest such fairs—one in Shanghai and one in Beijing—in the fall of 2010. Between those two events came the first Taiwan International Cultural Creative Industry Expo in Taipei, which included a section for mainland companies to present their products. According to Bright Ideas, the economic value generated from confirmed and likely deals between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese businesses at the Taipei show was estimated at NT$100 million (US$3.3 million).

Making Inroads

Mainland authors and artists are also making inroads in Taiwan, although it is a much smaller market. This is not lost on Will Wang, editor-in-chief of Unitas, a major publishing house in Taiwan that has published all three books by mainland writer Chai Chunya, with the latest book hitting local bookshops during Chai’s residency in Taiwan. “Books by mainland authors generally don’t sell in Taiwan,” Wang says. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the subjects they write about. It’s mainly because the authors aren’t in Taiwan, which makes it difficult to do promotion work for their titles.” 

While he was in Taiwan for his residency, Chai was therefore urged to get more exposure in the local media, which resulted in interviews on one television and eight radio programs, plus a couple of newspapers. “The publicity’s effect was quite phenomenal,” Wang says. “The writer’s newest title has moved into the top 10 of Unitas’ bestseller list. What’s great is that has also lifted the sales of his earlier two books.”

Although there are some mainland artists and writers like Chai who have enjoyed commercial success in Taiwan, on the whole they generally come to Taiwan purely for the sake of cultural interaction, according to Hsu Keng-hsiu, director of the CCA’s Third Department, which promotes such exchanges. On the other hand, some artists from mainland China visit Taiwan and invite local celebrities to their performances in order to attract more attention back in their home market, says Feng Chih-mei, administrative manager of Vision International Culture Co., which has been inviting mainland art groups to Taiwan since around 2000.

Detail from the larger half of Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains from the collection of
Taiwan’s National Palace Museum. The smaller half is in the possession of mainland
China’s Zhejiang Provincial Museum and will be displayed in Taipei in June this year.
(Photo courtesy of National Palace Museum)

While cross-strait cultural and creative exchanges are expanding, there are still various barriers to be overcome. In the area of museums, although Taiwan’s NPM has started to work with institutions in the mainland, it has not permitted its historic objects to be displayed in mainland China because the government there has yet to pass a law guaranteeing the return of exhibits from abroad.

Taiwanese artists, meanwhile, continue to face content restrictions in the mainland in the areas of moral values, politics and ideology. For example, in the case of 2008’s Cape No.7, the highest-grossing film yet made in Taiwan, mainland censors cut scenes in which characters cursed. And the CCA’s Hsu Keng-hsiu says that as far as he knows, Taiwanese artists find it difficult even to get a visa for mainland China if they are involved in activities related to Falun Gong, a religious group banned across the strait.

Still, the lure of the mainland for Taiwanese artists is so strong that Hsu has begun to grow concerned about the impact on Taiwan’s cultural and creative industry. According to the official, authorities in mainland China attempt to attract long-term resident artists by offering tempting perks. In Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, for example, Taiwanese artists have been offered free accommodation in upscale villas in the vicinity of a beautiful wetland park. “The potential talent exodus is worrying, but it’s hard to blame Taiwanese artists if they take up an offer that’s really attractive,” he says.

In Taiwan, Kevin Chen has found it easier to invite mainlanders to visit the island since the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost power in 2008. Even today, however, he thinks pressure from the DPP still causes the government to proceed too slowly in cross-strait cultural exchanges. “Government officials in charge of top exhibition venues still hesitate about letting mainland artists use them,” he says. “But some of the works that could be displayed or performed here are truly excellent and the mainland artists who create them wouldn’t settle for seeing them at second-class venues.”

More Time, Please

What concerns Chen most, however, is that organizations in Taiwan that wish to invite mainland artists to the island cannot submit an application to the Ministry of the Interior and other authorities earlier than two months before the proposed date of the performance or exhibition. “That means we don’t have much time to publicize an event, since we can only start our promotional work after we get official approval,” he says, adding that it would be more reasonable to be able to apply a year in advance.

For Taiwanese designers in the cultural and creative industry, significant challenges also remain in the mainland Chinese market, the most pressing of which is the notorious prevalence of copycats. “Just as Taiwanese are avidly invited across the strait, our products are quickly copied there too,” Lin Fang-yin of Bright Ideas says. “Mainlanders are so good at copying. If you can’t develop strong and effective methods to counter that, you could lose your competitive edge within a couple of years of business in the mainland.” One method she has seen Taiwanese businesses employ to counter copycats is contracting different local suppliers to produce different parts of products, so that no one supplier knows all of the manufacturing secrets of the end product. Another approach Lin urges Taiwanese businesses to follow is providing extensive service at sales outlets. “It’s not so easy to copy service attitudes and human resource management,” she explains.

Obstacles also remain for local film and television producers. In October 2010, cross-strait negotiations resulted in an agreement that exempted wholly Taiwan-made movies from mainland China’s quota system for non-mainland productions, but Taiwanese-Chinese co-productions are still subject to regulations on language and casting. Meanwhile, wholly Taiwan-made television dramas are still restricted to a maximum broadcast time of 500 hours per year and cannot be broadcasted in prime time.

As with cross-strait non-commercial cultural exchanges, there is still much room for improvement when it comes to cooperation between Taiwan and mainland China in other areas of the cultural and creative industry, despite the thaw in cross-strait relations over the past two years. “Taiwan and mainland China should be more focused on the cultural and creative sector in their negotiations, because it’s not just about economics,” Lin says, adding that exchanging cultural content will enhance mutual understanding more quickly and affect cross-strait relations at a deeper level than any other area because the two sides share the same basic culture, language and ethnicity. There might still be a long road ahead before Taiwan and mainland China are able to reach a true reconciliation, but focusing on culture is reducing the distance between the two sides.

Write to Oscar Chung at oscar@mail.gio.gov.tw