At the turn of the century, a small group of activists and government officials in Taiwan embarked on what must have seemed like a quixotic quest to many observers: trying to persuade the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization to officially include several cultural and historical sites from Taiwan on its official World Heritage list.
Since the nation is not officially a member of the U.N., the chances of any of its sites being put on UNESCO’s World Heritage list were slim, to say the least.
Nevertheless, a decade after the movement started, many participants feel that their efforts have been deeply meaningful, according to Jackson Chen, a senior officer with the Cultural Heritage Foundation under the Council for Cultural Affairs, the nation’s foremost government agency when it comes to art and culture.
Because of their efforts, participants say, they have now acquired a much better appreciation of the nation’s heritage and its place in world history.
This does not mean that the nation has given up on its efforts to have its sites listed by the World Heritage list. Indeed, new and creative ways for listing are being actively pursued.
But listing in itself is now seen as the secondary, and not primary, goal of the movement.
“Just because Taiwan is not allowed to participate in the U.N. does not give us a right to neglect our duty,” according to Chen.
“The government has a duty to protect and preserve these sites.”
The activists who led the movement thought the UNESCO imprimatur would help protect precious historical sites from the encroachment of developers, sources said.
Instead, their efforts caught the attention of the central government, which decided it would lend its support to a worthy cause. Thus in 2003, the CCA identified 12 potential World Heritage sites from among dozens proposed by local governments and community researchers.
After the current Ma Ying-jeou administration came to power in 2008, fresh life was injected into the project.
In January 2009, for instance, the CCA formed a committee to hasten the process of preparatory work that would qualify the sites for U.N. listing. A few months later, in August, the committee added five more potential sites to its table of candidates.
A sense of urgency is needed, according to Chen. “The threat of development is imminent and omnipresent. We must do our best to preserve these sites, which are the cultural and natural legacy of Taiwan to the world. In protecting these sites, we are safeguarding properties of permanent and universal value,” he said.
The list drawn up by the CCA includes popular and well-known tourist attractions such as Taroko Gorge, Yushan National Park, Alishan Forest Railway and the historic buildings of Danshui.
Fort San Domingo in the northern township of Danshui highlights Taiwan's diverse cultural history. (CNA)
But it also includes some of the island’s better-kept secrets, such as the aboriginal Paiwan slate construction complexes in Pingtung County, the Beinan archaeological site in Taitung County and Orchid Island off Taiwan’s southeastern coast.
The process whereby the Losheng Sanatorium came to be put on the list is perhaps illustrative of the entire movement. Built in 1930 by the Japanese colonial administration (1895-1945), it is the island’s only leprosarium.
When developers announced they intended to tear down the place for their own use, concerned members of society spontaneously rallied to protect it.
Yukio Nishimura, former vice chairman of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, affirmed the value of the institution on the grounds that it is “extremely rare” for leprosy patients to stand up for their rights, and for them to be supported by students and cultural activists.
The campaign seeking UNESCO recognition of the sanatorium would eventually use this very feature identified by Nishimura as part of its preservation strategy.
The government sided with the preservationists. It classified Losheng as a potential world heritage site, because the place satisfies two of the 10 criteria stipulated by UNESCO for such sites: it “exhibits an important interchange of human values over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world”; and it is an outstanding example of a settlement representative of “human interaction with the environment, especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.”
Another potential site is the Wushantou Reservoir and Jianan Irrigation System. Built during the Japanese colonial period and still in use today, the value of this water system only came to the attention of the wider public after several civic organizations launched a campaign to promote awareness of its historic, economic and technological significance.
According to Tseng Shu-cheng, associate professor of architecture at Tainan National University of the Arts, the system was built entirely out of local materials and used a minimum amount of concrete.
After its completion, the system helped irrigate 150,000 hectares of farmland in southern Taiwan and played a key role in the nation’s struggle for economic development.
“The waterway system meets the UNESCO criteria of representing ‘a masterpiece of human creative genius’ and is a technological landscape that ‘illustrates a significant stage in human history,’” according to Tseng.
Other potential sites are located in the offshore islands of Kinmen and Penghu. The county governments of these islands have been campaigning for international recognition of their natural and cultural sites.
Both properties are unique and precious, though in different ways: Kinmen features a combination of southern Chinese culture and battle relics, while the Penghu archipelago boasts of stone fish weirs and spectacular columnar basalt, a type of hard volcanic rock.
Because Taiwan is not a member of the U.N., it cannot submit its own proposals, Chen noted. But, he added, the CCA has adopted a novel strategy of asking other nations involved to submit bids on behalf of both Taiwan and themselves.
Citizens promoting the Wushantou Reservoir and irrigation system, for instance, are lobbying for Japan’s assistance, he said. Kanazawa City in Ishikawa Prefecture could benefit from a World Heritage certificate for the reservoir, Chen noted, since Kanazawa-native Yoichi Hatta, the civic engineer who designed the water work, would be acknowledged in the World Heritage listing.
“There is always hope for properties on Taiwan’s territory to be recognized.”
The official stressed, however, that the process of working toward recognition is in fact more important than the goal of a U.N. listing. This is because the process of trying to get a property listed affects public awareness and helps raise money needed for preservation efforts.
As an example of how this process works, Chen pointed to a conference on the properties scheduled to take place May 7 and 8.
During the conference, related administrative workers, activist groups and researchers will all come together to share their views. This will help them become better informed, and increased awareness is the goal that Chen and others like him are really after.
“We have also completed a database of information on the 890 properties recognized as World Heritage sites for public access from our website,” Chen said.
In the rush for progress and modernity, Chen explained, too many people have failed to recognize that the past needs to be preserved and cherished just as much as the present.
“It will take time for the citizens of our progress-oriented society to see things differently. We do hope they too come to realize that once destroyed, our cultural legacy will be gone forever,” he said.
“For us to preserve the past, a change in outlook is needed. And what we are doing now is taking little steps that will one day lead to greater changes.” (HZW)
Write to june@mail.gio.gov.tw