Taipei award to honor cultural luminaries

2016/10/11

Dragon boat maker Liu Ching-cheng, Taiwanese opera promoter Sun Rong-hui and the Godot Theatre Company are the winners of the 20th Taipei Culture Award, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs revealed Oct. 4.

“This year’s award is meant to honor and encourage those who are devoted to integrating cultures, sharing their experiences and enhancing Taiwan’s visibility,” a DCA official said. The three were selected from 45 individual and group candidates, and will each be granted NT$500,000 (US$15,900) at an award ceremony set for late November.

Boat racing is a popular tradition in Taiwan during Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar. Liu began learning how to make dragon boats in 1959. Utilizing traditional methods passed down through his family for five generations, the 74-year-old master craftsman has completed some 150 vessels. In 1989, Liu gifted two boats to the German city of Hamburg to celebrate its 800th anniversary. Since then, dragon boat racing has gained in popularity in the country, according to the DCA.

Sun Rong-hui, now in his 70s, was once a martial arts director for well-known Taiwanese opera troupes and established his own, the Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe, in 1989. Sun’s troupe has been trying to cultivate a broader audience by employing modern theater technology and exploring subjects rarely seen in traditional Taiwanese opera.

The Godot Theatre Company was founded by a group of drama majors in 1988. “Since its first production, ‘The Zoo Story,’ the troupe, with its remarkable innovative strength, has been organically merging the classical and the modern, as well as Eastern and Western traditions,” the DCA noted. Taking its name from “Waiting for Godot” by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, the theater is also known for its efforts to cultivate young talent.

The Taipei Culture Award has honored 55 individuals and groups since 1997. Recipients of the award come from many different sectors of Taiwan’s cultural community, from traditional arts and literature to architecture.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=248447&ctNode=2194&mp=9)