Mobile museum brings Taiwan literature to Keelung

2015/07/24

An annual round-Taiwan tour aimed at fostering greater appreciation for local literature among the public kicked off July 21 in the northern Taiwan port city of Keelung.

Using a shipping container as a mobile showroom, the initiative has stopped at 19 locations Taiwanwide and attracted more than 100,000 visitors since its launch in 2010 by Tainan City-based National Museum of Taiwan Literature.

NTML Director Weng Chih-tsung said the theme of this year’s tour is the sounds of mother tongues in literature as manifested through recitals and theatrical adaptations. “It is especially fitting for Keelung to serve as our starting point, as this historic city is home to some of the biggest names in Taiwan literature.”

Sailor poet Lin Fu-yin and veteran novelist Wang Tuoh are both natives of Keelung’s Badouzi Harbor, Weng said, adding that their works are sure to prove popular at the first stop National Museum of Marine Science and Technology.

Wang’s stories “The Hanging Tree” and “The Story of Cowbelly Harbor,” drawing from his own experiences living in the small fishing village, are rich in the maritime influences characteristic of local lore. Written in the 1970s and 1980s, they are hailed as heralding a new era of Holo literature in Taiwan.

Another highlight of this year’s exhibition is a section dedicated to writers reading their own works, Weng said. This is a rare opportunity for lovers of literature to hear Taiwan classics delivered by the creators in Hakka, Holo, Mandarin and indigenous dialects, he added.

The mobile museum is scheduled to stop in New Taipei City’s Zhonghe and Sanxia districts through September and return to Keelung in October, before wrapping December in Taichung City.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=232951&ctNode=413)