Taiwanese performers at an exhibition in Richmond. | Photo courtesy of the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society
This year marks the 26th anniversary of the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society (TCCS), with the upcoming TaiwanFest in Vancouver promoting a history of the Taiwanese community’s cultural engagement with the Lower Mainland.
Harbouring more than 100 cultural organizations, the now 40,000 strong Taiwanese population in Vancouver has been contributing its vibrant traditions of art and economic prowess to the city’s cosmopolitan mix for more than half a century.
“I cannot think of any other country that has the better opportunity for people sharing their different cultures,” says TCCS CEO Cecilia Chueh. “I think we have the best chance living in Canada.”
Chueh, who lived in the United States for a while, says she didn’t find the same kind of open mindedness towards different cultures there.
“[Canada] gives us this opportunity. If we don’t do something with it, if we don’t contribute, then what’s the point?” Chueh says.
A history of exchange
Taiwan has a long history of cultural diversity and exchange. The island country is home to 14 aboriginal languages, the majority being Han Chinese descent who settled Taiwan in after the 17th century, speaking either Hokkien or Hakka. This does not include the 1.2 million people who emigrated from mainland China after the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
“Many people do not realize that Taiwanese history has been influenced by many other cultures in the last 400 years,” says Chueh.
“The Dutch, the Spanish came to Taiwan, and then Chinese people, and then others, even French for some periods of time, and Japanese for fifty years. So, especially in the last 100 years, [the] Taiwanese really developed into a very unique culture –
a different cultural identity.”
Japanese rule ended with Taiwan’s transition to the Nationalist (KMT) Chinese government after World War II. The political repression in Taiwan following the KMT’s ejection from China by the Communists led to many visiting international students choosing to stay in Canada, forming the nucleus of a burgeoning Taiwanese community in cities like Vancouver.
The Greater Vancouver Taiwanese Canadian Association was founded in 1966 to support Taiwanese immigrants living in Vancouver. The establishment of the points system in Canadian immigration policy the year after led to a growth in immigration from Taiwan to Canada. Immigration reached its peak during the 1980s and 1990s, when Taiwan’s gradual democratization and economic boom saw a relaxation of emigration laws and an increase in skilled and investment immigrants.
“But now it’s a little bit shrinking, after about 2005,” Chueh says. “Because of the economic situation and the first generation immigrants coming after 1986 especially, their children growing up, they might get married or something, leave the family, and still have their career and family back in Taiwan. Many of the families returned, in the last decade.”
Differences and similarities
“Sometimes it’s really not easy to identify what the difference, or what’s unique, about Taiwanese culture,” says Chueh. “But through the Taiwanese Cultural Festival, since 1991, I think people gradually recognize there is some difference between Taiwanese and Chinese. Not just the language, because although in Taiwan the official language is [Mandarin], we still speak Taiwanese, Hakkanese, or other aboriginal languages. Our society is very much like Canada, with different cultures and languages.”
The Taiwanese Cultural Festival, now the TAIWANfest, is entering its 26th anniversary this year and will feature three days of performances, films, lectures, visual art, and concerts devoted to Taiwanese culture and its relationship to a rapidly connected world. One such event will be A Cultural Tango with Hong Kong, a musical tribute to world-renowned Taiwanese pop singer Teresa Teng (one of the Five Great Asian Divas) and iconic Hong Kong musician Leslie Cheung. This symphony orchestra concert, conducted by Ken Hsieh, intends to evoke the introduction of Eastern pop music to the West, initiated by Teng and Cheung, showcasing the mutual influence between Taiwan and the cultures that surround it.
