(Central News Agency reporter Fan Zhengxiang, Taipei, 14th) When Legislative President You Xikun attended the book launch of the special exhibition series “Taiwan’s Centennial Quest for Democracy” today, he called for “promoting more people to study Taiwan’s history.” Minister of Culture Shi Zhe who attended the event also said that there is no history If we are not a nation, Taiwan’s own history and achievements must be particularly cherished.
Starting from 2021, the Legislative Yuan will successively hold the “Centennial Exhibition of the Petition Movement for the Establishment of the Taiwan Parliament”, “Special Exhibition of the 70th Anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty”, “Special Exhibition of the 30th Anniversary of the Democratic Congress”, and “Centenary Exhibition of the Establishment of the Taiwan Parliamentary Alliance and the Policing Incident” Waiting for a series of exhibitions on Taiwan’s Centenary Pursuit of Democracy.
In order to present the collections of relevant agencies and schools across the country for research, as well as for foreign guests and other uses, the Legislative Yuan has translated the English versions of each special exhibition album and assembled them with the Chinese version into a series of books. Today, the Taiwan Centenary Pursuit of Democracy series of special exhibition books will be held in the Red Building of the Legislative Yuan. Press conference.
In his speech, You Xikun pointed out that in the past, under the education of the party-state, Taiwanese people were forced to be familiar with Chinese history, but the land where they settled and lived was as foreign as a foreign country; Taiwanese people seemed to be suffering from amnesia, forgetting their own life experience and losing their self-identity.
For example, he said that many Taiwanese people do not know that as early as a hundred years ago, Taiwan’s democratic sages recognized that “democracy is parliamentary politics.” During the Japanese colonial period, in 1921, the “Petition Movement for the Establishment of Taiwan’s Parliament” was launched. In 1935, Taiwan held its first election, laying the seeds and foundation for democratic politics. Since then, it has gone through a period of exhaustion and decay before the fruits of democracy and freedom are flourishing today.
You Xikun said that in order to trace the development of Taiwan’s parliamentary politics and highlight the footprints and historical significance of the ancestors’ struggle for democracy, the Legislative Yuan will successively organize a series of special exhibitions “Taiwan’s Centenary Pursuit of Democracy” starting from 2021, which will be jointly organized by the Political Affairs Museum and relevant cooperation units and experts. Scholars worked together to carefully collect, sort out and display relevant historical materials to systematically present the arduous process of Taiwan’s democratic development.
He said that today, the Political Affairs Museum has further collected and released related albums into a set to meet the teaching needs of major, secondary and primary schools, and provide research and collections for various social agencies and groups, international friendly Taiwan academic circles, and think tanks. At the same time, it also hopes to inspire new ideas and “promote more People from many countries study the history of Taiwan.”
You Xikun said that he would like to thank the February 28 Incident Memorial Foundation, Taiwan Professors Association, Lin Xiantang Museum, Chiang Weishui Cultural Foundation, etc. for their assistance in organizing the special exhibition, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, and the National History Museum for their assistance in providing historical materials and By participating in the event, we would also like to express our gratitude to the democratic ancestors and descendants for participating in this grand event, which makes the series of special exhibitions more historically significant.
Shi Zhe said that he enjoyed talking about Taiwan history with You Xikun. You Xikun understood Taiwan history more thoroughly than any cultural person he had come into contact with, exceeding his expectations.
He also revealed that he once personally asked You Xikun to share the slide materials of his speech because he was surprised that in his speech, Yu Xikun organized in detail the process of Taiwanese people’s pursuit of democracy throughout the history of Taiwan. Xikun wrote Chinese poems and Taiwanese poems himself, “Dean You himself is a museum curator.”
Shi Zhe said that the Ministry of Culture has long hoped that “the ministry is the Ministry of Culture.” Today, we see that “the institutes are all museums.” This is even better. The Legislative Yuan should also build a museum of its own; a country cannot be made without history, and Taiwan’s own history and achievements , we must especially cherish this context, never feel too little, talk about it more, promote it more, and praise it more. (Editor: Zhao Weilan) 1121114
