For the first time, the Forestry Bureau co-organized the 6th Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants with the Southeast Asian Education, Science and Culture Association. This morning (September 29), the prize-giving ceremony was held at the Xianglin Sacred Tree Area in the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. Under the witness of the 2300 year-old Sacred Tree, nine awards were presented to the six recipients.
Guests who attended this event include Lin Hwa-Ching, Director General of the Forestry Bureau; Chang Cheng, convener of the literary award; Liao Yun-chang, CommonWealth Magazine independent commentary ＠CommonWealth; writer Li Yuan; Chen Ju-chen, lecturer at the Department of Anthropology of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Nguyen Ha An, instructor at the Department of Vietnamese Language and Culture of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education; and Ratu Selvi Agnesia, director of Tudio Hanafi Art Studio in Jakarta, Indonesia. Friends from Southeast Asia also got to experience the beauty of Alishan.
In his speech, Forestry Bureau Director General Lin Hwa-Ching said that during his tenure as Deputy Director of the National Taiwan Museum, he helped the Museum and 4-Way Voice, which is concerned with the Southeast Asian immigrant population, to organize three Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants award ceremonies. However, the Forestry Bureau’s cooperation with the Association in holding the 6th Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants was due to the fact that in recent years, more and more migrant workers have been drawn into illegal logging, as they are not clear on the law in Taiwan. The Forestry Bureau entered into discussion with the Association in hopes of visiting social networking sites and meeting places frequented by people from Southeast Asia to advocate for protection of Taiwanese forests, and to advocate against taking part in illegal logging and thus getting caught up in legal entanglements. During these discussions, the idea to jointly hold the literary award was sparked. It is hoped that this celebration that brings together literature, mountains and forests will transmit the love of nature across borders.
According to the Forestry Bureau, there are 870,000 new immigrants and migrant workers in Taiwan. More and more tourists from Southeast Asia are also visiting National Forest Recreation Areas such as Alishan. In a work submitted for this award, Alishan's beauty and steam train was used as a setting to describe the thoughts of a girl along her journey in life, revealing close connections between the land of Taiwan and the soul of a migrant worker. The Forestry Bureau also hopes that through the literary works of migrant workers, more people from Southeast Asia will get to know Taiwan and visit Taiwan. At the same time, the Forestry Bureau hopes that these works will enable every ethnic group living in the land of Taiwan to identify more strongly with this land and share in protecting her forest resources.
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