The Chineseness of Urban Cultural Policy in Taiwan

Abstract

ABSTRACT The narrative of Chinese culture occupied the central position in Taiwan’s cultural policy agenda after the Kuomintang (KMT) retreated to the island in 1949, but the primary (if not exclusive) focus on Chinese culture became contentious after democratisation and bentuhua (“Taiwanisation”) in the late 1980s. This prompted the KMT to redesign and renegotiate its cultural policy objectives in accordance with the changing political climate. Nevertheless, as shown in this article, these revisions were not as extensive or as progressive as one might have anticipated. This study examines the roles and meanings attached to Chinese culture by the KMT in the context of urban cultural policy. Drawing on interviews with local policymakers and policy document analysis, it explores cultural policy in Taipei during the KMT’s incumbency in the city (1998–2014), arguing that despite the adoption of multiculturalism and bentuhua narratives at the national and municipal levels of government, the KMT’s version of Chinese culture continued to dominate cultural policy discourse in Taipei until as late as 2014.