Culture Minister Shih Che paid a one-day visit to Taichung City on March 4, following his visit to Tainan City the previous week, and visited a number of historical sites that had undergone restoration as part of a project to recreate historical scenes.
Minister Shih’s first stop was the Empire Sugar Factory Taichung Office and Cultural Heritage Bureau to inspect the site of the future National Comics Museum and its progress. As regards the progress of building the museum, Minister Shih revealed that discussions have been ongoing in recent years and he is looking forward to working with the Taichung City Government to expedite the progress of the project.
Accompanied by Taichung Deputy Mayor Huang Guo-rong (黃國榮), Minister Shih went on to visit several historical sites, including Prefectural Hall (臺中州廳), Taichung Shiyakusho (臺中市役所), Empire Sugar Factory Taichung Office (帝國糖廠), Natural Way Six Arts Cultural Center (臺中刑務所), Taiwan connection 1908 (綠空鐵道), and more.
As part of his visit, Minister Shih watched the latest production of the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan (NCO, 臺灣國樂團), titled "Journey into Lost Time of TWATUTIA (魔幻時空大稻埕)," which was co-produced by various experienced artists in Taiwan's circus industry. He thanked NCO for their efforts in developing Taiwanese original music in recent years and added that the Ministry of Culture will strive to promote the work of Taiwanese performers and composers on the global stage, thereby enhancing Taiwan's cultural brand awareness.
Minister Shih concluded his trip with a visit to the traditional performance arts group Chio Tian Folk Drums & Art Troupe (九天民俗技藝團), where he learned about their efforts to integrate innovation into traditional art forms and their upcoming international performances.