Taiwanese actor Sun Yueh:
When I try to remember my hometown, the memories are becoming vague.
Program ambassador Chen Pi-han:
We mostly hear Father talk about his schooldays. We really enjoyed those stories.
I have two BB guns. Let’s see who’s better.
Program ambassador Wang Jung-wen:
Everyone actually has some kind of fabulous stories worth recording.
We welcome everyone to share the story of your life.
Father’s Day is around the corner, so what’s the best gift for Dad? The Ministry of Culture’s “National Memories Database” project invites the public to tell their stories and collectively record the island’s national memories. Legislator Chen Pi-han and publisher Wang Jung-wen, who are the representatives of this project, hereby encourage people to share their most precious memories with their family.
Program ambassador Wang Jung-wen:
I grew up reading the comics “Si Lang Zhen-ping.” One of the chapters was titled “Battle Against the Devil Party,” so we mimicked sword fights with our hands during break time.
Program ambassador Chen Pi-han:
I was very happy to go to school because of my loving parents. My father, who was a teacher, let me grow up freely according to my own personality, so I was a wild child running around with my brothers and a bunch of boys.
Submit videos online
In the past seven months, the memory database has collected over 3,000 stories from storytellers that include a female diver in Penghu Island and a resident of the Losheng Sanatorium. All of the stories were uploaded to the “Taiwan Story Island” program website.
Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai:
I’m sure you face history with utmost sincerity and treat people around yourself in the tenderest way. In the end, what the National Memories database could achieve is to help the 23 million Taiwanese people better understand and care for each other. So our society may see less factions and misunderstandings.
So what is the best gift for Father’s Day? We can treat our dads to a big meal or something along those lines, but the best gift may very well be taking them to story-collecting station to preserve a story of his.
Your story is our story
This is the time to tell your own stories. Besides taking your father to a restaurant on Father’s Day this year, the most wonderful gift may be to take him by the hand to record a family story together.