The annual 10-day Taiwan Festival returned to Macau under the 2018 theme "Breeze of Taiwan" with a wide range of cultural events from April 12 through 22.
Organized by the Ministry of Culture’s Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Centre in Hong Kong, the festival offered an exhibition, a music concert, forums, workshops, and guided tours for the Macanese public to gain a deeper understanding of Taiwan culture.
The exhibition portion of the festival showcased artworks by Wang Chieh (王傑), a Keelung-based painter, author, and illustrator who documents the land of Taiwan through watercolor paintings.
The featured paintings, which include a panoramic illustration of Keelung, offers glimpses into the landscapes, lives, and social issues observed by Wang in the harbor city of Keelung. A related forum and workshop on Wang’s preservation of culture through art was held in conjunction with the exhibition.
ABAO (阿爆), a Paiwan singer who captured the Golden Melody Awards for Best Aboriginal Album and Best Album Producer with her 2017 album "Vavayan," presented her dynamic songs in the Paiwan language. She performed music that integrates ancient Paiwan ballads with rock, soul, reggae, and R&B through her powerful and memorable voice in the concert.
A series of literature forums were held by contemporary novelist Egoyan Zheng (伊格言), who explored the topic "Imagining the World – Novel, Poetry, and AI" with Macanese poet Un Sio-san (袁紹珊) at the festival. Fumin Yang (楊富閔), author of "A Boy Named Flora A (花甲男孩)" – a bestseller that has been adapted into a drama series of the same title – was also invited to hold dialogue with scholar Lei Chin-pang (李展鵬).
Page Tsou (鄒駿昇), the first Taiwanese illustrator to receive the top prize at Italy's prestigious Bologna Children’s Book Fair, then explored the topic "The Road of Creation to the World" with Macanese graphic designer Cheang Chi-wai (鄭志偉).
Additional guided tours organized by the Macao Heritage Ambassadors Association were also made available for visitors to learn about the history and architectural features of the Sun Yat Sen Memorial House in evening hours.