Minister Yiong expressed his joy at the bold decision of poetess Tu Miao-yi to submit the translation of Dr. Tseng Kuei-hai's works to Ecuador's XIV Festival de Poesía de Guayaquil Ileana Espinel Cedeño, even before completion. Writers and authors from Ecuador even joined forces to nominate Dr. Tseng for the Nobel Literature Prize, a great encouragement for the project. Going forward, HAC will continue to translate yet more Taiwanese Hakka literary masterpieces into a wider variety of languages, so that their culture is acclaimed worldwide.
Professor Peng Jui-chin, the author of the general foreword for the project, believes that Taiwanese Hakka literature is not only a direct product of the history, culture, and lifestyle of the Taiwanese Hakka people, but is also tightly interconnected with Taiwan's history and natural environment. A very unique feature of Taiwanese Hakka literature is its usage of various literary forms to record events from the past. From the treacherous voyage across the Taiwan Strait to the arduous path of settlement of the ancestors, it recounts the story of a migrating people. Traditionally, Hakka literature has served to chronicle events, and this not only has shown splendid results in the literary works by Hakka authors in different languages, but has also served a prominent role in the literary thought of post-colonial Taiwan.
Wu Chin-fa, representative of the authors, stated what a great honor it was to have his Youth Trilogy novels and poetry collection translated. Hakka literature is too wonderful to only be known in Taiwan. It should be vigorously promoted abroad and earn the place it deserves. He looks forward to the world-level accolades to be garnered by the works of fellow Hakka writers and himself and hopes that more of Taiwan's ethnic groups can shine on the global stage in the future, too.
