Wen Tsai-tang: An Expert of Promoting Hakka Culture

Chinese Name: 溫彩棠

Born: 1941

Birthplace: Miaoli County (Northern Taiwan)

Wen Tsai-tang was born in a poor family in a Hakka village in Miaoli. When he was young, he accepted the help of his teacher Chang Shao-chie (張紹杰) so he could continue his study. He upholds the belief of being a teacher and giving back to society. Besides helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds, he doesn’t forget his root as a Hakka person. To promote Hakka culture, he has traveled around Taiwan because he believes that it’s better for everyone to prosper together, and that as long as the Hakka people are doing well, the whole world will be better.

In the spring of 1979, as if pre-destined, Wen was given a chance to work at the Tainan Education Bureau. At that time, he did not know that there were Hakka people in Tainan, but because his surname was special, locals came to ask if he was a Hakka. Because of this opportunity, he began to participate in Hakka groups. He has since established the Meinung Hakka Association, and the Liudui Association for Hakka people in Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas so that they can connect with each other. After the establishment of the Hakka Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan in 2001, the associations could not directly communicate with the Council because they were not considered legally registered civic groups, so Wen established the Tainan Hakka Cultural Association.

During his tenure as the chairman of the Tainan Hakka Cultural Association, Wen invited scholars and experts who specialize in Hakka culture to help with an effort to build a brand new Hakka cultural museum in Tainan, where there were no Hakka villages. Hakka museums in other parts of Taiwan have their own local characteristics, and he and others believed that instead of demonstrating unique characteristics, the Tainan museum had better combine all the elements of Hakka culture and become a comprehensive Hakka cultural museum. It’s now the only one of its kind in Taiwan. Anyone who is not knowledgeable about Hakka culture only needs to set foot in the Tainan Hakka Cultural Museum -- it will not take them long to gain a more than 70% understanding of Hakka culture in Taiwan as well as in the world.

In order to market Hakka culture, Wen worked with five-star hotels in the food-famous Tainan to promote and innovate Hakka cuisine. He also continuously travels around Taiwan to give lectures on Hakka, culture and art, and organizes performances on school campuses. He even traveled overseas many times to give speeches and performances. Through such exchanges, he has found that among the 196 countries in the world, there are Hakkas in 94 countries, which means there are Hakkas in about half of the world.

Hakka culture has a very high value. The melodies of Hakka folk songs are unique and widely praised. Wen believes that we should nurture the next generation of talented performers, so that Hakka music and dance will not disappear.

For preserving Hakka culture, Wen calls on Hakkas to engage in more cultural exchanges rather than doing the work all by themselves. Since the establishment of the Tainan Hakka Culture Museum, whenever there are visiting groups from other places, he insists on personally receiving them and explaining Hakka culture to them. It’s not just because he wants to be a good host, he truly wants to dedicate his life to promoting Hakka culture and sharing his experience in managing a culture museum. In 2017, he received the Hakka Contribution Award from Taiwan’s government.