Games for Culture Exchange
2016 Yilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival in Taiwan to unite cultures through games
August 29th, 2016
Mi-ni Wu, CD News, CD News
Do you remember what kinds of games you used to play as a child? The Yilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival can reawaken your inner child with different folkgames, performances, workshops and exhibitions from Taiwan and 16 other countries.
The cultural festival organized by the government of Yilan County, takes place every summer in Yilan’s Dong-shan River Chin-shuei Park, located in the north-east of Taiwan. This year it was held from July 2nd to August 14th. The aim of the joyful festival is to provide outdoor activities for children in addition to promoting cultural exchanges.
Featuring “Children’s Games,” the festival displays folk games with different programs and facilities for children— and adults too—to have fun and share moments during the summertime. It combines four main forms: exhibitions, performances, games and exchange.
What is special about this event is that it includes different art performances and exhibitions from diverse cultures. Folk groups from all over the world come to Taiwan, promoting and sharing their folk art and culture. Since 1996, the festival has invited 296 teams from 91 countries in total to exchange their ideas and make friends with the public.
Interactive folk dance performances, the Day of Country with home dishes of each country, international groups gather together in Yilan and share their culture in an interesting and creative way. Among these programs, many performers are children who are coming to Taiwan for the first time. After their performances, they also have the chance to learn more about Taiwan by attending cultural exchange programs in Taiwanese schools and communities.
Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, said that the festival is an important platform for international cultural exchange, giving Taiwanese people a multi-cultural art feast and also “enabling the world to see Taiwan.”
“It is an event for people with different ages and from different countries,” Tsai pointed out. She attempted to get the world to try and know Taiwan by experiencing the life and joy of traditional folk culture through the programs.
The festival is the first Asian festival under the theme of “Children” that is recognized by UNESCO’s International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts (CIOFF) as one of the representative events in 2010.
References:
- http://www.yicfff.tw/en
- http://www.cioff.org/events-festival.cfm/es/799/China_Taipei-Yilan_Intern._Children_s_Folklore_%26_Folkgame_Festival_YICF_
- http://www.eventaiwan.tw/cal_en/cal_20063
- http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/16/7/12/n8091513.htm
See more at: http://www.cd-n.org/index.php?games-for-culture-exchange
