2007 台灣文化節特刊

President’s Remarks

Welcome to the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival, the highlight of Taiwanese American Heritage Week and Asian Pacific Heritage Month of May proclaimed by former President Clinton in 1999. Taiwanese American Heritage Week introduces the distinguished Taiwanese American heritages to the mainstream society, and promotes the image and welfare of Taiwanese Americans, This is the third year we have held the festival in Union Square, San Francisco, following last two year’s overwhelming attendance. This event is a wonderful opportunity to bring people together to enjoy Taiwanese cuisine and entertainment while celebrating the ethnic diversity that defines the United States.

With several other community leaders, we founded the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival Committee in 1993 and held the first festival that summer at Mitchell Park, Palo Alto, California. After gaining many years of work experience, publicity and more community volunteers, the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival has become one of the largest events sponsored by Taiwanese American Communities in Northern California.

Taiwan is an island located in the subtropical region at the southwest corner of Pacific Ocean, has a population of 23 million diligent people. Due to the geological location and historical evolvement, Taiwan has developed her unique and diverse civilization that is a mixture of the traditional agriculture and modern high-tech cultures, the aboriginal people and several different generation immigrants’ cultures, and the continental and ocean-oriented cultures. This year’s theme is “Experience Taiwan.” It features whole-day-long continuous performances of the traditional and modem dances, folk songs, puppet shows and martial arts. It also offers various kinds of exhibitions from ancient Taiwanese arts, handicrafts, and artifacts to the modem High- tech developments. Please experience several Taiwanese food delicacies.

Many thanks to the volunteers and financial supporters who have worked so hard to make this festival possible. I would also like to thank the City of San Francisco for providing this wonderful facility and offering their valuable help. We are very grateful for the assistance from the Taiwan government.

Above all, thank you for coming and I wish you all enjoy our program and have a very good time to experience Taiwan today.

Tze-Kuei Chu President/Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California