International Conference of Policy on Hakka Culture and Society takes place in Miaoli. Minister Liu spurs himself to realize equal rights and encourage diversity
As it approaches the 15th year of its setup, the Hakka Affairs Council held the "2015 International Conference of Policy on Hakka Culture and Society" on 13 June in the Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center in Miaoli as part of its celebrations. Liu Ching-chung, Minister of the Hakka Affairs Council brought up deep reflections as an observer and planner of Hakka policies, spurring the Hakka Affairs Council to continue to realize equality of the Hakka community and enrich Taiwan's cultural diversity with the constructive suggestions from various academic research as a foundation.
Liu pointed out that the Hakka Affairs Council was set up with 3 key objectives, which are to seek equal rights and not privileges for Hakka, harmony amongst Taiwan's different language-speaking communities and to ensure Taiwan's development as a multi-cultural society. Although Hakka Affairs Council's key role is to promote the passing on and development of Hakka language and culture according to the Hakka Fundamental Law, however, Liu emphasized that from a proactive aspect, the Hakka Affairs Council also shoulders the duty of ensuring Taiwan's cultural diversity, because this is the responsibility of the Hakka race as members of Taiwanese society.
This conference saw the reading of 21 papers, with content centering around 5 Hakka policy themes integrating "global management", "management structure", "history of development of management", "history of development of global management" and "regional rule", where over 30 academics and experts presented academic papers related to Hakka policies. Mike Robinson, director of the Ironbridge Institute, University of Birmingham, UK gave a keynote speech. Apart from the College of Hakka Studies (National Chiao Tung University), other Hakka research institutions including College of Hakka Studies (National Central University), College of Hakka Studies (National United University), Graduate Institute of Hakka Culture Studies, (National Kaohsiung Normal University) and Graduate Institute of Hakka Cultural Industry (National Pingtung University of Science and Technology) took part in the conference paper reading and discussion, making this a wonderful occasion for Hakka policy in Taiwan.
