In response to the European Heritage Days 2020’s theme “Heritage and Education,” the Bureau of Cultural Heritage sets the theme for National Heritage Day as “Heritage Education, Flipped Learning, and Creativity.” The Bureau of Cultural Heritage designated the culture capital of Taiwan—Tainan City as the host city for the National Heritage Day. The event opening ceremony was held on September 19 in front of National Cheng Kung University Future Venue square. The opening ceremony was attended by the Ministry of Culture Deputy Minister Hsiao Tsung-huang, The Bureau of Cultural Heritage Director General Shy Gwo-long, Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-cher, and representatives from other counties and cities in Taiwan. Together, the attending guests inaugurated 2020’s National Heritage Day.
The main event in Tainan is named Guji Heritage. Guji (咕嘰) is a Chinese onomatopoeia for a mumbling sound and is a homophone of the word “heritage” (古蹟 guji). This name was chosen in the hope of invoking the child within all of us, and through lively, creative and fun events, the organizer hopes to close the distance between historic sites and the general public and reconnect the historic memories with the people and the land. To help future generations develop a better awareness of the importance of cultural heritage preservation, four guji mascots from the future, which represent space, environment, matter, and spirit, were created by the event organizer. The four guji creatures decided to travel back in time to start a “future classroom” to teach knowledge of cultural heritages to the public through interactive games. These games were set up with the hope of inspiring more education on cultural heritage preservation.
Furthermore, Tainan City collaborated with 16 other local governments and organized a series of heritage events running through September and October. Events included “Roaming Taipei: Travel Hundred Years Back In Time,” Kaohsiung City’s “A Fantasy of Mountain and Sea,” and Magong Old City’s musical “A world of Historic Sites: Magong City Class.” Hopefully, through this series of events, each county and city in Taiwan can showcase the unique charm of their cultural heritages and give the public a different cultural holiday. Moreover, the organizer hopes the events can promote the importance of protecting cultural heritage and help the public understand current international trends regarding cultural heritage preservation.