Sean Wang
Taiwan Ta-Ti Cultural and Educational Foundation has been promoting the social movement “Taiwanese People Should Worship Taiwanese Deities” since 2004. The underlying spirits of this movement are: 1) the significance of historical heritage; 2) the belief of building an independent country; 3) the will to achieve ideals. In short, we are advocating for the independence of Taiwan. We see February 28 Incidents as a representative symbol of resistance and take the historical background, challenges, deeds, and contributions of 59 Taiwanese deities as vivid examples to understand Taiwan’s history. Through these measures, we hope to build confidence and courage in Taiwanese people and deeply cultivating our cultural foundation. Our objectives are 1) to rebuild the historical heritage of Taiwanese people; 2) to pass down the experience of Taiwanese people; 3) to affirm the past achievements of Taiwanese people. We will accomplish our objectives by emphasizing the sacredness of faith through Taiwan's traditional worship ceremony. The first stage was from 2004 to 2010. We have been using social movements to preach Taiwanese deities to evoke our memories. The second stage began in 2007. We established "Taiwan Holy Mountain—Ecological Education Park" as a religious base and a memorial field to connect and recollect memories and amplified the sacredness of Taiwanese Deities of February 28 Incidents through solemn rituals. Since 2014 we began to publish books, which serve as a way of a social movement that interacts with Taiwan’s society in the spirit of giving sermons.
(Introduction of Taiwan Holy Mountain Park)
“Taiwan Holy Mountain” is a website I came across. A group of people build a religious park in a mountainous area to worship political victims as Taiwanese deities. At first, I was very excited and wanted to pay a visit and record the events. I thought this can reflect a particular political, historical, and cultural phenomenon in Taiwan. But soon, I hesitated. I did not believe that photos could record the holy mountain, just as the holy mountain could not represent Taiwan. What I really want to emphasize is this group of people is trying to “indicate” some particular existence through Taiwan Holy Mountain. So I created an observation deck with pictures that looked like the holy mountain. Still, because the deck was enclosed by exhibition walls, the viewer could not really see the scenery in the distance. All they can “experience for themselves” is the observation deck and illustration boards that served as an “indicator.”
Taiwan Holy Mountain is a mountain in Taiwan. I have never been there.