[exclusive interview] step out of the road of local creation in Taiwan! Zeng Xuzheng, vice chairman of the National Development Commission: let young people return to the countryside

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The Executive Yuan has designated 2019 as the "first year of local creation," but what exactly is local creation? How is it different from the "community building" that has been promoted for many years in the past? When Taiwan transplants Japanese local creative experience, but the social systems and issues of the two countries are not exactly the same, how can Taiwan develop its own local creative version? What can we learn from Japan and what needs to be adjusted?

In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the policy implications and practical possibilities of promoting local creation in Taiwan, "upstream and downstream" interview with Zeng Xuzheng, vice chairman of the National Development Commission, who is an important driving force of local creation policies, has been engaged in work related to community construction for many years. In the past, he served as the director of the Institute of Architectural Art at Nanyi University, and also actively promoted students to participate in the construction of Tugou community. the following interview is presented in the form of questions and answers.

Xi Su Cang Village provides an abandoned primary school as a business base, and the picture shows trying to raise eels in a gymnasium. (picture source / upstream and downstream information photos. Photography / Alittle)

Q: how to prevent local creation from becoming a top-down plan or a cash grab plan of local governments?

A: we don't advocate top-down, we are still thinking about the way to interact with the local government, but it will break the idea of local money grabbing. It is meaningless to write a plan if it is just a competition. In the past, when the central government had any policy, everyone would think that it was a money-grabbing plan, but now many counties and cities are asking about how to write the plan.

When we open up our plans in the future, we will specially examine whether there is an adequate discussion process and good ideas can be implemented, instead of copying others and following others. The planned mode of operation will be submitted to the hospital for approval before the end of the year, including implementation details, guidelines for local proposals, and so on.

Proper competition is a good thing, and this is also the personality of Taiwanese. "if you lose, you will not lose, but if you lose, you will look at your face." When the villages and towns next door are very serious, local residents will question how their villages and towns are not moving, and healthy competition can become a source of motivation.

Q: is the local creation policy a short-term or long-term plan? If you leave one day, is it possible that the policy will be interrupted?

A: (local creation in Taiwan) the policy will not have a definite plan until the end of the year, but it is impossible to end in a year. Short-term plans will last at least four or five years. Long-term plans will have to be conceived again, but they will continue. Just like community building, for more than 20 years since 1994, many ministries still have similar plans within them. In Taiwan, if you want to build a community, you are not afraid of lack of resources, and local creation is also similar. Even if you change people in power in the future, it will continue.

This is an important time, because with the development of urbanization and industrialization in the past few decades, young people were born and raised in cities and lack rural experience. For them, the countryside is too strange and the soil is dangerous and dirty. This rural experience varies from generation to generation.

With the change of time, more and more new generations grow up in the city, and their understanding and devotion to the countryside will gradually disappear. at this moment, it is necessary to guide young people into the countryside and at least let them know that the countryside is not as bad as they imagine. a few people may be willing to stay. Most others may not stay, but it doesn't matter, at least they know the plight of the countryside and are willing to support it.

This society will not reverse its policies in a short period of time, but can only look forward to good practices, which can lead some people to follow some positive changes, "like a flame, do not extinguish it too quickly, and eventually start a prairie fire." I am in this state of mind, more strength to support successful cases, so that more people have confidence in this.

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