Cultural and creative products from Morakot post-disaster reconstruction areas displayed at Salon des Vacances 2012

The 54th “Salon des Vacances 2012 (Brussels Holiday Show 2012)” is coming this February 2 to the Brussels Expo in Brussels, Belgium. At the Taiwan Hall (Stand 7160) in Palais 7 (Le Village asiatique/pacifique) of this most important and largest travel fair in Belgium, Taiwan will display cultural and creative products and agricultural specialties from the Morakot typhoon post-disaster reconstruction areas.

In addition to bringing a strong folkloric atmosphere to the Taiwan Hall and promoting international exchange, these exquisite “crafts” with sharp colors made by the citizens from the Morakot typhoon reconstruction areas are solid evidence of the government’s success in helping victims of Morakot to develop native industries in the reconstruction areas. In fact, this is the second time for the Morakot Typhoon Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council to display the achievements of the characteristic industries and cultural and creative craft artists in the Morakot typhoon reconstruction areas, after the 16th Macau International Trade and Investment Fair held from October 19 to October 23 in 2011.

According to the Taipei Representative Office in Belgium, the Morakot Typhoon Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council and the Council of Indigenous Peoples have prepared for the show a wide variety of cultural and creative products made by citizens and agricultural specialties from the Morakot typhoon reconstruction areas. These cultural and creative products include boar tooth ornaments, shell flower leaf weavings, leather carvings, glass beads, and others. The agricultural specialties include Alishan high-mountain tea, Alishan high-mountain coffee (Alishan, Taiwu, Dewen, and Tengzhi), fig jelly, dried taro, and others. The Taiwanese tea experts settling in Belgium will demonstrate the brewing of high-mountain tea from the Morakot typhoon reconstruction areas at the show and share the great tea with visitors.

The Salon des Vacances 2012 held from February 2 to February 6 has seven halls (palais) occupying a total area of more than 40,000m2 with more than 700 exhibitors. Besides displaying the cultural and creative products and agricultural specialties from the Morakot typhoon reconstruction areas for the first time, the beauty of the national parks and ecology in Taiwan and the local characteristics will be displayed at the show, including five itineraries covering famous tourist attractions and specific ecology in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan, and offshore islands. Actively, tea art and calligraphy performances are arranged. Also, the “People’s Opera Theatre” will give three performances (one in the morning and two in the afternoon) of the “Plaisir des peuples autochtones” and the “Twelve Grannies Parade” to present the temple fair culture of Taiwan to Europeans. The organizer has also designed a bilingual pamphlet (French and Dutch) for visitors.

According to the organizer’s statistics, the number of visitors of the Salon des Vacances has been increasing every year since 2004 to 113,978 people in 2011, a growth of 2% over 2010. Since the participation of Taiwan, the visitor growth increased by 42%. This is the ninth time for Taiwan to participate in the event. Although the European sovereign debt crisis remains, the organizer is quite optimistic about the event and estimates that there will be more than 110,000 visitors. The multidimensional tourist attractions, multicultural features, and the efficiency and innovation of post-Morakot reconstruction in Taiwan will surely surprise Europeans again.
 

莫拉克重建區文創產品

莫拉克重建區文創產品