New Culture Foundation

The New Culture Foundation (新文化基金會) is a Taiwanese non-profit cultural foundation established in 1991 by Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who served as its founding chairman. It grew out of the ideas Hsieh had developed through the magazine Taiwan New Culture (《台灣新文化》), which he once ran to analyze and critique various aspects of Taiwanese reality and to advocate an ocean-oriented new culture that would reshape the cultural character of the Taiwanese people. Building on that magazine's founding vision and drawing on diverse experience, Hsieh created the foundation as an institutional vehicle to support and advance the new-culture movement. The foundation's stated platform holds that Taiwan is a maritime nation whose future must carry the features of an ocean culture — one that embraces diverse cultures and the different civilizations of the world. In its own words, Taiwan's new culture is the localization of the world's progressive culture; localization means Taiwanization, and the world's progressive culture is a culture of 'symbiosis' (共生). Over the decades the foundation has worked to promote this progressive new-culture movement in Taiwan. Its current chairman is Lin Yao-wen (林耀文), who came out of the foundation's New Culture Student Work Team (新文化學生工作隊), an indication of the organization's emphasis on cultivating younger generations. The foundation maintains an official website at ncf1991.com.tw, where it publishes its platform and organizational information.

The New Culture Foundation was founded in 1991 by Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who served as its chairman. Its origins lie in the magazine Taiwan New Culture (《台灣新文化》), which Hsieh once ran. That magazine set out to analyze and critique the various dimensions of cultural reality in Taiwan and to advocate the building of an ocean-oriented new culture aimed at reshaping the cultural character of the Taiwanese people. After the magazine period, Hsieh carried forward its founding ideas and, drawing on experience from various quarters, established the New Culture Foundation. The aim was to use the form of a foundation to support and promote the new-culture cause, and the foundation describes its efforts over the following decades as highly effective. The foundation's platform states that Taiwan is a maritime nation and that its future must be characterized by an ocean culture that embraces diverse cultures and the different civilizations of the world. In this framing, Taiwan's new culture is the localization of the world's progressive culture; localization means Taiwanization, and the world's progressive culture is a culture of 'symbiosis' (共生). Over time the foundation has placed emphasis on engaging younger generations, notably through its New Culture Student Work Team (新文化學生工作隊). Its current chairman, Lin Yao-wen (林耀文), emerged from that student work team, reflecting the organization's effort to cultivate new leadership from within its youth programs.

• 1991

  New Culture Foundation founded by Frank Hsieh, who serves as chairman.

• Frank Hsieh runs the magazine Taiwan New Culture, whose ideas later inspire the foundation.

• Lin Yao-wen, from the New Culture Student Work Team, becomes current chairman.

A cultural foundation promoting a progressive, ocean-oriented 'new culture' for Taiwan, defined as the localization of the world's progressive culture and a culture of symbiosis.

1. 1新文化基金會ncf1991.com.tw
2. 2綱領——新文化基金會ncf1991.com.tw
3. 3新文化基金會ncf1991.com.tw
4. 4New Culture Foundationwikidata.org