Cultural tourism facilities play a key role in turning Miaoli County into a livable, tourist-friendly, and healthy city. Miaoli County’s performance and concrete outcomes in cultural tourism in the past six months are as follows:

　First of all, for the promotion of wood sculpture art and culture, from April to August 2022, the county government organized five exhibitions with celebrated wood sculptors invited, themed exhibitions displaying their works, and women’s art exhibitions; invited wood sculptors to a total of 46 events; hosted the “Program for the Nourishment of Traditional Wood Sculpture in Sanyi”, “International Exchange Exhibition of Wood Sculpture”, “Taiwan International Competition Exhibition of Wood Sculpture”, “Asia Youth Wood Carving Training Camp”, and other activities. About 40,000 people participated in these activities.

　Secondly, with regard to support for performance art activities, during the government’s 8-year administration, the first administrative institution outside the six municipalities “Miaobei Art Center” (MbAC) was established. As of 2022, the MbAC has organized the “Miaobei Arts Festival” for three years to deliver excellent performances combined with global perspectives and local cultures. It also held the 1st “Miaoli Coastal Land Art Festival”, the “Miaoli Arts Festival” for the fifth time, the “Miaoli Diam e’ Fringe Festival” for the second time, the “Miaoli Music and Dine Festival” for the fifth time, and other existing events, reviving local cultures and creating an entirely new look for art-based performances.

　As for the promotion of Hakka affairs, the county government was rated “Excellent” (in the County/City Government category) by the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) and won the first prize in the country for four years in a row with a reward of NT$5 million for its performance in adopting Hakka as a common language in 2021. Moreover, the government continued organizing the “Hakka Folk Music and Tea-picking Opera Performance”, “Hakka Artist Concert”, and “Hakka Arts Carnival - Courtyard Dance Competition”, published Hakka digital calendars, and assisted Dahu, Sanwan, and Sanyi Township Offices in obtaining grants from the HAC for Hakka festival-themed art and industrial innovation and value addition events to showcase Miaoli’s rich Hakka culture.

　In regard to the development of cultural and creative sectors, Miaoli has implemented the “Community Empowerment and Village Culture Development Project” and organized the “Miaoli Pottery Arts Festival” on an ongoing basis. In order to vitalize Miaoli Cultural Park, the government has sought resources from the Ministry of Culture and the HAC to renovate the park and organized the “Miaoli Pottery Brand Building Program” “Pottery Talent Cultivation Workshop”, and “Kid Curator Camp”. With the aim of enlivening Miaoli Cultural Park, Miaoli built a pottery and agricultural product exhibition and sales platform by putting the lease of exhibition and sales space out to tender. 10 organizations eventually won the tender and moved in, including Miaoli County Farmer’s Association, Kung-Kuan Farmer’s Association, Miaoli County Tourism Association, Mao Shiang Tan Fang, Revolving Pottery, Miaoli County Ceramic Arts Association, Esther Workshop, Yeh Hui-Mei Pottery Workshop, Miaoli County Culture and Arts Association, and Miaoli County Golden Town Promotion Association. Since the Phase 1 opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on December 18 last year, the park has opened every weekend for a soft opening.

　In an attempt to facilitate the preservation of cultural heritage, over its 8-year administration, the government has identified seven county historic sites, 29 historic buildings, two cultural landscapes, 11 general antiquities, and one historic site as tangible cultural heritage, designated one folk culture, seven traditional art performances, four traditional crafts, one oral tradition, and one preservation skill preserver as intangible cultural heritage, registered a total of 30 new preservation skill preservers, and added 14 intangible cultural heritage categories.

　For the preservation and maintenance of tangible cultural heritage, 13 survey research, restoration, and regeneration projects for Houlong Waipu Stone Weirs, Miaoli Barn, Quan-Song Hospital in Zhunan, Sericulture Experimental Center in Dahu, Dahu Chief Police Officer’s Dormitory, Sanyi Jian Zhong Elementary School Principal’s Dormitory, etc., four restoration planning and design and response projects, 12 management and maintenance projects, one historic site and building protection personnel training and disaster drill plan, 10 antiquity projects, one repository building project, two projects for installing anti-disaster systems and equipment and building literature archives, and three professional cultural heritage protection center projects have been implemented. With respect to the restoration of historic sites and buildings, a total of 14 emergency repair and restoration projects have been undertaken for the county historic site Shanjiao Tsai Family Temple, the historic building Tianxin Xie Family Chenliu Temple, the historic building Tongxiao Shrine Resting Center, and five historic buildings in the northern part of Chuhuangkeng. Furthermore, the county government has carried out 10 cultural management plans and three building renovation plans in the Miaoli County Old Building Preservation and Rejuvenation Project. As for large-scale projects, 14 Phase 1 subprojects and eight Phase 2 subprojects in the Miaoli Chuhuangkeng Mining History Site Revitalization Development Project have been implemented with a total budget of NT$251,500,000. With regard to the preservation and maintenance of intangible cultural heritage, a total of 17 preservation, maintenance, and inheritance projects have been launched. On the publication front, six Miaoli Literature issues and 16 publication series related to Miaoli County have been published.

　To promote tourism marketing, the government has run a fan page “Have Fun in Miaoli” with a mascot, Miaoli Cat, on Facebook with over 240,000 followers. Miaoli County has also encouraged more people to use the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Bus plying the Nanchuang route. From January to July 2022, the shuttle bus carried up to 12,433 passengers. Miaoli County took the lead to organize the Slow Fish campaign for the fourth time in Taiwan, received consecutive grants provided by the Ocean Affairs Council, and was awarded a grant from the Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior for the “Sustainable Coasts in Miaoli” project this year. Thanks to the continuous effort of the county government’s team, 15 “Industrial Exchange Workshop” sessions, 11 “Slow Fish Docent Training” sessions, 11 “Slow Fish Featured Tour” sessions, and 21 “Blue Education” sessions have been organized for Miaoli’s Slow Fish campaign, delivering fruitful achievements. In the “Taiwan Golden Hot Spring Award” organized by the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), “Tai’an Hot Spring” in Miaoli County was selected as the winner of the “Perfect Hot Spring Award – Silver Prize” and the “Top Value Hot Spring Award – Golden Prize” among 19 hot spring areas across Taiwan. In response to the “Domestic Leisure Travel Subsidy Program” launched by the Tourism Bureau, MOTC, the Miaoli County Government has drawn up the “Miaoli Tourism Revitalization and Marketing Project” where drawings have been held for the “Tourism Festival” from September 1 to December 31, 2022, in the hope of stimulating the tourism industry in Miaoli County. In recent years, Miaoli County has been ranked among the best in Taiwan in terms of the hotel reservation rate during long weekends, such as the Moon Festival, National Day, New Year’s Day, Lunar New Year, and Peace Memorial Day.

　Last but not least, in respect of the construction of cultural and tourism facilities, the Tourism Bureau, MOTC has approved three projects, the “Houlong Sea Breeze Landscape Corridor Service Facility Betterment Project”, “Tai No. 16 Long Fong Tourist Stop Betterment Project”, and “Sanyi Old Western Trunk Line Tourist Service Facility Betterment Project”, to build a coastal cultural tourism belt and a leisure tourism belt connected to the Old Western Trunk Line. The government has created tourist and recreational attractions through the “Minghu Lakeshore Recreational Belt Project” with a budget of NT$204,400,000 approved by the central government. The project aims to turn Miaoli into a tourist hotspot with a focus on the “one lake, two islands, three routes, four revitalization measures, and five themes”. The “Hakka Literature Garden Project” and “Hakka Literature Garden Tourist Center Decoration Project” have been planned and designed. The government is promoting private participation in the projects in a proactive manner and expects to complete a public solicitation of private investors by October 2022. The Wild Filming Park first built by Miaoli County is expected to begin a soft opening in 2023. The railbike service has attracted over 1.5 million visitors since its official opening on July 1, 2019. In spite of the pandemic’s impact in 2020 and 2021, the service continued unabated.