Taitung to the Global Stage: Interview with Magistrate Ching-Ling Yao
From the Mountains and Sea of Taitung to the Global Stage: Magistrate Ching-Ling Yao on the Philosophy of Slow Living and Therapy for the Taitung Spirit Festival
From the Mountains and Sea of Taitung to the Global Stage: Magistrate Ching-Ling Yao on the Philosophy of Slow Living and Therapy for the Taitung Spirit Festival
Building a brand of celebration for the body, mind, and spirit, and resonance between the slow economy and local culture
Located in southwestern Taiwan and surrounded by the mountains and the Pacific, Taitung has held the Taitung Spirit Festival since 2021, a therapeutic celebration which is based on the core concept of “slowness” and exclusive to Taitung.
This bit of land has preserved well its purity and cultural identity. For the past four years, the event has taken place at the beach, in forests, and in local communities. By means of a dialogue between sound waves, the body, diet, and nature, instructors from all over Taiwan and overseas have shown participants that slowness is not just a temporary reduction in speed but an attitude toward life that can be felt and put into practice.
The festival is not just a major brand of Taitung; it has grown into an event in the field of the body, mind, and spirit, attracting attention from all over Asia. For many people, it is a journey of reconnection with the land and a renewed look at one’s inner nature.
It is precisely for this reason that we have come to this region defined by mountains and the sea to talk with Taitung Magistrate Yao Ching-ling about how the county continues to nurture its tender resilience by means of the slow economy amidst the global fervor for healing.
Q1: This year marks the fourth Taitung Spirit Festival, which is becoming a symbolic event of Taitung’s healing power for more and more people. From the original post-Covid vision to how it has attracted those in helping professions and other participants, what do you view as the significance of the event for Taitung?
The Taitung Spirit Festival was born from the ashes of a serious train accident in 2021, which killed dozens of passengers and injured over 200.
To comfort families of the victims, the injured, healthcare workers, social workers, and volunteers, who also suffered while providing frontline assistance, the Taitung County Government put on a series of therapeutic events to offer comfort and support in the body, mind, and spirit, which was expanded to welcome everyone.
Taitung has been developing along the lines of the slow economy, so we have a lot of events based on the concept of slowness, and the Taitung Spirit Festival is a reputed brand in that field based on the county’s special features: the mountains, the sea, and a slow yet profound way of life.
We considered how to transform Taitung’s slowness and sincerity into a new source of energy that allows people of the modern day to reconnect with the land and themselves.
After four years, the event has grown from being a celebration of therapy for the body, mind, and spirit to including a sense of being invited to return home, where people may rediscover a healthy pace of life through the media of nature and art. For me, it represents the bearing of our county, a home that pursues not speed but guidance on how to breathe and listen to your inner voice.
Q2: During the event, we often feel the spirit of slowness, and we see the county government driving the development of the “healing economy.” How do you think this concept is implemented in Taitung?
We believe that “slow” doesn’t refer to not doing anything; it means allowing everything to happen consciously.
Taitung is a place where people can learn to breathe. “Slow” is not just a description of the pace of life but the shared language of those who live here. Having developed from Taitung’s agrarian-based economy of the past to today’s direction focusing on tourism, art, and sustainability, the county is by no means in a hurry to achieve huge growth numbers; instead, we are choosing to evolve in a way that balances humanity and nature.
Our economic growth may not be as stellar as that of big cities, but our happiness index is stably rising because we have learned to walk slowly and steadily and listen to the sounds of life.
That concept is represented in the festival through various experiences including meditation at the beach, writing and drawing in a forest, and even crying during a sound therapy session. I view these images not as achievements of the event but as miniature representations of the culture of Taitung.
Q3: Now in the fourth year of the event, what are some of its new directions and highlights?
This year’s theme of “Go to Taitung and enjoy the richness of mountains and seas” brought us deeper into communities and Indigenous villages and closer to the nature of the land and life.
We put on a diverse array of activities, each with cool features. First was Pure Heart Slow Travel, centered on communities, which took place for the first time in Changbin Township and the Luanshan Indigenous community in Yanping Township.
The integration of natural scenery and local culture included immersive therapeutic experiences during which participants could slow down and feel an inner calm and awakening in the mountains and near the sea.
The Healing Workshop was a practical effort for the body, mind, and spirit that incorporated meditation, sound wave therapy, art therapy, delving into the subconscious realm of dreams, natural therapy, and limb therapy to teach participants self-healing skills and how to create energy fields with others.
With its celebratory atmosphere, the Summer Healing Festival gathered the energy of art and healing to help people mentally relax and recharge themselves through music, artistic performance, and interactive experiences.
For the Healing Salon (a new addition), reputed instructors from around Taiwan put on lectures and interactive workshops to guide participants in acquiring professional knowledge of the body, mind, and spirit and learning related skills for six days, during which nearly 2,000 participants, including almost 1,000 social workers, healthcare professionals, and teachers, attended.
These four series of events are extensions of the allure of Taitung’s mountains and sea, incorporating communities, culture, and art into experiences for the body, mind, and spirit and showcasing just how rich and fulfilling the slow life is here.
Q4: Finally, what do you want the festival to become?
I want it to be not just an event but an attitude toward life that can be carried forward. We’ll continue promoting the development of Taitung’s “map of healing,” bringing in more communities and industries to make the event a new model of tourism based on pursuing health in the body, mind, and spirit.
As places around the world are pursuing quicker connections and better efficiency, we are taking a different path, one that is bringing us to the world slowly so that each breath and every stopover is a bridge for dialogue with the world.
We hope more people will come here not just to travel but to experience a certain lifestyle and a return to their innate selves and nature. This is the healing power Taitung looks to share with the world.
