Director explains Cultural Olympiad Taiwan Pavilion's success

Taipei/Paris, Aug. 17 (CNA) The "mastermind" behind Taiwan's presence at the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad said the dedication of the entire work team demonstrated Taiwan's splendid cultural and artistic achievements to the world.

The Taiwan Pavilion, which attracted around 70,000 spectators during its 15-day run from July 21 to Aug. 10, succeeded in showcasing the country's diverse cultural heritage, according to the event organizer, Taiwan's Ministry of Culture (MOC).

The ministry also said that the pavilion at the Parc de la Villette hosted 57 performances.

The pavilion's workforce comprised 260 members, including personnel from the ministry and the Centre Culturel de Taiwan à Paris.

The pavilion staff also included executive and performance teams led by Neo Wu (吳季娟), the chief coordinator of administration and production.

Regarded by some staff as the behind-the-scenes "mastermind" of the Taiwan Pavilion, Wu modestly told reporters: "I still think of myself as the switchboard lady."

Wu explained that she had joined more than 30 Cultural Olympiad-related groups on LINE, a mobile messaging app that many Taiwanese use to communicate with each other.

Whenever someone raised a question and did not receive a response, the chief curator would step in as "switchboard lady" to make sure things were coordinated properly.

"I was just building bridges to help everyone communicate with each other," she explained.

Talking about the most memorable moment during the project, Wu said that it was when Taiwan's "Queen of Boxing" Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) won the Olympic gold medal.

"We always hoped for a beautiful ending for the Taiwan Pavilion, and Lin Yu-ting's gold medal match happened to coincide with the night of our closing ceremony."

In another serendipitous turn of events for the pavilion, a connectivity issue delayed part of the last day's performance by Taiwanese drag star Nymphia Wind, resulting in Lin's gold medal announcement fortunately coinciding with the final night's show.

"It was like a script written by God," she said, emphasizing that many things came together at the same time to create a wonderful moment for viewers in Paris and around the globe.

When asked why the word "Taiwan" was not present at the pavilion, Wu said sadly: "This is Taiwan's international dilemma."

Taiwan is compelled to compete as "Chinese Taipei" at the Olympics because of political pressure from China. But despite this injustice, Wu expressed a determination to "continue to use various creative ideas and slogans to show Taiwan."

"We believe that only by going out to perform, standing up and competing, and being seen [on the international stage], can Taiwan prove that it is a capable and indispensable part of the international community," Wu said.

She also mentioned that France's support for Taiwan moved her a lot, especially when the French announcer boldly introduced Team Taiwan to audiences by saying "it's not 'Chinese Taipei,' it's Taiwan!"

All in all, the Taiwan Pavilion at the Cultural Olympiad proudly showed the world Taiwan's true self. According to Wu, it was the dedication of all the Taiwanese people involved that had made this happen.