100 Artistic Travel Experiences – The Romantic Taiwan Third Line Crosses Five Counties Special Exhibition

By / Scenic Spot Family Compilation & Report
 
Stretching across the land, the Taiwan Third Line is a winding chronicle of Taiwan’s development. The Romantic Taiwan Third Line Art Season takes this route as its spine, crossing five counties and cities, ten townships, covering a total of 150 kilometers, lasting 58 days, featuring 50 artworks, and 100 cultural exploration experiences.

The “Romantic Taiwan 3rd Line Art Season” unfolds from October 19 to December 15. The Council of Hakka Affairs has invited outstanding designers, artists, and professionals from various fields to participate, creating a place-based regeneration movement in the name of art, showcasing the achievements of Hakka cultural renaissance. Through town tourism and cultural experiences, it reshapes public perceptions of Hakka culture and helps uncover the traditional cultural characteristics of the ethnic group and the land, injecting new energy into a century-old Hakka heritage.

On October 19, the season launched at Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard with “Ketagalan Inner Mountain Day.” Created by master artist Lin Shunlong—who has participated in art festivals such as Setouchi Triennale and Echigo-Tsumari—“Ketagalan Inner Mountain Day” featured a massive mountain range platform and a persimmon cake land art installation in front of the Presidential Office. People basked in the sun under the lush Central Mountain Range, and also soaked up the romance.

On October 26, the “Dawo Chuanlongzhen Land Art Festival – Water Weaving Path” in Miaoli County debuted, followed next month by the “Shitan Old Times • Hakka Stroll” event. Combining land art and music performances, it takes visitors through century-old irrigation channels, ancient paths, and charming Hakka villages to experience the profound cultural richness of Hakka heritage.

The Dawo area in Dahu Township is one of the very few places in Taiwan that retains the complete topography of chuanlongzhen (a historic irrigation system). “Chuanlong” is a homophone of the classical character for “drill a hole” (穿窿), which in Hakka originally meant to dig tunnels. In those pioneering times, major developers such as Chen Lvxian and others chiseled out 12 ancient irrigation channels stroke by stroke. These channels, like threads of water, weave through mountains into fields, irrigating life and creating beautiful rural scenery.

The Dawo Chuanlongzhen Land Art Festival takes “Water Weaving Path” as its theme, inviting artists An Shenghui, Yidiao Gazhao, Fan Chengzong, and Weng Yihan to install four land art pieces along the chuanlongzhen. Led by local historians, visitors walk into the waterways hand-dug by ancestors over a century ago. The festival also offers sensory experiences related to irrigation canals and the five senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—to personally feel the pioneering spirit of Hakka forebears.