Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract/Objectives

This literary landscape walking tour aims to deepen interdisciplinary dialogue on East Asian literature, colonial writing, and Taiwan Indigenous cultural studies through field investigation, comparative reading, and cultural exchange among international scholars. Centered on the literary sites around Sun Moon Lake—together with tribal rituals and Buddhist cultural-historical landmarks—the program draws on the 1921 route of Satō Haruo’s *A Journey to the Colony*, re-mapping Taiwan’s cultural position within an East Asian historical context while linking it to contemporary practices of cultural revitalization and sustainable heritage transmission. Through the design of the walk-based curriculum, the tour fosters research exchange among international scholars and helps collect and pilot cross-cultural teaching materials and humanities field-based resources for future teaching-practice projects.

Results/Contributions

Centered on Satō Haruo’s “Sun Moon Lake Travel Notes” and “The Traveler,” this itinerary guides scholars to reread 1920s colonial writings in sites such as Xiangshan and Xuanzang Temple, allowing literary texts and landscape contexts to corroborate one another and expanding transnational perspectives in Taiwanese literature and East Asian colonial studies. Through an introduction to Thao culture at Ita Thao Pier and visits to the pestle-song ritual, international scholars can closely observe strategies of cultural revitalization under modernization and tourism, recognizing Indigenous culture not merely as a textual symbol but as a living knowledge system.


A guided tour of Xuanzang Temple highlights the historical significance of the post–Sino-Japanese War return of Buddhist cultural objects. A visit to the Chung Tai World Museum, meanwhile, reveals the cross-regional circulation of Buddhist sculpture and artifacts from the medieval to modern periods, enriching comparative research in religious history and cultural heritage. Joined by scholars from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, the program strengthens East Asian literature and cultural studies networks through walking tours, discussion, and text sharing, and supports future academic projects, teaching practice, and collaborative research.


Keywords

A Journey to the Colony；literary walking tour (or literary landscape walk)；cultural revitalization

Contact Information

劉柳書琴
qabus@gapp.nthu.edu.tw