Chao-Shiang Li
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
Department of Cultural Heritage Conservation, Taiwan
Leisure has historically been a solemn activity since the 17th century’s Grand Tour in Europe. Until recent times, heritage has also been seen as serious leisure. The serious leisure perspective is a way of viewing the wide range of leisure pursuits in three main categories: casual leisure, serious leisure and project-based leisure. However, these categories seem to be gradually blurred nowadays. In Taiwan, the concept of heritage and leisure were introduced in the early 20th century. During less than a century’s development, the convergence between them and society is significant. At present, the heritage agenda in Taiwan is not only about serious issues, but also has playful inspirations. Owing to the progress of technology and globalisation, the approaches and appreciations towards heritage are changing in values and fit into leisure purposes. Two examples in Taiwan are the rising phenomenon of heritage selfie that has created a contemporary lifestyle across generations through social media; the other is the growing practices in relation to digitalising heritage, such as the Heritage App which adopts virtual reality. These cases exemplify the ways in which people’s shifting attitude is being merged with, and possibly by-passed, by an organic valorisation led by a popular culture approach.
(Presented in the conference : 2017 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Culture of Leisure – Balance of Life, 7-8 August 2017, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand)