Eastern Group is much lauded for its long-standing commitment to indigenous welfare activities, and it has been 15 years since the “Breakfasts Made of Love” program was implemented for indigenous school children in 2007. The National Chengchi University (NCCU) is a leading academic research institute for indigenous culture in Taiwan. Today (30th), Eastern Group and NCCU held an industry-academia collaboration press conference, where they announced their joint participation in the Indigenous Intensive Development Project. For this project, Eckare will invest NT$5 million, while the Center for Aboriginal Studies of NCCU and Chi Cheng, executive consultant, will serve as advisors; in addition, the Golden Bell Awards production team will film programs related to indigenous culture, cuisine, and cultural and creative industries. With the abundant resources of ETtoday, a new media under Eastern Group, we hope to preserve and promote the culture of indigenous cultures, and to drive local tourism. Let’s work together to ring in the Golden Bell Awards next year!

The press conference kicked off with an Atayal song and dance performance by students from Baiji Elementary School in Daxi, Taoyuan, which is under the sponsorship of Eastern Group’s “Breakfasts Made of Love.” In addition to President Gary Wang of Eastern Group and President Kuo Ming-Cheng of NCCU, Chairman Chi Cheng of the Hope Foundation, and Vice Presidents Chao Yi and Chu Mei-Lie of NCCU, were among the distinguished guests who attended the event.

Eastern Group has long been committed to indigenous welfare activities. The “Eastern Charity Foundation” was established with the ideal of “Care, Warmth, and Happiness” and has helped over 30,000 school children in indigenous communities since the implementation of the “Breakfasts Made of Love” service in 2007. Gary Wang stated: “When Eastern held events in rural communities, we discovered that many indigenous children were living with their grandparents. We wanted to help take care of the children’s breakfasts, so that they would have more energy and motivation to attend school. Therefore, the Eastern Charity Foundation began the ‘Breakfasts Made of Love’ program. I’m very grateful to the Eastern personnel who have come together to participate in such public welfare activities, and to our most caring Eastern members who have quietly supported us for 15 years.”

Kuo Ming-Cheng, President of NCCU, said: “We live together in a fortunate land where we are all connected by our hopes and actions. Taiwan is what it is today because of the indigenous cultures that have protected the land and have become a part of our shared culture, a part of our lives, and a part of our identity. As a leading university in social sciences, we will definitely not be absent from this. NCCU is the executive university of the Austronesian Forum; we hope that NCCU will design new indigenous studies and Austronesian cultural studies programs in the future. We also hope that more Austronesian students will come to NCCU. I would like to thank President Wang for his efforts, I saw the video of Eastern’s Breakfasts Made of Love earlier and I was deeply moved by it. I am certain that we will achieve even greater things because of Eastern. We have the opportunity to have the support of President Wang and Eastern Group. Together, I am certain we can do even better.”

President Gary Wang added: “I am very grateful to Vice President Chao Yi for bringing us together, giving Eastern an opportunity to collaborate in the NCCU films to pass on indigenous culture. This kind of film production can help promote the cultural assets of indigenous communities, and it is a great honor for Eastern to participate in it. I went to New Zealand once and I was deeply moved by seeing how the Maori people were respected as a national treasure. Therefore, when I was a member of the Legislative Yuan in December 1996, I promoted the establishment of the Council of Indigenous Peoples and participated actively in the whole process, and even established the Eastern Charity Foundation to promote the Breakfasts Made of Love program for indigenous children in remote areas. Breakfasts Made of Love was possible not because of my individual efforts, but thanks to the love of all Taiwanese people. ETMall’s 9 million members have achieved NT$12 million in transaction amounts, and almost 75% of members are willing to donate their invoices. I was very impressed when I heard earlier about President Kuo’s work in social sciences. In the future, there will be even more opportunities to work together with NCCU to support the development of the indigenous communities. Eastern gives back to society what is taken from society. We will do our best to support the development of this project.”

NCCU is a leader in the study of indigenous culture and has set up the Center for Aboriginal Studies. They were able to increase the number of officially recognized indigenous groups from the original nine to 16. As the driving force behind the collaboration between NCCU and Eastern, Vice President Chao Yi of NCCU, who was formerly the vice president of Eastern Group, said: “We hope to build a bridge of cooperation between academia and industry, so that the valuable assets of the indigenous people can be passed on, and even linked with the entire Austronesian culture as an important global cultural heritage.”

In recent years, issues concerning indigenous school children in Taiwan have gradually shifted from everyday issues to cultural-heritage level of importance. Gary Wang is particularly grateful to President Kuo and Vice President Chao Yi of NCCU for facilitating this collaboration between the university and Eastern Group, that is proposing a preservation project by filming indigenous culture. Faced with the aging of the tribal elders and the loss of culture, it is particularly meaningful to preserve the precious audiovisual resources for future generations. Furthermore, this project can enhance exposure and publicity through the series of programs to revitalize the existing indigenous cultures, as well as promote indigenous cultural-creative brands and the cultural creative and tourism industries. Eastern hopes to do its part to help indigenous people and to preserve Taiwanese culture.