Reading is key to a nation's cultural development, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said at today's 37th Golden Tripod Awards ceremony in Taipei. During the event, he presented a special award to Li Chin-lien, former editor of the China Times' book review section, for her 24 years of finding and promoting good books and creating a better publication environment.
Premier Jiang stated that the Golden Tripod Awards, which was inaugurated by the Executive Yuan in 1976, represents the government's affirmation of the nation's excellent publications and is also intended to encourage more creative writers to invest themselves in this important field. He also expressed his expectation that the publications honored today can be appreciated by even more readers at home and abroad, as the reading of well-written works is a key to the continuous development of a nation's cultural heritage.
"As Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once said, philosophy is its time apprehended in thoughts," the premier said. "Philosophy is an epitome of an epoch expressed in the form of thoughts. Similarly, publishing is a society apprehended in language and images. That is, a society's diverse thoughts, expectations and emotions are expressed in words and pictures through publication.
"Through publishing, a society's thinking and orientation can be known. With the advance of time and technology, the meaning and medium of published works are also expanded. Now, publishing is no longer limited to print, and the advent of digital publishing is a trend that we need to embrace even if we have yet to grow used to it."
The premier congratulated the award winners and thanked the panel of judges for their hard work and publishers for their dedication to the industry and for helping Taiwan's published works to enter the global market. "As long as we work together toward the same goal, I believe Taiwan's publishing industry will always have bright prospects regardless of the changes ahead for the industry," he said.