Yunlin Story House - Story House Introduction
The Yunlin Story House was originally the official residence of the Huwei District Governor, a Japanese-style wooden building constructed in 1920. In 2001, it was registered as a historical building along with the Yunlin Puppetry Museum and the Joint Office Building (Eslite Bookstore/Starbucks). It once faced the fate of demolition, but local residents, cultural historians, scholars, public representatives, and media personnel petitioned for its preservation. After renovation was completed in 2006, it began trial operations on March 8, 2007, and in December of the same year, it was entrusted to the Yunlin Storytellers Association for management, becoming the first successfully revitalized historical building in Yunlin County. This has led to cultural initiatives in Yunlin County; since 2014, it has been responsible for the operation of the Erlun Story House, followed by the establishment of the Tuku Story House, Yongguang Story House, and Taixihui Story House in other towns of Yunlin, marking a new chapter in the Yunlin storytelling movement. The 12th anniversary of the Yunlin Story House coincided with the 100th anniversary of Huwei's establishment as a county, featuring a special project—a large parade with 100 participants—to connect the surrounding four cultural centers and the Huwei Salon (independent bookstore), inviting samba dance performance groups from Douliu and various communities in northern, central, and southern Taiwan to participate. Emphasizing the idea that to create the desired culture, one must take action, the association uses the concept of "Sugar City (Huwei) - Puppet Theater (Buddha Jiaxi) - Culture (Story) - Journey (Taiwan Good Travel)" as the axis for creating a cultural living circle in Huwei. By revitalizing and reusing the Yunlin Story House in the culturally rich town of Huwei, it merges local life, culture, arts, and education, serving as a cultural platform for sharing, creation, storytelling, and preserving stories. Its operational goals focus on "local learning, learning locally," "future studies, learning for the future," and "happiness studies, learning happiness," fostering talents in storytelling through listening, speaking, reading, writing, and performance. It encourages people to create picture books, publish them, and experience the stories through "Traveling with Stories," validating local knowledge (local learning) through guided explanations, storytelling, fixed and traveling exhibitions, story travel kits, and sharing warm, true stories in Yunlin, Taiwan, and even around the world (happiness studies). Through talent development and public participation, the goal is to co-create the cultural foundation of Taiwanese stories (future studies). For 18 years, with the spirit of community building, local stories have grown from the Yunlin Story House (Yunlin Cultural Living Room). These stories, filled with the scent of the earth, are like pieces of a puzzle that outline people’s local perspectives. To date, over 140 original works by amateur authors have been published in multiple languages (Taiwanese, Japanese, English, Chinese, Indonesian, etc.). In the future, resources will be categorized and lesson plans designed, along with the development of signature stories and story theaters, digitalizing the collection (animations, podcasts, e-books, etc.), planning visits to community points for storytelling sharing, guiding the community in organizing local knowledge, and participating in Yunlin community picture book creation workshops. The influence of the story house has now spread across 203 locations in 22 counties and cities in Taiwan. In the future, through paper puppet storytelling (See You Again, Paper Puppeteer) and diverse translations, the calls from the stories "Those Years, These Matters" and "Taste of Hometown" will resonate from the heart, inviting everyone to co-create and share the cultural depth of Taiwan.
Yunlin Story House
Yunlin Story Museum Backyard
