Lai He Memorial Hall Introduction
The development of Taiwanese literature has long been suppressed. After experiencing the rural literature debate in the 1970s and the political/cultural localization in the 1980s, the wave of the Taiwanese literary movement gradually broke through the restrictions imposed by the party-state. In 1994, to commemorate the centenary of the birth of writer Lai Ho, a private initiative led to the establishment of the Lai Ho Cultural Foundation. Lai Ho's descendants jointly donated to set it up. Writers like Chung Chao-cheng and scholars Lin Rui-ming and Lee Chen-yuan recommended candidates for the board of directors, which included academics such as Lin Rui-ming, Chen Wan-yi, Lu Hsing-chang, and Hu Wan-chuan; literary figures such as Chung Chao-cheng, Lin Heng-tai, Li Nan-heng, and Song Tze-lai; medical professionals such as Lee Chen-yuan, Jiang Tze-te, Zheng Chiao-ming, and Chen Yong-hsing; and people from politics and business like Liu Feng-song, Yao Jia-wen, Chen Wei-ming, and Shih Ping-huang, with family representatives Zhou Guang-hsiung and Lai Yue-yen, gathering personnel from all sectors. Lai Ho's grandson, Lai Yue-yen, served as the first chairman. In 1995, Lai Ho's eldest son, Lai Sang, and grandson Lai Yue-yen planned the Lai Ho Memorial Hall on the old site of Lai Ho Medical Hall, establishing the Lai Ho Memorial Museum. The museum houses a complete collection of Lai Ho's relics, books, paintings, manuscripts, and related literature, and it continually collects and exhibits manuscripts and artifacts from writers in the Changhua region, aiming to reconstruct the traditions and spirit of Changhua intellectuals during the Japanese colonial period.
