The Taiwan Cultural Association endeavored in enlightening people’s minds and advocating new knowledge while promoting cultural and artistic activities. Its usual initiatives included publishing its bulletin, founding newspaper reading rooms and simple libraries, promoting Hanwen research, composing songs and ballads, and forming motion picture teams. At the same time, it also established branches around Taiwan, organized cultural speeches, and summer schools while setting up reading groups, youth associations, women’s associations and civilian clubs in Taiwan. The Taiwan Cultural Association organized frequently speeches, which received a large number of audiences. During the four years between 1923 and 1926, about 800 speeches were presented, attended by nearly 300,000 people. The public estimated that each speech had an average audience number of 370 people, which is the equivalent of 2,253 people by today’s population. According to the newspapers and people’s diaries at the time, the public received the speakers passionately, making these scenes as boisterous as temple fairs. Furthermore, it was not easy for ordinary people to see motion pictures in theaters back then. The Taiwan Cultural Association formed Motion Picture Teams to tour and screen films in towns and villages, which became a highly popular event among the public. These screenings were also accompanied by orators, such as Lu Ping-ting and Lin Chiu-wu, who would explain the silent films. After the split of the Taiwan Cultural Association, Tsai Pei-huo organized the “Mei-tai Group” and continued to screen films to enlighten the public and elevate people’s culture as a way to carry on the spirit and approach of the Taiwan Cultural Association. (Chou Wan-yao)
