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This study is about why and how Taiwanese immigrants construct their cultural identie through public festivals within Canadian multicultural Society. The study stems from intrigue with prevailing practices in art education, both those characterizing Chinese as a homogeneous ethnic group and those viewing Chinese culture as a static tradition.

Analyzing cultural representation organized by the Taiwanese comrnunity, 1 argue that ethnic cultural festivals are not only a site where immigrants inquire into cultural identity, but &O a creative response to the receiving society's social context.

This study does not ask what Taiwanese culture is, but how it is constructed in

Canada. The Taiwanese studied are immigrants who came with a colonial history and a particular political experience. Two of their cultural festivals demonstrate how the selectivity of cultural production reveals the immigrants' view of themselves, and how they wish to be seen. The Taiwanese Cultural Festival and the Lunar New Year Festival reflect identity construction achieved through the dynamics of choosing and narning cultural elements which are important to them. Interview data provided by the festivals' organizers and participants suggest that cultural identity is a creative response to the multicultural context. In order to juste their place in the Canadian mosaic, the

Taiwanese emphasize their differences IÏom other Chinese descendants. Difference is a signifier for Taiwanese to select fiom a variety of ethnic markers and to interpret their colonial past. The Taiwanese Cultural Festival asserts Taiwanese particularity, congruent with a socio-political consciousness of the native land. The traditional Lunar New Year

Festival is a cultural statement that reflects immigrant parents and children reaching out to other Canadians. Both festivals intend to promote cross-cultural understanding among the general public and the festivals' end products are a showcase of ethnic representations. For the immigrants themselves, 1find that education happens during the process of constructing the festivals, thereby interpreting cultural heritage through inquiring into their past. In a multicultural society, festivals are intensive sites raising questions about cultural identity and social place.

Canada, largely composed of immigrants, is a place where ethnic groups fiorn different parts of the world coexist. It is a global village in miniature, where ethnic and cultural identities are becomuig a heated topic. The case of Taiwanese festivals in Canada demonstrates the selective process establishing cultural traditions and the complexities of identity formation. Particularity is emphasized in order to become a member of a multicultural society. The assertion of dserences allows post-colonial subjects to bd their past and search for means to live in the present. For Noah American multicuftura