Far Eastern Big City Shopping Malls Conferred Asia’s Most Prominent CSR Awards under Social Empowerment Category

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 10 June 2019 – A total of 64 projects and business leaders across 16 countries in Asia were selected as recipients of Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) 2019, an increase of 19% from last year. Regarded as the top corporate social responsibility awards in Asia, this year’s ceremony was organized in Taipei, after being held in Macau, Singapore, Bangkok, and Manila previously.

Organized by Enterprise Asia, the leading non-governmental organization for responsible entrepreneurship in Asia, the AREA aims to recognize and honor Asian businesses and leaders for championing sustainable and socially responsible business practices. The award categories are social empowerment, investment in people, health promotion, green leadership, corporate governance, and responsible business leadership. Some of the dignitaries who graced the event include Mr. Chang San-cheng, former premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Mr. Hou Yu-Ih, mayor of New Taipei City.

Leading the list of winners under the social empowerment category was Far Eastern Big City Shopping Malls with their project “Co-hosting 8^th Vocal Asia Festival with Kehua Foundation to Realize Big City’s Vision of Promoting with Profound Impact the Preservation of Taiwan’s Native Culture and Hakka Folk Songs”.

Big City is the largest of its kind in Northern Taiwan, hosting an array of more than 260 retailing brands that offer an abundant selection of fashion, entertainment, sports and dining. It is also known as the largest indoor F&B Kingdom of Taiwan, featuring a venue of more than 60 local and international dining brands with seating capacity in excess of 3,800. Big City aims to provide one-stop shopping with the finest service experience amidst a most inviting environment.

Language diversity is essential to human heritage. Many different native languages embody the unique cultural wisdom of the people of Taiwan. However, UNESCO has listed Taiwan as one country with significant risk of native language extinction.

To raise awareness of this risk, Big City strives to promote language diversity and provide ongoing support of the expression, creation and dissemination of Taiwan’s native languages through education and musical performances. One concrete and effective means of achieving this is to encourage and facilitate folk song singing across all age groups. Big City is mindful of its intrinsic value as Northern Taiwan’s largest shopping mall that daily draws large crowds. The public open spaces throughout the mall can provide an optimal learning and performing venue for fostering and promoting the preservation and dissemination of native languages for all generations.

Since 2016, Big City has implemented a series of initiatives involving global cooperation and local networking of resources to promote music curriculums and performances, including co-sponsorship with the Vox Nativa Taiwan Association of a visit to Taiwan by the Poland Poznan Boys’ Choir.

It has also devoted intense effort to actively assimilate and boost intergenerational native language dissemination and cultural diversity via A-Cappella education, including co- organizing parent-child lessons and A-Cappella children summer camps.

The “2018 Hsin-Chu Vocal Asia Festival” was one of the successful events of this initiative by combining A-Cappella with Taiwan’s Hakka culture. The 8^th Vocal Asia Festival, co- hosted by Big City and the Kehua Foundation, comprised a series of A-Cappella master classes, an Asia Cup A-Cappella competition, the Hakkappella Concert, the A-Cappella Gala Concert, the A-Ca-Day festival and numerous simultaneous performances on Big City open stages between August 16 and 19 of 2018. This profoundly realized Big City’s mission of fostering public awareness regarding the importance of native culture and promoting Taiwan’s rich linguistic inheritance.

Big City realizes the importance of maintaining a long-term effort toward promoting language diversity if there is to be an enduring impact. Accordingly, it has continuously provided resources for A-Cappella education programs not only in the form of classes for all ages, but also master classes for music teachers.

Achievement and Impact

Through a combination of the Big City’s online and offline marketing and media resources, it was able to attract more than 20,000 live audience members and 4.8 million online viewers in their related music events.

Big City values the preservation of native culture and practices as one of the sustainable development goals set forth by the United Nations. While fostering an ongoing constructive contribution to society during this event, Big City was also able to provide its customers with the moving experience of encountering beautiful native songs performed in the mall, while earning the respect and trust from those who share the same vision of protecting endangered languages.

Future Direction

Big City will continue to devote its efforts to music education on behalf of preserving native culture. A series of Native Music Promotion Projects has been planned and is being implemented for teachers and students of different ages. It will involve various initiatives to bridge and connect resources from different industries, government agencies and universities, as well as provide performing stages to assist in promoting events that maximize audience size and participation.

Big City aims to be one of the most respected and influential platforms for the collaborative effort to promote native music and cultural education in Taiwan. It gladly shares in shouldering the responsibility of ensuring that no native languages disappear, and is dedicated to the goal of fortifying, maintaining and perpetuating native culture for many generations to come.