Pingtung County on the southernmost tip of Taiwan is home to a national park, two national scenic areas, and three forest recreational areas. The population here is a varied mix of aborigines, Hakka, and new immigrants. The natural beauty and cultural inheritance of this place is abundant and diverse. Pingtung also leads the rest of the nation with its innovative policies, such as the groundbreaking decision to grant participation rights to children. Children are the future, so the city consults their opinion to build inclusive playgrounds which transform the entire city into a big amusement park. 

But to people from the outside world, their impression of Pingtung often goes no further than “that friendly farming county” or just “Kenting” (the national park). How best to put Pingtung back on the map? The county government strives tirelessly to create a local brand, to make “Pingtung” more than just the name of a geographical location, but a byword for “good living.”

After the Taiwan Lantern Festival (台灣燈會) at the beginning of this year, people began to pay attention to this county at the tail end of Taiwan. No one imagined the remotest place on the island could put on the loveliest light show in the country’s history.

The 2019 Taiwan Lantern Festival at Pingtung County (Source: Official Facebook fan page of Magistrate Pan Men-an)

“We turned bemusement into excitement!” Pan Men-an (潘孟安), Magistrate of Pingtung County, says with glee. This little city has been building up its energy. It’s unfettered by tradition, eager to step outside its comfort zone, and ready to challenge itself to become something better. Old-fashioned bureaucratic thinking could never produce such tantalizing results. Such is the case with the six issues of “Tourism Brochures of Pingtung”, published recently. They’re an expression of aesthetics in the Pingtung style. They turned people’s expectation of Pingtung on its head. 

“By the Book” Thinking is Not Welcome Here

Pingtung County Government’s Information and International Affairs Department (屏東縣政府傳播暨國際事務處), which is responsible for producing these booklets, says making new travel guides every year is a routine affair. You write and print the brochures, then you distribute them at tourist attractions or during domestic and international tourism exhibitions. What they realized was, they never stopped to think: “Do people really like, care about, or even want to keep these paper brochures?” “Did the county government spend all this time and money to print propaganda that’s just going to sit there?”

What’s more, tourism nowadays is not like tourism before. People are less passive about how they collect information. They actively throw themselves into the act of finding a new place to explore.

Because of this, the thought process behind the creation of these popular booklets was simple: throw “by-the-book” thinking out the window. The brochures had to be unique, comfortable to read, and something people would want to treasure. They had to convey all the beauty of Pingtung directly to the reader, to seduce the reader into visiting beautiful Pingtung. 

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Once they determined to produce a dazzling new kind of propaganda, the Information and International Affairs Department gathered intel on industries, cultural attractions, scenic spots, restaurants and stores that have become popular in Pingtung in recent years. They then rearranged the information in six different categories: coffee, desserts, rice products, reading, mountain, and sea. They collected text information and photos from each attraction, then interspersed them with cutesy sketches to complete the six tourism brochures. (Read: How Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau Created Unexpected Buzz with an Artsy Calendar)

What’s more, the instructions contained within each booklet are more than just informative. They went the extra mile to include stuff like mountain climbing etiquette, surfing tips, etc. There’s even an illustrated guide to making Hakka flat noodles. “We hoped to pique people’s interest in Pingtung with visual beauty; we wanted people to actually visit us after reading the brochures,” says Department Director Huang Chien-chia (黃建嘉). Ultimately, they wanted to evoke an emotional response with these publications. 

Trusting the Talent of a Twentysomething  

The design company Pingtung outsourced the production of the booklets to is called “Gather Design” (聚流設計). Its team of artists are surprisingly young. Tsao Yu-chen (曹語蓁), the girl in charge of the sketches and overall design, just graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at the Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology (南台科技大學視覺傳達設計系) last July. Though she’s worked in the field for only a year, her refreshing style of sketching pictures has made her something of an artistic ingenue. 

“One little sketch in the booklet might’ve gone through a dozen drafts before it was accepted.” Gather Design prides itself on the self-discipline of its employees. Tsao set very exacting standards for herself in order to achieve perfection. 

Photographer Chen Chien-hung (陳建弘) is also fresh talent, having graduated from the Department of Communication Arts at the Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages (文藻外語大學傳播藝術系) only three years prior. He’s been shooting pictures since his university days. His attention to detail is evident in the camera angles he favors, and his photos demonstrate a style of their own. Paired with Tsao’s colorful sketches, the photographs and illustrations bring Pingtung to vivid life on the pages of the brochures.

“From Export to Import”: A New Marketing Tactic 

Having produced these lovely booklets, the next big question is: how to make sure everyone gets to see them? Director Huang Chien-chia feels it’d be a pity to only preach to the choir, to distribute the brochures among locals who already appreciate the beauty of their own home. The County Government must lean in and mail these publications to hipster cafes and restaurants all over Taiwan, to attract an influx of tourists by first exporting the fruits of its creativity. If frequenters of those establishments could be drawn into visiting Pingtung, perhaps more and more people will rediscover this remote region of Taiwan. 

They never expected these government-made tourism brochures to become internet bestsellers and attract the attention of the nation. People are reevaluating their perception of government literature. “Good work will always be recognized.” The Pingtung County Government promises to keep impressing the outside world with new and exciting creations. 

Translated by Jack C.
Edited by Sharon Tseng

FutureCity@CommonWealth is a sub-channel of CommonWealth. Aspired to become a communication platform for citizens, corporates, and government through reports on model cities, technology application, expert insights, and civic participation, FutureCity@CommonWealth is committed to explore the potentials of a better city life.