ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the transition of tobacco cultivation in eastern Taiwan from a thriving industry to historical remnants, which have subsequently been reinterpreted as local heritage. It describes a brief overview of the meaning of heritage, and introduces the historical background of the tobacco industry in eastern Taiwan. The chapter examines the relationship between tobacco farmers and tobacco barns and explains the reasons for the buildings being accorded heritage status. The initial aim of the initiative to preserve the local cultural heritage in Fonglin was to evoke local memories and re-embed them in the local landscape. Tobacco heritage could be conceived of as a synthetic means by which Fonglin succeeded in winning international recognition as a Cittaslow city in 2014. Many places in the world commemorate their local tobacco cultivation, but when that cultivation becomes a kind of heritage that is memorialised nationally or locally, the negative image of tobacco has the potential to cause controversy.