The results of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s "2024 Taiwan Healthy Cities and Age-Friendly Cities Awards" have been announced. Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government’s was awarded the "Co-Aging Award" for its project titled "Five-Senses Nostalgic Phonograph, Cultural Relics Therapy Treasure Chest." Through interdepartmental collaboration, the Bureau worked with the Social Welfare Bureau, the Health Bureau, the Hakka Affairs Council, and the Indigenous Peoples Commission to integrate museum collections and develop the treasure chest in response to the needs of seniors and healthcare facilities.

The treasure chest features cultural relics from Taichung Military Kindred Village Museum, the Old Farmhouse Cultural Museum in Taiping District, and herbal resources from the Lifu Museum of Chinese Medicine. In collaboration with medical institutions like Asia University's Department of Nursing and Tung's Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital, portable treasure chests have been created to bring cultural relics into community spaces.. This initiative encourages seniors to engage with cultural relics, enhancing social activities, and inspiring them to visit museums and local cultural centers, thus promoting mental well-being through cultural therapy.

According to Director Chen Jia-Jun, the Cultural Affairs Bureau has been collaborating with healthcare units and cultural institutions for the past two years to develop treasure chests featureing nostalgic cultural relics. These chests engage seniors through multi-sensory activities, offering stimulating experiences By stimulating the senses, these activities help seniors engage in diverse experiences and foster better interactions between seniors and cultural institutions. Amid the trend of an aging society, the Bureau is ready to continue strengthening the connection between the community and seniors,using cultural venues as little carrots to enhance social bonds with seniors, promoting joyful and inclusive environment in super-aged society.

The Cultural Affairs Bureau also expressed the hope that museums and local cultural centers can harness the power of cultural and knowledge dissemination to become community hubs for the greater good. By using the treasure chests to bring relics out of the museums, seniors are encouraged to broad their social acticity and explore more local knowledge and culture. After these activities, participants will receive a "Lezhi Card," offering rewards for museum visits as a way to draw seniors into these cultural venues. In the future, the goal is for seniors to serve as "Human Libraries," sharing their knowledge and experience to enrich Taichung’s cultural vitality.

Building an all-age-friendly city is a long-term effort effort that relies on collaboration and resource integration across various government and private organizations. The goal is to enrich citizens' lives with cultural vitality, fostering a sense of common good and joyful, inclusive aging. Taichung City remains committed to its “Citizen Museum” project, which promotes local knowledge and works alongside citizens to build an inclusive and livable city.