Heritage preservation is a field of social action filled with controversies, whose outcomes are not only determined by the power relation among social actors, but are also a product of structural tendencies. This article attempts to explain why the Bopiliao movement in Taipei changed from protesting land acquisition to making demands for preservation, and points out the emergence of a new regime of cultural governance as the structural condition that led to the partial success of the preservation movement. The author then argues that the concept of the regime of cultural governance can provide a middle-range theory for heritage production.