School: Zhong Zheng senior high school
    Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

5 students, ages 16-17 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2005. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2002, 2003, 2004

Classes and Teachers: Holung (Peter) Lai

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.ccsh.tp.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

The community that we have selected is a place that still retains the taste of the olden days of Taiwan.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our project is done on the lanterns that are sold in our selected community. Lanterns play an important part in the lives of Chinese people and are an ancient art that has been passed on for generations. Because the culture of lanterns and the making of lanterns are gradually being forgotten by the younger generation, we have decided to use 'lanterns' as our project.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:none

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:1

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

In school: T1

At home: ADSL

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Lantern stores have all but vanished in the modern cities of Taiwan. Though we still celebrate the Lantern Festival, it is still really hard to find a store that sells lanterns as their main attraction. This is the very first problem we faced. However, we were lucky enough to have a teacher whose sister owns LMC, the only lantern store in our city. We found him and started the interviews and started to make our project. During the time, the biggest problem was to translate Chinese articles and riddles into understandable English. Sometimes it is really hard to find a proper word in English to describe a certain situation. We didn't have any problems community-wise, nor between the students or teachers concerned. We had a great time working together for our common goal.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Lanterns are not just relics of the past; they are a part of Chinese traditional art and culture that should be appreciated.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

A project of this sort should be based on self-motivation and should be a burden to any of the participants. During the time we worked together on the project, there was not only a great sense of enthusiasm, but also a sense of learning a lot of knowledge. We learned, for example, that each kind of cultural art has its own history and beauty point. Meanwhile, we also learned skills of statistical analyzing and generalize conformation to interpret the developing process. These are what we learned from the research. Yet the most valuable thing was learning how to respect others through the discussing process; to adopt different ideas and combine them all together to make this project a perfect work. This is something we can't learn through the text books. The importance of team work is not something that can easily be denied or pushed into the background.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

Hardware we used: 1.Phones & Cellphones - good to use when you can't find someone on the Net 2.Digital Camera - Pictures can be used directly, creating no waste and saving a lot of film development fees for us 3.Printer - Invincible when we want to view our files on paper PC Indispensable. It runs all our software 4.Recorder - Equipment To take down our interviews quickly and accurately 5.USB Portable Driver - Floppy discs are fast succumbing to the smaller but larger storage capacity of the portable drive

Software we used: 1.PhotoImpact 8.0 - An easier image processing software that produces good results, too 2.Yahoo messenger 7.0 - Our main line of communications 3.CuteFTP 3.0 - A safe and easy way of uploading and downloading files 4.WinRAR 3.2 - Compresses large files for faster transmission 5.Windows Notepad - Easy to use, and good for storing information temporarily 6.Office XP sp-2 - Contains everything from word processing to webpage design 7.Dreamweaver MX2004 - A beautiful webpage design software that integrates 8.Flash MX 2004 - animation with webpages perfectly Photo

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

We usually maintain contact through telephones or cell phones, because it's fast and easy. Mr.Chang was one of people we contacted by phone. Upon hearing about our project his voice became very excited and he came to visit us at our school to give us information as well as getting to know as socially. We still keep in touch now. About half an year ago we met an art teacher at our school. We went to his office and asked to borrow some lantern books from him. He agreed immediately, after signing an agreement with us that we should return the books 1 month later. But the books are still lying on our shelves. And the teacher's….er….not happy….. ^^' We promise to return the book as soon as we upload our pages, though ^^'

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Traditional culture deserves respect in its own right. People can learn to love their country and their country’s culture through traditional art.They will then have an artistic sense that can clease their soul. Our classmates are the best examples. Now they ask questions concerning lanterns and ancient Chinese art(s) instead of technology questions.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We chose the subject 'Chinese lanterns' because it's full of the taste of tradition. But the information concerned was hard to find. So, we asked Mr.Lai, our computer teacher for help. We were really lucky because he knew Mr.Chang (a retired history teacher whose sister owns LMC, the only lantern store in the city) Mr.Chang gave us a lot of information which would have not come our way otherwise It was a freezing cold Saturday morning that we went interviewing Ms. Chang-mei-mei at her store. She told us the history of the store, showed us all the lantern types in her store, taught us how to make a lantern, and took pictures with us. Of course there are still many people to thank, our parents who supported us, teachers who lent us books, and all our friends that paid attention to us. A big 'THANK YOU' to all those people~

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The importance of teamwork and team sprit is not something that can be easily put aside on a project like this. Without the help of others (and the support that was given to us) this project could not have been completed so successfully.