School: Jih Ching Elementary school
    taipei, taiwan, R.O.C

6 students, ages 11-12years of age worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2003. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2001

Classes and Teachers: Tseng, chi-yun; Tsai, Wei-Jung

E-Mail contact:

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

1. Description of Our Community

Taiwan is a cultured island full of a great variety of traditional arts. However, many of these arts, such as the shadow puppet show, are evanescently lost as time goes by. We cannot image that once there were more than two hundred shadow puppet show troupes in Kaohsiung area in the past. Today, there are only about six shadow puppet show troupes left in Taiwan; five in Kaohsiung County and the other one, named Hua-Zhou Yuan, in Taipei. Acutely, the shadow puppet show was originally invented in ancient China a thousand years ago and passed to Taiwan in the Ching dynasty. After many years evolution, the shadow puppet show in Taiwan has developed its own unique feature with special aroma different from that in Mainland China

2. Summary of Our Project

Although the shadow puppet show is one of the Chinese traditional arts, it is barely performed today and many people are not aware of what the show is. The shadow puppet show is a kind of fascinating fine performing art. One reason we want to study the shadow puppet show is that we would like to share the pleasure of the appreciation of this interesting and unique performance with people in the community, so that everyone has the chance to learn the beauty of this traditional folk art. The connection to the internet in our school is through ADSL (with transmission speed 384k/1536k) via Taipei City Education Network Center

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:2-3

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

【Artistic Obstacle】: At the beginning, we did not even know how to use the software such as Namo WebEditor 5.5, Flash 5 and Studio Version7. We then asked for help from our teacher Tsai .

【Time】:Sometimes our team was short of one or more hands due to other activities or classes to attend; e.g. the vice leader had to attend a science project, and some had to go to the English class. So they had to stay after school to catch up the schedule.

【Experience】:This problem existed from the beginning. We did not have much experience in doing case study. So we went to our teachers and asked for instructions.

【Cooperation】: Occasionally, there was a communication problem between the team leader and vice leader. Sometimes they did not listen to each other

5. Our Project Sound Bite

“Hard working people deserve fruits of success.” Through this website competition, we realize that there are so many problems that we have to conquer before we can get the job done. We have learned lots of things from solving these problems. At first, we did not have any direction in choosing the subject which was good and also fitted to us. It was not until the team leader came up with some great topics, outlined the scheme and dispatched out the work, when all of us recovered our morale again.Then we decided to study “The lost traditional art: shadow puppet show.” We were so excited when we visited the Hua-Zhou Yuan, the shadow puppet show troupe. It is so nice to attend this activity. Finally, we converted all the collected materials and the visiting records into pages after pages of beautiful webpages. When we placed the period mark to the end of this activity, we knew that every piece of our effort would become a beautiful part of our memory.

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

We are curious children fond of fresh and interesting things. It would be a precious learning experience if there are activities which can encourage and stimulate our potential and free-will learning. So we take this opportunity to do a journey of study in shadow puppet show.

It is essential to play shadow puppet show with script, puppet, music, light, stage and performance skill. These essential elements are all close related to the courses in our school, such as music, painting, nature, local geography and history and language. Studying the skill of this folk art not only satisfies our curiosity, but also teaches us the importance of self-learning. Each person can choose to study topic that is most interesting to him. By managing time more efficiently, we can do a lot of meaningful studies and activities

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

verbal Visit:Visit master Lin to learn more details about the shadow puppet show Internet:Search websites related to shadow puppet show Book:Search books and references related to shadow puppet show to find out more about this show Recorder:Record the contents of visiting and type them into word file Camera,V8:Use digital camera and video camera to record the activity from the visit to the Hua-Zhou Yuan shadow puppet show troupe Scanner:Use a scanner to process images telephone:Discuss with team members through telephone, and also contact the persons visited Software:PhotoImpact6＆7、Namo WebEditor 5.5、Word2000、Flash5、Studio Version7、Front page2000 Library:Look up the books and references ◎ P.S.: Almost all of the equipments is provide by our school and student's parents

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

Through this activity, we wish to spread the folk art of the shadow puppet show in our community. By using the power of the internet, we also want to enhance and glorify this show. Although most of the activities in schools are rather static and restricted to competitions of documentation and paperwork; nevertheless, our case study here is full of vividness and fascination. This activity has made education a more active task and also promoted us to know more about our community.

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

Through this activity, we wish to spread the folk art of the shadow puppet show in our community. By using the power of the internet, we also want to enhance and glorify this show. Although most of the activities in schools are rather static and restricted to competitions of documentation and paperwork; nevertheless, our case study here is full of vividness and fascination. This activity has made education a more active task and also promoted us to know more about our community

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

We appreciate the help from our teachers, our own effort, support from our parents, especially Messrs. Tsai , Wu and mother of Chang . Without their help, we cannot finish this work. Of course we would like to thank the master of the Hua-Zhou Yuan troupe, Mr. Lin for introducing us almost a bit of everything about the shadow puppet show.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

In this activity, we have discovered the wonder of the Chinese shadow puppet show. It is a truly masterpiece of the wisdom of our ancestors. The perfect art of utilizing the effects of light and shadow amazes each of us. Besides, occasionally we wasted lots of time in squabbling about having different opinions during the study. One day, we did not have any progress in the whole morning due to not allocating work properly to each person in the first place, so everybody came up with doing the same part of a hard job and hence wasted a lot of manpower.