School: Jia-Li Elementary School
    Hualien, Taiwan, Taiwan

8 students, ages 12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 20, 2005. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 1

Classes and Teachers: Ms. Li-ting Chen, Mr. Heng-ming Chen, Mr.Ding-chiang Chen, Mr. Ricky Sun

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.zlips.hlc.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

We are just a lucky crowd who has the privileges to live in a place where people called “backyard garden of Taiwan”. The extraordinary city is Hualien. Set in Eastern Taiwan, Hualien is one of the most beautiful and immaculate land in the nation. The town Singcheng is off the north shore of Hualien, it is a small but loving town in narrow nature terrains and population of 30,000 people, mainly live on agriculture and fisheries, and tourism has just been taking off in recent years.

Singcheng is also the frontier of Hualien. It has an international airport, a prestigious charity foundation Tzu-Chi Nunnery, and the beautiful Chisingtan(Seven Stars Bay) that stretches to the immense Pacific Ocean. The variety of commodity of crops displays its prosperity in many ways, the list can go on and on including the organic mountain yam, papaya, pickled greens, sweet yam potato, star fruit, balsam pear, and to name a few. And, most important of all, there's this remarkable fish of the Manbos. While Manbos are commonly sighted in Eastern Taiwan and the rest of the world, a number of other intriguing names exist in different countries. In United States, their most common name is ocean sunfish, while in France they are called moon fish. Most intriguingly, however, the Germen just call them “swimming head” in reference to their roundish quirky shape. Despite of the variety of names being used worldwide, these fishes are all members of the class Actinopterygii by biological categories of marine creatures.

Starting from the beginning of this year, one can find practically everywhere the signs of “Manbo-Sincheng”. The cute symbol of Manbo fish took the town by storm and filtered literally to every village (including villages of Jia-li , Jia-lin and Bei-pu) of Sincheng. So, here comes the ultimate question: what is this mysterious charm of Manbo fish? And what is it, anyway? How has the life of the locals been changed by it?

By the participation of the CyberFair project, we are pleased to share our experiences and glories with friends and strangers from all over the world.

2. Summary of Our Project

Presentation (A) My Hometwon–Shincheng,Hualien A. Shingcheng Town A-1 Shingcheng Discovery A-1-1. Essays: Shingcheng Impressions A-1-2. My Favorite Spot A-1-3. Recommended Places A-2 Images of Shincheng A-2-1. Resource: Internet & Library. Information Searching: Specialty Feature A-2-2. Site Survey

(B) Column Of Manbos – Manbo Discovery B-1 A First Look At Manbos B-1-1. Name & Origin B-1-2. Category & Habit

B-2 Facts About Manbos B-2-1. Distribution & Legend B-2-2. Organ & Function B-2-3. Interview: Prof. Yung-jou Chang of Tzu-chi University

(C)Manbo-Shincheng C-1 Field Study – The Beginnings Of Manbo-Shincheng C-1-1. Interview: Shincheng Mayor He C-1-2. Symbolization & Cause C-1-3. Museum of Bonito C-2 Manbos and Shincheng C-2-1. A Blessed Town – Shincheng C-2-2. Manbo Promotions C-3. Homeland Of Manbos – Chi-shing Bay C-3-1. Methodology Of Fishing Manbos C-3-2. Sweetness & Bitterness of Fishermen (In De-yen Fishing Ground & Manbo Fish Factory) C-3-3. Interview: Hualien Fishery Society C-4. Specialties of Manbo-Shincheng C-4-1. Manbo Recipes C-4-2. Manbo Commodities C-4-3. Interview: Sanguoyi Restaurant C-4-4. Manbo Added Value

(D) Reflection & Feedback & Homepage Design And Others D-1. Questionnaire Analysis D-2. Crisis & Reckoning D-3. Completion: A Perfect Ending

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:4-6

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

In our school, there are 1 computer rooms each with 25 sets of personal computers. The CPU is K6-500 with RAM of 128 MB and Win98 for operating system. The existing LAN environment is connected with TANET via ADSL. Starting this semester, we have an extra 10MB of fiber optic supporting the Internet access, so we are much faster in speed now. Our members use computers to access networks by wide band services (ADSL) at home. As for other necessary software, we used Frontpage2000 and Dreamweaver for editing, PhotoImpact8.0 for page design, and the ultimate “Superstar” software to create 3D features. The questionnaire attached was calculated and analyzed at Powerpoint.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

(1)On Computer Technologies: When we first started, we used digital cameras to take all the pictures for redundancy purpose. And when getting into the making of homepage, we soon found out that most of the files we had were just too big to put on the website. We spent a lot of time sorting out the photos and finally realized that the capacity provided by school was very limited as it failed to fulfill our random selections. Later, by the helps of our teachers, we managed to touch up these photos and made their size more compatible to the requirements and luckily it's done.

To better organize the works as well as the information we gathered, a virtual community online was created, it's called “The Manbo-Sincheng”. We put everything on the website, wishing people would exchange their point of views when they review the pages, and they did. Teachers and students in the school checked out our website from time to time and we received many valuable opinions from them.

During our first interview with Prof. Chang of Tzu-Chi University we missed out a lot details as we took notes in hands. So when we came back next time, we borrowed a DV and filmed the whole session. Though later we discovered that we had troubles transferring the digital data into films, the problem was then solved with the help of our teachers and we finally can review it on computers.

(2)On collecting the information The first setback on our pursuit of Manbo fish is that there barely are researches on the subject before, even on the documentaries. We immediately called for help from the fisheries institution of Hualien. We left a message on their website and luckily the response came very soon and helpful indeed. The first man ever on research of Manbo fish is Prof. Yung-jou Chang of Tzu-Chi University in Hualien. It turned a new leaf in our study of the Manbos after we had finally met with him in person.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Mother Nature and its creatures are the most precious gifts to human beings; nevertheless with the conveniences that industrialization of our society has brought us, we are also losing the invaluable genuine resources bit by bit. The shadows of Manbo fish dancing on the sun are so lovely, you can see why they are treasured by fishermen and the locals. We think that no one wants the adorable species to go extinction, and are convinced that it depends on the determination of every one living on the planet, not just the government or the professionals. It's time for ordinary people like you and I be taking up the responsibilities to protect the environment. After all, we have only one Mother Earth.

It's always a tough call to take unbiased perspective on the weighing of ecosystem and tourism. It takes not only the courage and wisdoms of the government and also of the fishermen, or shall we say, everyone in this town. The mayor of Singcheng has put it this way: “We have decided to use the symbol of Manbo fish as our town mascot, because we think its kind nature and peace-loving personality best describe the hearts of the local people. And our anticipations on mutual enrichment with God's creatures should perpetually grow with the land“. It is so true that we believe if we try hard enough to preserve the beautiful immaculate place and prevent it from being contaminated, it can really make a difference and chances are to they will be able to stay the way they are.

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

We have 2 hours of free courses weekly which are intended for field studies. These free courses provide great opportunities to develop characters of the school. Native culture and heritages are being introduced over the class and the theme we studied this semester is “Hualien as you go“. It is designed to be a curriculum that teaches elementary school students about heritages, customs and values of their hometown. We took students to Chisingtan(which means “Seven Stars Bay” in English) and arranged interviews with local fishermen. We also went to Tzu-chi University and visited Professor Yung-jou Chang, who is specialized on Manbo fish researches. Besides these movements, we have also paid visits to the County Fishermen Union, the Bonito Museum and the mayor office in town.

On top of that, we have an extra 2-hr curriculum of general education in school every week. During the class, we let students work on projects in small groups and encouraged them to pick the Manbos as our thesis of study. To accomplish the goal, we spent most of the courses searching for useful information on the Internet and eventually got everything we need organized. Finally by taking the opportunity of class, we were able to present the topic of Manbos and shared the secrets of it with the whole class.

After mid-term exam, we went to Hualien Ocean Amusement Park in a school trip. Although we didn't catch the sight of Manbo fish there, we did find plenty of other rare marine lives, including the nemesis of Manbo fish: sharks and sea lions, as well as their life supporting sources: Jellyfish and other small fishes, and planktons.

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

1.PCs and laptop: Those are indispensable equipments, mainly used for homepage making and storing digital data, etc. 2.Digital Camera: For photographing and editing. 3.DV: We used the newly bought SONY DV66 to shoot the process of fishing and also stored many other animation films. 4.Printer: To print out digital data and use the printed documents to solicit answers and resolutions from the professionals. 5.Tape Recorder: Taping the interviews and meetings. It's good that we can use the tape recorder as an additional material to diversify our contents. 6.Scanner: To shift pictures and drawings into digital data.

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

(1) By hands-on the project, we are informing the people of Singcheng as well as the participants from the world what a beautiful place Sing-cheng is. With our in-depth interviews and opinion polls, people may have better understandings about the sprits of “Manbo-Sincheng” and that's what we want to show the world, the vitality and strength of the town and of the people living here.

(2) Information of any kind is all very incomplete and limited in existing documentations, even on the Internet. Sing-cheng, as we understand is the only place that can guarantee yields of fisheries on the Manbos. So, by actually interviewing local fishermen and professionals, including Prof. Chang of Tzu-chi University, the owner of “Sanguoyi” the theme restaurant on the Manbos, and the mayor of the town, we were able to combine and analyze those valuable information and came up with a comprehensive report. We believe this unprecedented and invaluable experience could be used for teachers and students alike to learn more about the beautiful creature of Manbo fish in the future.

(3) From the perspectives of the residents, fishermen and mayor office: Would it be a potential threat of extinction by over-fishing Manbo fish? How did residents, fishermen and the mayor office team up to promote the image as well as the concept of “Manbo-Singcheng”

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

The myths: (1) In the early stages of the study, we all had our fair share of moments of anxiety and hesitation, but we managed to weather it through and gradually reached comprehensiveness and understanding toward the Manbos. At the time we were still having doubts on the future of the adorable fish, worrying that they would go extinction by unregulated fishing and might not be able to survive generation after generation. Till we met Professor Chang, the mayor and local fishermen, we came to realize that extinction is out of the question because of the methodology of fishing and regulations applied. Since then we have formed initial ideas about the dilemma that the authorities are dealing with on balancing and evaluating the ecosystem and the livelihoods of fishermen.

(2) Developing the concept of environment protection and learning more about Manbo fish. With constant disclosures on Manbo fish in the media and researches on related field, it has revealed to the public that the concept of “Manbo-Singcheng” which is bound with peace and unification and now more and more people can identify with it.

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

By doing this project, we found that the interaction between schools and our community has greatly increased. Through the understanding of our hometown, we're more bonded to our lovely hometown. What we are trying to do is to promote our local specialties by introducing them through the Internet and raise our publicity as much as we can.

In the pursuit of Manbo fish, we gained enormous helps from a variety of people:

(1) County government:The county government has hosted a lot of campaigns to promote its special feature: the Manbo fish and leaving people with strong impressions.

(2) Mayor of the town, Mr. Li-tai He: We learned from the mayor about where the name “Manbo-Singcheng” came from and the significance of it. We also realized that the efforts the town hall has put on promoting the new image of Manbo-Singcheng. (3) Professor Yung-jou Chang of Tzu-chi University: Professor Chang is the first researcher working on the thesis of Fancheyu (Manbo fish). With his instruction, we learned more about the composition of Manbo fish's body, its inner organs and functions. The report couldn't be complete without Prof. Chang's help.

(4) Mr. Kai-ming Li of County Fishermen Union:Mr. Li is the manager of the Fishermen Union. With this assistance, we can see from the fishermen's prospective and learn more about Manbo fish and its habitations. (5) Mr. Jiun-yuan Jou from Chisingtan(Seven Stars Bay)fish factory: Mr. Jou's family owns a fish factory in town. Over 80% of fresh Manbo fish meat in Hualien is produced there and then distributed to fish markets in Hualien. From Mr. Jou, we learned a lot about catching Manbo fish, as well as the making of fish meat, other information like the time and place the fish crowd shows up and how to distinguish male Manbo fish from female are also very useful to us.

(6) Assistant manager Mr. Duan of Sanguoyi Restaurant: Sanguoyi restaurant is the first theme restaurant in Taiwan coming out the idea of Manbo fish dishes. During the comprehensive introduction of Mr. Duan, we've got to know the efforts local restaurant owners put on creating the values of Manbos, and how the local entrepreneurs benefited from them.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Taiwanese fishermen used to consider the Manbos low in economical value. Not only because the appearance of Manbos usually means decreased number of other fishes, the name “Fancheyu” that implying an ominous car accident in Mandarin also raised deep detests against it. Nevertheless, in the pursuit of the Manbos, we have discovered several unknown facts about the unique creature. For instance, the mother fish can give birth to as many as 300 million eggs a time, which tops any existing fish species in the world. It's also the largest bony fish ever discovered. Peace-loving and tame, and most important of all, every part of the fish can be utilized by human. With these findings, it eventually won over people's hearts. The lesson we learned here is not to look at things at face value. Different positions can spark off different directions of thinking and that broadens the vision of the beholders. These are things we can not learn on books. The ultimate query on weighing the economy and ecosystem occurred to us repeatedly during the study of Manbo fish. We have realized through lessons that the relationship between human beings and Mother Nature should be in harmony, not in confliction. Therefore we believe it is our mission to guard the reputation that comes as: “Manbo-Singcheng, the City of Ocean” and forever cherish it.