School: Victoria Academy
    Douliou, Yunlin, Taiwan

10 students, ages 13-14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 24, 2011. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Classes and Teachers: Tr Ellen, Tr Nelly, Tr Henry, Coco, Winnie, Steven, Maisie, Jasmine, Leo, Peggy, Angel, Gary, Tim

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.victoria.org.tw/

1. Description of Our Community

Douliou City is the capital of Yunlin County. Borders on Jhushan Town, Nantou County in the east, on Gukeng Township in the south, on Dounan Town?Huwei Town in the west, on Citong Township, Linei Township in the north. Many traditional cultures and arts in early days were born in these places, such as Taiwan hand puppet show and Siluo Cikan. The main research areas for our project cover Huwei and Siluo which are on the west side of Douliou. Huwei is located on the central point of Yunlin County, where Pili International Multimedia is based in.

2. Summary of Our Project

Hand puppet show is a local cultural industry which is a representative of Yunlin. Last year the famous PiLi hand puppet show studio was burnt down, and many puppets were gone in one night. Such destruction is tragic and has made the society feel the need to protect antiques. Thus, we name our project Fire Phoenix – The Legend of PiLi, holding the spirit of connecting tradition and technology, study the inheritance, transformation, and managing styles between three generations of the Huang’s. Hoping we can make more people discover the beauty of hand puppet show through this research, and make it shines in the world. The PiLi mentioned on the website is mainly about PiLi Multimedia, and then the three generations’ development. Our project website is divided into several parts as the following: 1.Legend: the three generations’ development 2.Company: operation 3.Management: conclude and compare the three generations’ management styles 4.Torch: explore and discuss how PiLi puppet show ges to be fresh and lasting 5.Culture: think about the value of PiLi after the fire 6.Team: see how much effort the students made for this project 7.Q&A: help viewers remember the information on this website

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:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Our cyberfair project for 2007 is about hand puppet show. This year we retold the glamour of PiLi hand puppet show, because we believe that second time will be more refined and better than the first. We learned about hand puppet show from our old project website and books. Thus we didn’t have much impression on this, but we visited Hand Puppet Show Museum in Yunlin County and PiLi studio in Huwei. Moreover, we interviewed the Huang’s third generation inheritor Huang Li-Gang. He was very friendly and passionate. Surprisingly he performed a little bit Shih Yen-Wen. We can see how much he loves hand puppet show and takes it as his great mission. Therefore, we felt particularly appreciated about all the information we read.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

We had a busy schedule and fruitful experience. We get to know hand puppet show over time through information collection, discussion, presentation, reading, visiting, and watching performance. Hand puppet show club makes us see how young people love traditional culture, Hand Puppet Museum makes us discover the distinguishing feature of local industry, PiLi let us experience hand puppet performing skills and steps, and see the wide variety of their products. Eventually, interview with Mr. Huang Li-Gang let us see his solid working attitude and resolution for promoting traditional culture, so we’ve got many expectations. The study of hand puppet show should not be cold letters, but practices with true heart to express the concern of cultural industry. This is an unforgettable experience for us.

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

This project covers language arts, social study, and humanity arts. We get to know about hand puppet show, and Master Huang Hai-Dai’s family development. One of the important arrangements of our school’s international course is to recognize our own land, because we believe that we must know the land we live on first, so we can exchange and share our culture with foreigners, make them intrigued, and make Taiwan international for real.

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

We used the internet, telephones, books, newspapers, recording devices, digital and film cameras, scanner, printer, laptops, and portable hard drives. As far as software, we sued FrontPage2000, Dreamweaver3.0, PhotoImpact7.0, and Golden wave 3.0

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

It was during Yunlin International Puppet Show Festival in 2010 when we decided our project theme. We were so impressed with puppets from other countries, and would like to visit Hand Puppet Show Museum in Yunlin. There are many miniatures of the development of Taiwan hand puppet shows, and we got the foundation of the setting. Then we got to contact Mr. Lin, the manager of park department of PiLi through our vice-principal, Li Pei-Fen’s connection, and visited PiLi’s studio. We got to know the tips of manipulating puppets, took lots of documents back, which was very helpful for modifying our data. Afterwards, we interviewed Mr. Huang Li-Gang from PiLi. His explain enrich our project and let us learn how to manipulate puppets. He also invited us to participate in one of the most famous show at a certain temple, so we experienced live performance.

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

PiLi is very well-known in our community already, but they don’t know much about the Huang family. This project makes people know about hand puppet show more systematically, and increase our interest and recognition of local culture, because young students can also appreciate hand puppet show. We have interviewed students that go to Yuntech, visited PiLi studio, and interviewed Mr. Huang Li-Gang. They all claim that the biggest problem for them to overcome is how to attract young students, and have bigger range of age groups. Therefore, they all said that they felt the power of hand puppet show when they learned that we were highly interested in hand puppet show industry and concerned. Although we couldn’t offer any actual help, we feel very honored having their positive review.

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

We’ve received much help from our community. The guide at Hand Puppet Show Museum provided us a complete background structure of hand puppet show. Yuntech Hand Puppet Show Club members helped us discover that hand puppet show can win younger age. PiLi provided documents, and demonstrated studio filming skills. Mr. Huang Li-Gang gave us precious information, and invited us to watch their live performance. These enrich our project, and make us closer with each other. We realize that Cyberfair project not only help us get more knowledge, train ourselves to contribute, but gives us a good opportunity to communicate with our community.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Regarding our discoveries, first, we realize that speaking good Taiwanese is really hard. We wouldn’t have been able to speak, and appreciate how beautiful the lines are in hand puppet show without someone teaching us one on one. Second, we realize we are responsible for protecting and passing down the culture. We should be more aware of what’s happening around us besides hand puppet show. Regarding surprises, first, the dubbing can be so ever-changing; one person can do all kinds of rolls. Second, the Huang family can stick to hand puppet show performance for hundreds of years, whether how the world changes, they get to take the lead.