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Hunglung primary school (2003 CyberFair Project ID 2849)
Taiwan,
Taichung county,
Dajia Jen
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 8. Local Music and Art Forms
We estimate 12 student(s) from 10 to 12 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: Da Jia—a simple and unspoiled village. It is located in the northwestern part of Taichung County. It is an agricultural society; there is no much modernization in the village. Da Jia is known to everyone for its religious belief of Ma Tsu in Chen-Nan Temple. But actually besides the prosperous temple, Da Jia, the coastal village has much more local specialties, such as: taro, rice, Da Jia rush mats and hats. Among all, Da Jia straw mats are the most famous product for the past decades. Though the rush mats industry is in its decline, the cultural value of the rush mats remains vividly in our heart.
Project Description: Rushes were kind of unnoticeable weeds and spread in the swamp around the outlet of the river near the seaside in the early period. As the legend said, in the fifth year of Yung Cheng in Ching Dynasty (1727 AD), two naturalized aboriginal women of Ping Pu Tribe living in Yuan-li, Pu Shr Lu Li and Szu Wu Mao, took the rushes from the swamp of Da An river, dried them, pressed them, and weaved up mats and headstalls—which is regarded as the beginning of weaving rushes. Until the thirtieth year of Chian Lung in Ching Dynasty (1765AD), a woman called Jia Lu Jia Man in Shuang Liau Tribe, to make this weaving more perfect, she folded the rushed into thin strips and weaved more delicate straw mats. In order to control the origins of the rushes, she took the seeds of the wild triangular rushes to the paddy field by separating their roots. Women of the tribe took her initiation immediately. Suddenly, the paddy fields with rushes increased enormously and the crafts of weaving internalized in the daily lives of Ping Pu Tribe step by step. As Han people came to cultivate in Taiwan, they admired the arts and crafts of rushes from Ping Pu Tribe. The equipments of rush weaving are very practical and tough. Thus, Han people also learned the way of weaving from the aboriginal tribe. Han people are more considerable: they put the wild triangular rushes in the paddy fields carefully. This way, the rushes would propagate more with better qualities. These rushes are called “Yuan Li Rushes”. Rushes with better qualities will make more beautiful rush mats, which were taken as the best tributary gifts in Ching Dynasty. Now, weaving rushes becomes the most common way to make a living for women in the towns around the Dan An River, like Yuan Li, Da Jia, and Tung Shiau. This way, we expect students to know the beauty of traditional arts and crafts, and then, to appreciate and protect it.