Doors to Diplomacy Participants

Jaw Nan Elementary School (2009 CyberFair Project ID 5715)
Taiwan, Miaoli
Official Status: Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 1. Local Leaders

We estimate 9 student(s) from 9 to 12 will work on this entry.

Description of Our Community: Jhunan is the most northern township bordering the shoreline in Miaoli County. It is where the mountain-and-ocean line from north-to-south straight-through railroad branched off at. And it is also the center for Chung-Kang Creek region. It served as the landing port for those who destined to pioneer the Chung-Kang Creek region and who were immigrants from either Fukien or Canton. In recent years, prompted by the speedy development of both industries and mercantile, with the installation of science park area, factories popped up everywhere, a sign of prosperity in the air. Nonetheless, if ever wandering around the street corners, you would find that it conserves many of the ancient relics left behind by those pioneers in the past, as well as the unsophisticated manners well noted in giving out warm welcome to strangers. All o f these would incite visitors with a sense of remembrance of the past. Both “tradition” and “modernity” find room for coexistence with appropriate infusion and exhibition side by side; and this is exactly the uniqueness Jhunan exemplifies.

Project Description: Nowadays, in a society stressing both efficiency and convenience, many of the past traditional workmanships gradually fade away. And these so called traditional workmanships were indispensible in the daily lives for their ancestors. Nonetheless, the end result of industrialization prohibits these from being witnessed again, even worse, they gradually disappear. Luckily, some of them are still striving to conserve what’s left. Jhunan, is one of them. Under the tutelage of family heritage, Master Chang not only familiarizes himself with each and every weaving technique, but also he goes one step further by making breakthroughs in preserving and passing on the bamboo weaving workmanship. This research primarily explores the Master’s creation journey through interviewing Master Chang. With his consummate craftsmanship, our special interview topics research not only led all of us to get to know Master Chang, but also understand the beauty of traditional bamboo artworks, with the possibility of passing on this heritage as well as preserving these hard-to-come-by quintessence of wisdom from our forbears.

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