Doors to Diplomacy Participants

zhong-zheng primary school (2012 CyberFair Project ID 7120)
Taiwan, hualien city
Official Status: Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 8. Local Music and Art Forms

We estimate 10 student(s) from 11 to 12 will work on this entry.

Description of Our Community: Hualien has always been a place where people look forward to visiting, and they enjoy themselves so much that they want to linger on with any thought of leaving. As you drive along the East Rift Valley, the Coastal Mountain Range is on one side, the vast crystal blue ocean on the other. The topography, the soil of the Coastal Mountain Range varies considerably, and as you go farther inside, you will discover a different world, towering canyons, clear streams, and abundance in flora and fauna ecological resources, up stream you can have an even much better view of the big ocean from up above. Of course, besides its natural resources, the county is bountifully rich in culture resources. For one, we are going to explore decorative lanterns, which are seen in our local community, in temples and are silently promoted under the teachings of school teachers. In fact, these lanterns possess artistic values and what they imply and mean in the passing down of a tradition. We are extremely thankful to this group of creative artists, their actions combine both Hualien’s local culture and tradition, completely showing the unique styles of decorative lanterns. We hope that through our study, we will show this value once again to each and everyone.

Project Description: The subject of our study is the lantern culture of Hualien. We believe that through our study, our project can manifest the meaning of ‘dream’ and the value of ‘unity’. And because lantern artistry also shows a unique value, so it enjoys world-wide fame. Not only keen observation but also rich creativity is needed in lantern artistry. By observing and learning from each other’s work, we can gradually improve. Through exploring lantern artistry, we get to understand this art that has already taken its root in Hualien. On the other side, visiting and interviewing lantern making artists enable us to view and emulate their works, which can not be learned in books! Although these artists are overloaded with work everyday, they are still willing to share with us the delight of their success. We have learned a lot from these things! Of course, to take action’is better than just understanding by observing. Thus, we take actual participation in the making of lantern. We hope that the students can learn the basic concepts. After all, learning art to elementary students is still endlessly long. But through actual participation, we hope to combine knowledge and skills to show the art of lantern making. And we also believe that through our exploration, we can get to let many people understand this effect of combining humanities and artistry that is occurring in Hualien.

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