- Home
- Programs
- International CyberFair
- Participants
- Display Project Details
Liming Elementary School (2012 CyberFair Project ID 7151)
Taiwan,
Yilan
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 1. Local Leaders
We estimate 10 student(s) from 10 to 12 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: The Lanyang Plain where we reside is situated in the northeast region of Taiwan, and is a fertile plain created by silting action from the mud carried by the Lanyang Stream. Since Wu Sha led his sons and younger brothers to cross the mountains into the Lanyang Plain to open it up to cultivation during the Qing dynasty, the Lanyang Plain has become one of the important rice-producing regions of Taiwan. Still, following along with the gradual decline of the industry of agriculture, many young people have left this industry and migrated to urban areas in search of work opportunities. With the loss of workers to till the soil, agricultural land has gradually been abandoned. During the prime of his life, Mr. Lai Qingsong decided to return to the fields and cultivate the most natural rice using natural agricultural methods, to organize a “grain stockowners club,” and to construct the most authentic alliances between producers and consumers. This has infused new vitality into the Lanyang Plain, and is the most authentic call of the land.
Project Description: Mr. Lai Qingsong graduated from the Dept. of Environmental Engineering at Chenggong University. He once worked at the Homemakers Union and Foundation, later on he went to Japan to gain a master’s degree in environmental law. After returning to Taiwan, the entire family moved to Yilan in the spring of 2004. He rented some farmland and started to work in the fields planting rice shoots. Lai Qingsong, who is deeply imbued with environmental awareness, decided to adopt natural methods of cultivation that totally rejected the use of agricultural chemicals and chemical fertilizers. He managed by himself a plot of land about 48,495 square meters in extent (about 12 acres), and planted delicious rice without the use of any pollutants; he named this rice “Qingsong rice.” Through the creed of “returning to the fields for a natural lifestyle” he founded a grain stockowners club that promoted the conviction of “eating what you cultivate.” As long as one puts up the capital, anyone can become a “grain stockholder” of this piece of rice paddy and be able to eat the most natural rice that one plants himself. He believes that only when even more people are willing to thoughtfully keep company with the land that this staple that truly nurtures the mind and body of man can be produced, and be able to cultivate the taste of happiness that is worth waiting for, and to cultivate more and more friendly looks on people’s faces! Our topic is Mr. Lai Qingsong and his grain stockholders club, to conduct a series of examinations and interviews, and to record the details of our experiences. Through a specialized webpage we will pass on the attitude and ideal of coexisting in harmony with nature.