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Tainan Municipal Fusing Elementary School (2012 CyberFair Project ID 7259)
Taiwan,
Tainan City
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 6. Historical Landmarks
We estimate 10 student(s) from 11 to 12 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: Tainan, or the Prefecture City, is the city with the longest history in Taiwan. Once the provincial capital, Tainan was the political, economic, and cultural center of the island in the old days. The Taiwanese saying, “ First Fu (referring to the Prefecture City), Second Lu (Lukang), Third Monga (the present-day Wan-Hwa District in Taipei)” best chronicles the island’s initial development in the south and then going northward. Tainan boasts the most number of historic sites throughout Taiwan, most of which are well-preserved. There are currently 54 national historic monuments in Tainan, seven of which are listed as first-class historic sites, and one of them being the Tainan Grand Matsu Temple. Located in the Chi-Kang Cultural Park, the temple is in close proximity to other historic architectures built during the Dutch colonization and the Ming Dynasty. Traditional food and snacks can be found in the old alleys nearby. Shops selling traditional crafts also draw visitors from afar. Students born and raised in this neighborhood are not unfamiliar with Grand Matsu Temple because of their frequent trips there to pray and worship. Yet, their knowledge of its historical and architectural significance as well as of the story of Matsu may be quite obscure. Our team has chosen the Tainan Grand Matsu Temple as our theme to help our students better understand the culture and history of their hometown. With the website we created to document our efforts, we hope to let the students, the community, and the world gain a deeper understanding of the deity Matsu, the city Tainan, and the wonderful island of Taiwan.
Project Description: Matsu, the Goddess of the sea, was once invoked as a patron deity who protected our forefathers through the treacherous waters when they first immigrated to Taiwan. Nowadays, people of different ethnicities have come to seek spiritual guidance and reassurance in Matsu, and nowhere is this more evident than in Taiwan, an island country whose demographic composition is mostly made up of immigrants. . The history of Taiwan began in Tainan, a city that was once colonized by the Dutch, governed by Koxinga, reigned by the Qing Dynasty, and occupied by the Japanese. The influence of these different historical periods can be found in the various historic monuments dotting the city. Among them, the Grand Matsu Temple, the first official Matsu Temple ever built and a first-class national historic site, holds great cultural and historical significance with its architecture and traditions.
The Tainan Municipal Fusing Elementary School research team has chosen the Grand Matsu Temple as our main theme. Through a series of research, interviews, field studies, observations, recordings, and discussion, we have come to better understand the historical significance of the temple, the aesthetics of its architecture, and the genius of various religious rituals. By documenting our research with online, we have also established better and stronger ties with the local community.