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Kaohsiung Commercial High School (2014 CyberFair Project ID 7659)
Taiwan,
Kaohsiung
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 3. Business and Community Organizations
We estimate 12 student(s) from 17 to 18 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: Originally, Daliao was named “Fongtan,” serving as a flood pond as well as a military stronghold. In Ching Dynasty, it was under the juridiction of Fongshan Down Tamsui River. Because the soil of the riverbank was so rich that it kept attracting migrators, coming for reclamation and settlement. The settlers made their homes with sugar cane materials. During Kangxi Emperor period of Chin Dynasty, great number of Han people began moving to this place. The dry lands along either side of Kao-Ping River (also known as Down Tamsui River) were often devastated by floods, which also made the soil much fertile, conducive to farming. For hundreds of years, to prevent their homes from being flooded, the forefathers made make-shift liaos, temporary dwellings, as short-period abodes. Among the liaos, there were four large settlements: “Sipu Liao,” “Chaozhou Liao,” “Ding Da Liao,” and “Sia Da Liao,” which were merged as “Daliao” druing the Japanese Occupation. Decades after on December 25th, 2010, its title was changed to Daliao District of Kaohsiung Municipal, following the restructuring of the five Municipals. Daliao District, situated in the southeast of Kaohsiung Municipal, is rich in geographical appearances. Geographically separated by Fonglin Road, its west is Fongshan Hill, while its east is Kao-Ping River Alluvial Plain. It is now populated by 109 thousand people. In addition to mountains and rivers, fertile soil and aboundant eco-systems, Daliao is also abundant in humanity and history. Daliao Plain was formed by the flooding of ocean sedimentary formations, with a height of 16.2 meters above the sea level, easy for farming. As the major industry of this district is farming, the farming of crops adopts three-stage production. From 1961 to mid-1970, the plantation in this district was mainly rice. After the second rice harvest, farmers didn’t smooth the land for farming; rather, they planted the red bean seeds by digging holes between the rice stalks, making good use of rice farming break. Furthermore, organic soil and sandy loam are one of the requirements that Daliao produces quality red beans, so that red bean farming is gradually becoming representative of Daliao, which is how the Cyberfair project is inspired: to investigate the transformation of rice as typical food of Taiwanese into making “rice wine,” to differentiate it from red bean production.
Project Description: With the development of the times, people are becoming reluctant to take farming, a costly-and-susceptable-to-climate industry, as their profession. Instead, they take second or third industry, such as skill occupation or knowledge profession. What’s worse, entering WTO, followed by opening up the rice market to the global community, surely has a devastating impact on rice farming. Thus, rice farmers have been forced to transform to other higher economy-valued crops. Originally, we focused our attention on the transformation from rice to red beans. Yet in the process of the discussion, we found that in addition to the previously mentioned transferred crops, some rice farmers make good use of the rice harvest to pursue the higher-valued manipulation or reproduction—turning it into alcoholic products, the main purpose of the Cyberfair Project. In the project we hope to better understand the transformation of the agricultural industry, the motives of transformation, the predicaments of transformation, and finally the strengths and weaknesses of transformation to the industry. Taking Feng Lin Winery for example, we follow up its developmental stages. Originally a rice planter and even has its brandname rice, “Rice of Farmers,” to cope with rice oversupply and the problem of not being able to be kept fresh for long, Feng Lin transforms its sorely stage 1 farming to integrate stage 2 processing and stage 3 customer service. It is the first rice-farming-turned winery, who chooses the traditional manual way of wine making, different from modern mechanical way. During the process of transformation, in techniques as well as in marketing, it has brought great impacts and changes to its original rice-farming business, which is the focus of this Cyberfair Project.