Three men who have been friends since childhood are asking people to help create a record of a part of their childhood memories by tracking down school playground slides built in the shape of an elephant.
The project began two years ago when 39-year-old Lin Chien-lung (林建龍) and Chiu Hsiang-hui (邱祥惠) launched a Web site dedicated to elephant-shaped slides.
Chuang Chao-sheng (莊昭盛), an avid photographer, heard about the project and joined up.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
The trio have taken photographs of more than 50 elephant slides, mostly in the Greater Tainan area.
Lin said he came up with the idea three years ago when his son transferred to Zih Lung Elementary School in Greater Tainan’s Jiali District (佳里).
“It is the school I attended. When I returned to look around, the environment inside the school had changed quite a lot. The only thing that had remained the same was the elephant slide, standing in the same spot on the playground near the school wall,” Lin said.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
“On the elephant’s body, there is still an old school slogan and inscription of its construction date of 1968. Many fond childhood memories came flooding back right there. I remembered our teacher taking our class to that corner for an outdoor painting class,” he said.
Lin said he decided to create a record of the remaining elephant slides around the nation by putting together a photographic archive.
“When the pictures are posted, many of my classmates [say they] immediately remember our younger days, when we had so much fun playing together in school,” he said.
Back then, when there were few places for recreational activities, “the school playground was heaven to us kids,” Lin added.
He said nearly all elementary schools once had concrete slides, many of them featuring an elephant base, but now they are being replaced by plastic slides.
“We want to document all existing elephant playground slides, so we can help people to recall happy childhood memories,” he said.
Chuang rides his motorcycle around Greater Tainan on weekends and holidays looking for school slides. He said that he had ridden more than 60km the weekend before last, but only found three slides to photograph.
“I pushed myself to go, and visited 10 elementary schools this past Sunday, but only saw two elephant playground slides. This has prompted me to quicken the pace to capture images for posterity,” he said. “Every time I see one of them, there is always this urge in my heart to play again … to climb up and slide down.”
Through the Web site, Lin said he hopes more people can join in the effort to locate the remaining elephant slides around the country and by doing so, relive their own childhood memories.
“Once we have visited all the schools in Greater Tainan and upload our pictures of the slides, we will organize a photography exhibit,” Lin said.
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