To promote Miaoli County’s custom of “dragon bombing” — a fiery variant of the dragon dance practice unique to the Hakka people — three young photographers have created a series of postcards, with proceeds from sales of the cards to be donated to the World Peace Association, a child welfare organization.
The centerpiece of a series of ceremonies marking the Lantern Festival in the county, the dragon bombing unfolds with dragon dance troupes guiding their dragons through a sea of firecrackers thrown directly at them, culminating in setting the dragons ablaze to drive away evil spirits and court good luck.
Having for years braved exploding fireworks alongside festival processions to document the practice, the three photographers, Fu Kuan-hua (傅冠華), Chiang Hung-chun (江弘竣) and Huang Yu-cheng (黃煜程), decided to reproduce their photographs as postcards and sell them for a worthy cause, they said.
Photo: Tsai Cheng-min, Taipei Times
Unlike his two partners, who are Hakka and grew up in Miaoli, Huang is from Tainan, but is now studying architecture in National United University in Miaoli, he said.
The student photographer is also a social work volunteer, saying that he has been taking care of disadvantaged children and elderly people since he was in high school, and he hopes to help children living in remote areas with the money raised from the card sales, Huang said.
The three friends came up with the idea of combining local culture with social work through the postcard project, while also supporting events associated with dragon bombing, they said.
The three said they simply want to express their love for Taiwan through the project.
Fu said that dragon dance troupes consist mostly of members of local gangs or high-school dropouts — minorities usually invisible to the public — but it is thanks to them that the annual dragon bombing could continue for years to come.
The three said they divided responsibilities for the project, with Fu responsible for producing the postcards, Huang for providing connection with social welfare groups and Chiang for maintaining their Web site.
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