Kaohsiung’s Cijin Center for Preserving Sampan Boats, dedicated to Cijin District’s (旗津) traditional craft, on Dec. 30 invited students from the Municipal Cijin Elementary School to learn shipbuilding, marking the center’s participation in the city’s cultural heritage educational program.
About 150 students from the school participated in a do-it-yourself demonstration of building the wooden boats.
Kaohsiung Bureau of Education Director Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) also attended the event.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
The center, formerly a dormitory compound for naval technicians, was established by National Sun Yat-sen University’s Department of Sociology and received funding from the education department and the Urban Development Bureau, with Kuan playing an important role as the project’s chief promoter.
Kuan said that she encouraged department faculty members and students to get involved in community initiatives and lobbied for the military facility to be put to use.
“The sociology department surprised me with their ability in getting it done so quickly,” Kuan said, adding that the city government and university dean Yang Hung-duen (楊弘敦) were enthusiastic about the program.
“Taiwan is a maritime nation, and its maritime heritage should be a part of education,” Fan said.
“The faculty and students of the sociology department showed extraordinary initiative in preserving and promoting the craft of sampan building through education, and [Kaohsiung] elementary and middle-school principals responsible for cultural education will all come to observe [the work done] here,” Fan said.
An Urban Development Bureau representative said that it hopes the center will become a place of communal and recreational activity in Cijin District.
A Cijin Elementary School drumming team, who won the grand prize at last year’s National Drum Corps Championships, concluded the event by performing an original Taiko drum composition, The Ocean Trilogy.
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