Appraise for the Grains – The Past and Present for Fuxing Silo

1. How did your activities and research for this Cyberfair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards？
The primary goal of the Twelve-year National Fundamental Education is to enhance basic competence and nurture civic literacy of the common citizen. Through our study of the Fuxing Silo not only did we incorporated the subjects of history and language into the study, we also gained a better understanding of the development of our hometown Changhua Plain. We’ve learned to love it even more. Our interview with the interviewees is a comprehensive learning of language arts, history and even economics. These are knowledge and skills which we couldn’t learn from our textbooks and which also fulfilled the “Stimulate the students to have the ability of active research” and “promote cultural learning” aspects of the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Outline.

Language	Through the writing up of reports, afterthoughts, project web page, and project narrative, we learned to choose word carefully. We also learned to edit and organize manuscripts, transcript, and other information. We were able to conduct interviews; a skill which involved the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of language arts.
Social studies subject	Team members had to have a good understanding of the functions and supports of our society’s government agencies. Some of the information can be found in our social studies text, but a lot of it we had to research and find out on our own.
Comprehensive activities	Team members had to learn to communicate and tolerate other group members and most importantly of all, teamwork.
Arts and humanities subject	We saw the art of decorating an exhibition. The ability to decide which art piece to keep and sacrifice is very important.
Environment Education	From the rise and fall of the Fuxing Silo we learned to respect history. We learned the influence the early social society, and agricultural background had on the local community. While getting to know Fuxing Silo, we gained a better understanding of Taiwan’s early Green Building. Although it wasn’t a time of great technology but the people of the time were able to build an architecture which fulfill the natural concept of an eco-friendly building.
Information	Through new information technology techniques we learned to build a web page, and we also learned to store and retrieve information using new information technology devices.

Through the making of the Cyberfair project, Teacher Hung-ying Chen taught us to use PhotoImpact, an image processing software and FrontPage, a web page making software. All the typing and editing improved our word processing skills. We also learned to use various search engines for researches. The things we learned really implemented the information education aspect of the curriculum.
Throughout the making of the project, we divided work and worked hard. Although it was a lot of hard work, we encouraged each other. From it all, we learn to truly understand the concept of “Team Work”.

2. What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Cyberfair project？

Applicable Tool	Function
Desktop, Notebook, Tablet	Word processing, Uploading information, Web page making
Digital camera	Take photos, record activities, enhance web page presentation
Recording pen	Record Interviews
Network system	Internet Explorer, Google Chrome Web browser, information inquiry, upload information from a smart phone, FaceBook to communicate
USB Drive	Store Information
Printer	Print out documents
Telephone	Contact interviewees

3. In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Cyberfair project both on-line and in person.
To learn more about Fuxing Silo, we began by searching vigorously at the library, the Cultural Affairs Bureau and through the internet to gain more knowledge about the history, geography and culture of Fuxing Township. Then we got in touch with Mr. Wu-lang Cheng who is a Lukang cultural worker to give us a guided tour of Fuxing Silo. By seeing it in really life, we were able to have a better understanding of the function of Fuxing Silo and its place in history.
Later we interviewed former Magistrate of Changhua County, Mrs. Chin-chu Weng who is a promoter of the local culture, a member of regional authority and the hand behind the restoration of the Fuxing Silo. Senior volunteer, Mr. Lin spoke endlessly of the past as we see the passion that blazed in his eyes. It’s a passion which we may not easily comprehend. Director of Fuxing Farmers’ Association, Mr. Jun-ji Shih, gave an in-depth introduction on Fuxing Silo’s influence on the local industries during the Japanese colonial era and later its demise. Director Shih, informed us of the special events held at the Fuxing Silo and he also showed us how to use the rice huller machine. After the grain had gone through two processes we were able to see the colors, size, shape, texture, and smoothness of the japonica rice, the Jhuoshui rice and the Koshihikari rice. After our interview with former Magistrate of Changhua County, Ms. Jin-chu Weng, we learned that it wasn’t easy preserving a historical architecture. Not only did the Farmer’s Association and the County Government have to reach a mutual understanding, it also involved a tremendous amount of funding and manpower. Ms. Weng also told us that within the red bricked barns along the Japanese Otaru Canal were handcraft shops, restaurants and large stores. This way the historical sites can be preserved and also at the same time promote traveling industry which can stimulate local economic growth. Ms. Weng hopes that the development of Fuxing Silo would grow toward this path.

Through the Cyberfair project, we hope to bring forth the past glamour of Fuxing Silo and bring prosperity to this land. On top of that, every one of us was able to give guided tours of this place independently.

4. What has been the impact of your project on your community？
(1) Fuxing Silo and the local culture：

Apart from getting to know the history behind the building of Fuxing Silo and its unique characteristic, we also learned about the beginning and development of Changhua Plain. The detailed information on the building and restoring of Fuxing Silo and how it was granted the title of historical architecture would definitely give tourists the incentive to come for a visit. Fuxing Silo would become a tourist attraction hence induce the economic growth of its surroundings.
(2) Rice and lifestyle：

During our visit, we hulled rice with a rice huller machine. In our webpage we also gave an in-depth explanation of the rice culture. So that people could learn about the historical architecture as well as food and its influence of our health.
(3) The actions of the interviewees awaken our love for our land：

The people we’ve interviewed consisted of mostly volunteers and tour guides of Fuxing Silo and employees of the Farmer’s Association. Most of which took part in voluntary works to promote local culture and preserve the historical architecture and artifacts of their hometown. They gave guided tours to tourists with a passion. Although they don’t get paid for their work, they are content as long as people get to know about their hometown, a land of stories. Lastly, we hope from seeing what these people have done for the promoting of local culture, more people would take action and do something for their hometown.

5. Intellectual Property Rights
Most of the information presented in the “Appraise for the Grains – The Past and Present of Fuxing Silo” web page was from the Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau and our interviews and personal observations. All listed materials were granted permission under the authorization of its owner or person responsible. Other materials used on our web page were retrieved from search engine such as Google and Yahoo. We cited the source of reference by noting the website, and the name and photo of the contributor.

6. Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises
(1) Self-discovery：

After taking part in the Cyberfair project, we discovered our personality and talent. Some were good at verbal communication and were able to grasp the center of the interview and thus ask questions. Others were good at word processing and were able to organize information and represent the contents. There were even others who were good writers and were able to write up lively passages to support the web page. Nonetheless constant encouragement enhances team understanding.

(2) Lesson learned and personal realization：

We learned a lot about Fuxing Silo and the lifestyles of our ancestors from our local tour guide and we also learned how to hull rice. We’ve gained so much from this trip. Apart from it all, we also learned from the volunteers that in the past few years many great events were held here. It was not until our interview with Mrs. Chin-chu Weng had we realized how hard it was for Fuxing Silo to gain its title as a historical architecture. From people like these, people with love for their hometown, we learned that as long as we held on to the passion in our hearts we will find the things around us are wonderful and filled with inspirations.

Through the road of the making of the Cyberfair project we realized that the event itself is not merely a mean to gain a place in a competition but rather what we've learned. Had we as a team given a hundred percent of our efforts? Can we really recognize the essence of the local characteristic? When we finally realize the meaning and value of this competition, we found that we have matured and grown wiser life.