Century-Old Temple in the Alley – Fude Temple on Dianzai Street

From Cyberfair, we learned how to complete a project on our own. From selecting the topic, formulating research plan, carrying out research activities, to completing the website, we worked together as a group for six months. Even though we did not sit in the class or open a textbook, we still gained valuable insights into different fields of learning, and that was what the Grade 1-9 Curriculum was all about.

Language:

We collected data and organized them into meaningful contents for the project. Our writing proficiency got better through completing interview questions, surveys, progress reports, stories, and scripts on our own. When we conducted interviews and surveys, our ability to listen and communicate has also improved. The project has helped us improve our linguistic proficiencies in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Math:

In order to understand how locals and worshippers perceive praying and how well they know about Fude Temple on Dianzai Street, we conducted surveys at the temple and nearby community. After the survey, we used spreadsheet software to tabulate and analyze the results before presenting them in graphic forms.

Social Studies:

Through this research, we gained insights into Fude Temple on Dianzai Street, such as its history, promotion of folk religion, working at the temple, and charity work.

From the interviews, we learned that besides being the locals religious center, the temple is also doing its part to protect the environment by altering ways that people pray. The temple also channeled the resources from the community into charities. We took our findings and presented them to our fellow schoolmates and teachers through animation, storybooks, hands-on works, and exhibitions. We want them to see how Fude Temple on Dianzai Street, a traditional folk culture, is progressing with time.

Arts and Humanities:

In our research, we used our artistic talents to produce animation, storybook, deity puppets, hand-drawn pictures, games, and online videos. We used our editing skills to modify photos before using them on the project website. While building the website, we combined the techniques of drawing, artistry, typesetting, and photography to enhance the artistic presentation of our project site.

Science and Life Technology:

We collected data using the Internet. We used devices to record interviews and activities and cloud technology to store data. Finally, we used video editing and website building software to put the project site together. The use of various information technologies greatly enhanced our technological capabilities.

Integrative Activities:

We learned to express our opinions while respecting those of the others. The project helped us see the importance of teamwork and being responsible. We learned the importance of teamwork, and we were able to complete the research on Fude Temple on Dianzai Street in the end.

Use of Technology

What information tools and technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project?

Software:

Hardware:

Roles of the Ambassador

Interaction with the Temple:

After finalizing the research topic, we started researching on Fude Temple on Dianzai Street. We collected data on the Internet, visited the temple, took part in the guided tour, and interviewed locals and staff to get to know the temple better. We hosted guided tour of our own and worked at the temple to uncover more stories of how the temple is not only promoting a traditional religious culture, but also advocating charity work and environmental protection.

Interaction with the Community:

After taking part in an activity at the temple, we interviewed worshippers and surveyed them on what worshipping means to them and the way they would like to get to know the temple better. Furthermore, we interviewed the locals to see their view on the culture of worshipping. We introduced the temple to them and hoped they would visit the temple in their free time. The feedbacks that the worshippers and the locals shared with us were extremely valuable.

Interaction with Teachers and Students:

We shared the results from different activities with our schoolmates and teachers. While giving a temple guided tour, we invited interested students to join us; during in-class presentation, we introduced unique stories about the temple; during Earth God Week, we displayed deity puppets and introduced each deity in brief; through still-frame animation, we introduced Earth God, Tiger God, and the culture of worshipping; during Earth God’s Blessing, students sent make-a-wish cards to Earth God and got a reply; during the New Year divination lot event, we created a program to help students and teachers experience divination lot; during performances, we used storytelling and stage performances to introduce the traditional folk religion and Fude Temple on Dianzai Street to teachers and schoolmates.

Impacts

Before the project, very few of us had visited the historic Fude Temple on Dianzai Street, which was only a short ten-minute walk away from our school. Due to our young age, we did not know much about the procedures for praying or the stories behind each deity. We simply followed our parents to the temple to pray. After six months of researches and activities, we got to know the temple and the cultural aspect of praying better, and we also realized that Fude Temple on Dianzai Street is not merely a religious center for the locals, but also a place that ties the locals together with love, caring, and charity work. Our research and activities also helped students and teachers at Yu-Tsai and the locals experience the traditional religious culture at Fude Temple on Dianzai Street. On the project website, besides the temple, we have also presented stories about the temple in creative ways. We invited people who know the history of the temple well to give us suggestions on and check the accuracy of the history, deities, and culture aspects of our website content. After the site was complete, we invited people from the temple, teachers, and parents to give us feedbacks. Everyone who has viewed our site said our content was solid, and it provided a good introduction on the temple and the culture of praying. The learning and experiencing aspects were also very interesting, worth spending more time on!

Thank You

Social Services Division, Yonghe District Office:

We would like to thank Ms. Huang Shumei of Social Services Division at Yonghe District Office for recommending us to focus our research on Fude Temple on Dianzai Street. Through studying this historic temple, we got a chance to know Taiwan’s traditional folk religion and do in-depth research on how folk religion and the locals interacted with each other. We couldn’t wait until the project is complete so we may share our findings with everyone.

Temple Staff:

We would like to thank Chairman Cao for giving us the opportunity to get a first-hand experience working at the temple’s foundation. We learned how the foundation pooled charitable resources together and then channeled them to the right people or group. We would like to thank the temple’s consultant Mr. Zhang for giving us a tour of the temple and sharing interesting stories about the temple. We would like to thank the temple staff for providing us with information that we need for the project and experience work at the temple even when they were busy.

Members of the community:

We would like to thank the people of Yonghe for taking their time to have an interview and survey with us. Their answers helped us understand this crown jewel in Yonghe, and we also obtained valuable data to enrich the content of our website.

Respecting Intellectual Property Rights and Citations

If the data published on the project website is taken from existing data or graphs from the Internet, proper accreditation will be provided. The content on the project website is taken from interviews, activities, and discussions with consent from every interviewee. All pictures, videos, and texts on ‘Century-Old Temple in the Alley – Fude Temple on Dianzai Street’ are obtained with respect to the rules of intellectual property. Proper accreditation and consent are obtained before the materials are used for the project website.

Discoveries, Lessons, and Surprises

Discoveries:

Temple Culture Overload:

Through the Fude Temple on Dianzai Street project, I’ve gained a more profound understanding about folk religion in Taiwan. After interviewing temple staff, I found that every temple has its uniqueness. Fude Temple on Dianzai Street is not only a building, but also a center for religion and charitable work. When I visit other temples in the future, I would examine them the way we studied Fude Temple on Dianzai Street, and I may learn to appreciate them differently.

Power of Teamwork:

Throughout the project, each team member got a chance to contribute in his or her own way. Some drew amazing pictures, some worked the camera so well for the animation, some handled interviews so well, and some were just born to perform on stage. After each in-depth study, we got to know the temple from a new perspective. We have also gained valuable experiences that were not possible to obtain in class. Therefore, we cherished the opportunities and worked hard. With everyone working together, teamwork is going to help us showcase the temple’s spirit to the world and bring our research to a successful conclusion.

Not Just a Website:

While making the project website, we need to organize our research findings and every activity held over the past six months into meaningful content. We used hand-drawn pictures and pictures drawn on computers for the website. Photos and videos were adjusted so they would attract the attention of people! We also need to come up with ways to maximize people’s viewing experience when designing the layout of the website.

Lessons:

In Cyberfair, we learned to prepare for everything ahead of time because what might seem insignificant could turn out to be a handful when we had to do it by ourselves. Like hosting an interview, we must prepare ahead of time and gather some basic information about the interviewee. Through the interview, we need to ask questions that go deeper. We also need to practice a few times so when the actual interview comes, we would be ready to get the answers we need. While organizing activities, we need to take the objectives of the audience into consideration during the planning phase. Therefore, we need to adjust our performance to fit the needs of different audience.

Surprises:

After this research, we found that Fude Temple on Dianzai Street is really a special place! In order to raise environmental protection awareness, the temple abolished its more than three hundred years of tradition for burning paper money on-site with worshipping. Instead, it incinerates paper money off-site and reduces the number of incense sticks used for praying. The temple also actively promotes the use of offering rice to replace paper money. However, some worshippers could not accept the change and insisted on burning paper money because they believe the burning of paper money is the only way to send their sincerity to deities. We believe with the temple’s persistent push for change, worshippers would be able to adopt new ways of praying, the deities would be able to see worshippers’ sincerity, and our environment would get cleaner!

Source Text: The Wondrous Temple Expedition │ Photos: The Wondrous Temple Expedition

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Background

How did your activities and research for this Cyberfair project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?