CyberFair Project ID: 8495

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Exploring Sweet Secrets in the Pingtung Sugar Refinery
Category: 6. Historical Landmarks
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2020/gsh8495/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2020/gsh8495/reference2020.html

School: Pingtung City Fu-Shing Primary School
    Pingtung City, Pingtung County, Taiwan

8 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on February 22, 2020. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 0

Classes and Teachers: KAO, CHIH-MING

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://web.fsps.ptc.edu.tw

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Can you imagine that 110 years ago, the green land in front of the Pingtung Fu-Shing Primary School was the largest Ako Sugar Refinery in East Asia?

The predecessor of our school is the Surrogate Primary School of Taiwan Sugar Corporation. After the Restoration of Taiwan, the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, received all the assets of the Taiwan Sugar Co., Ltd. in Taiwan.

The sugar industry was a very profitable company at the time, so employees had higher salaries and better benefits. To give children of employees a good educational environment, the Surrogate Primary School of Taiwan Sugar Corporation was established under such circumstances.

With the changes in the economic environment, the sugar industry in Taiwan could not continue to maintain its glory. The sugar refinery in Taiwan had become a heavy burden. In 1968, the Pingtung County government received the surrogate primary school and changed the name of the school to the Fu-Shing Primary School of Pingtung City, Pingtung County.

In 1970, to build a paper pulp mill, Taiwan Sugar Corporation replaced the land the Shimizumachi Farm, the current location of the Fu-Shing Primary School with the original school site, located in the sugar refinery.

In 1971, the Fu-Shing Primary School moved to the new location. Because the new address is on the Fu-Shing Road in Pingtung City, the name of the school is called the Fu-Shing Primary School.

Now, in front of our school, there is a large shade of green plants. It used to be the production base of sugar. A little further, it is now the location of the Pingtung Operation Branch of Taiwan Sugar Corporation.

2. Summary of Our Project

The topic of our research project is Exploring Sweet Secrets in the Pingtung Sugar Refinery. Pingtung Plain once produced a lot of sweet sugar canes and amber-like sugar. Pingtung used to be the sweetest county, and Pingtung used to be a city built of sugar. Next to our school used to be the Pingtung Sugar Refinery. During the Japanese occupation period, it was the Ako Sugar Refinery.

After the Restoration of Taiwan, it was the location of the Second Division of Taiwan Sugar Corporation and the Pingtung General Refinery. The Pingtung General Refinery ended its sugar business in 1997 and the refinery buildings were also demolished.

At present, if you want to understand the history of Pingtung sugar industry development, you must first visit the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery, founded in 2010.

To explore the origin, development, and stories of the Pingtung Sugar Industry is the interest and goal of our study. We plan to explore the development of the Pingtung sugar industry and the newly established the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery through searching and organizing relevant literature, visiting relevant professionals, field interviews, investigations, observation records, and taking photos, etc.

We will organize the collected data and make further sorting and comparison. We hope that through this thematic research, we can have a better understanding of the history of the Pingtung sugar industry.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

First, when we needed to take a video, some team members could not join us. Our Solution: 1. We took advantage of our time without classroom learning to finish our visit and investigation. 2. At work, we were assigned to groups and completed the tasks separately.

Second, we were not good at writing about our reports. Our Solution: 1. Our teacher provided an outline of the writing to guide us how to write and how to summary. 2. Sharing our thoughts and experience and providing suggestions for improvement with each other.

Third, after finishing writing and reports, we didn’t know the quality of our work. Our Solution: 1. We shared our reports and feelings in public. 2. After sharing, we proposed three compliments, two suggestions, and one improvement.

Fourth, the guided tour time of the Ako Sugar Factory Office Buildings held by Pingtung Sugar Factory is our class time and the Tainan Shanhua Sugar Factory is far from the school, so we were unable to participate in. Our Solution: 1. Our teacher took part in the guided tour of the Office Buildings of Ako Sugar Factory and Tainan Shanhua Sugar Refinery on Thursday and weekend. 2. Our teacher shared the guided tour with us through photos and videos.

Fifth, the quality of photographing and taking films needed improvement. Our Solution: 1. We practiced taking pictures and videos in the school. 2. We took 2 times more photos and videos, so we had more choices in organizing our data.

Sixth, the promotion effect of sharing our videos on the school website or youtube maybe be limited. Our Solution: we will share our video of research project’s achievements to historical editions, and education and learning editions on the PeoPo citizen news website of the Public Television Service.

Seventh, our members who were behind schedule needed assistance. Our Solution: we were divided into several study groups and assigned the team leader to assist. We worked hard to catch up with others during our noon break.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

(1) Through this research project activity, we found ten secrets about sugar industry development in the Pingtung Plain.

(2)The video reports we make related to the history of the Pingtung Plains sugar industry contribute to the data of Google Chinese keyword search and provide valuable reference materials. Our data sequence of search results of Chinese keywords always comes out in front. (3) Our attentive video report won the recognition of the Public Television Service. The video report is the Season of Sugarcane Breeding in Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center. The website of the video report is https://www.peopo.org/news/391605.

(4) We made five guided tour maps and six historical story drawings of sugar industry to share with you.

(5) We find that the Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center is a precious cultural asset, although it has not yet been registered. We also assist the sugarcane breeding center to fill out the cultural landscape form and submit it.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

1. Language Arts, Mandarin: We learn to read the relevant materials and summarize the key points, organize and publish the feelings and experiences of participating in the inquiry activities. We figure out the plot of the recording film, dub, and make video. We go to visit and learn. We prepare questions, ask questions, and keep key records.

2. Mathematics: The weight calculation of the millstone for sugar in the historical park of the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery, the calculation of the actual area of the map using Google Earth, and the meaningful interpretation of the chart information.

3. Social studies: Search and sort out the history and development of Pingtung sugar refinery, make satellite map of Pingtung sugar refinery, investigate and record the facilities of Wandan sugarcane breeding center and guide map of the office building of Ako sugar refinery.

4. Natural Sciences: Observe and record sugarcane growth, visit Wandan sugarcane breeding center and breeding facilities, and observe Sugarcane Cross operation process on site.

5. Arts and Humanities: Draw the historical development comics of Pingtung sugar industry, the story comics of the office building of Ako sugar refinery, the story of chimneys of Pingtung sugar refinery comics - the tears of Japanese grandma, the story comics of sugarcane breeding, etc.

6. Health and Physical Education: To investigate the source of sugarcane and the experience of dragon's beard candy production.

7. Information Technology Education: Use software to complete the learning tasks such as using FreeMind to draw mental map, using Photoscape to edit images and make comic strips, using Inkscape to design web pages, and using Dreamweaver to make web pages.

8. Environment Education: Understand the local sugar industry history, historical buildings and stories of Pingtung, and introduce the historical stories and development of Pingtung sugar industry to everyone.

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Project Elements

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

1. Freemind: Draw the framework of the research project 2. Photoscape: Edit web photos and pictures 3. Google MyMaps: Make historical and cultural map of sugar industry of Pingtung plain 4. Inkscape: Layout of special web pages 5. Google Earth Pro: Take the satellite map as the base map of the guide map and calculate the actual area 6. Cyberlink: Edit movies, and dub movies 7. Dreamweaver CS6: Production of the web pages of our research project 8. Digital camera: Shoot and record special activities, films, etc. 9. Mobile phone: Shooting, interview recording, etc. 10. Scanner: Digitize old photos and written materials 11. Professional Database: Collect historical documents

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

(1) We visited Uncle Zeng, the administrator of the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery to learn the history and story of the Pingtung Sugar Refinery. (2) We visited Uncle Zhang, the manager of the Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center to learn the history, work and tasks of the breeding center, and secrets of sugarcane. (3) We visited Hsueh, Chiu-Mao, the Director General of the Hsin Hsing Mazu Temple of Kung Kuan, to learn the history and story of the Pingtung Plain sugar industry. (4) We shared billboards of our research project findings and stories at the school morning meeting, on the school anniversary and sports day and at the lobby of Pingtung Railroad Station. (5) We made billboards of our research project findings to share with our teachers, students, and guests on the school anniversary and sports day. (6) We share our research project video on the website of the Public Television Service, PeoPo Citizen News at https://www.peopo.org/fspsjournalists and our school homepage. (7) We shared the website of our research project findings with Uncle Zeng and Uncle Zhang and accepted valuable suggestions and feedback. (8) We made our website of the research project, exploring the secrets of the Pingtung Sugar Refinery to share the findings. (9) The video of the research project we produced, the season of sugarcane breeding in the Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center shared by us was broadcast on the Public Television Service. Our video introduced that there is a sugarcane breeding Center in the Wandan, Pingtung County. Its mission is to cultivate excellent sugarcane varieties mainly through breeding and selection. Through the report by the citizen journalist team, our Sweet Secrets Team, everyone can take a look at sugarcane breeding.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

1.Through our research, we found many unknown and unfamiliar history of Pingtung sugar insustry. On the Internet, there are many historical data on the development of Taiwan's sugar industry, but there are very few parts of the Pingtung Plain sugar industry. Also, many of the questions we had thought of require our practical actions to solve them. In the process, we used a lot of strategies and information tools to get valuable information and sorted out first-hand information.

2. We establish our research project website to share our many findings of Pingtung sugar industry. In the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery, there are many cultural artifacts, each of which has its own story. Through our research, we visited Uncle Zeng and collected stories of happiness, anger, sorrow and joy in the museum. We hope that through our website, we can let you know, recall and even pay attention to these precious history and cultural artifacts, and expect more people to cherish it.

3.In our research project, we made the video report of the Cultural Development Record of Sugar Industry in Pingtung Plain, Sugar Mills of Pingtung, the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery and the Office Building of Ako Sugar Refinery. To promote our video report, we upload the video to the PeoPo, the website of Citizen Journalism.

4.Through our research, we know that many historic spots in Pingtung have been registered as national monuments, historic buildings, or cultural landscape. In this research activity, we have an important discovery. We found that Wandan sugarcane breeding center is an important place for sugarcane conservation, and it has not been listed as a cultural asset.

We also assist the sugarcane breeding center to fill out the cultural landscape form and submit it. In the future, maybe we will have another cultural landscape in Pingtung.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

Since last September, we have conducted this research project. During this period, we have received help from everyone. We visited the Heritage Museum of the Pingtung Sugar Refinery and invited Mr. Zeng to assist in the recording of the guided introduction video. Our team also made tour guided maps of the Office Building of Ako Sugar Refinery and the Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center.

We remember that when we asked Mr. Zeng to join us to shoot the guide film and the recording film of the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery, he was obliged to assist us in the interview and shooting, and made a total of four guides. Within a short time, he completed the recording work and helped us record the tasks of the heritage museum.

During the research project, Mr. Zeng provided us many rare historical photos and reference materials of sugar refinery. Although many of our photos and data are reproduced from the original data, this process makes us more aware of the value of the data, to realize the difficulty of data collection and how the data providers cherished the data. This time, we collected some image documents that are not easy to see outside. Thanks to the Boss of the Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery.

Knowing that we are actively collecting and sorting out the records of the sugarcane breeding center, to let us complete the data collection and production of the special research, Mr. Zhang accepted our interview request without hesitation and recorded the introduction video, so that we can feel great support.

Thank you, Mr. Zhang, for your assistance and support for our special research activities, although you will politely say that these are part of your job. In Wandan sugarcane breeding center, we can't say that he has a lot on his plate, because he is the magician of countless sugarcane varieties.

Thank you for guiding us to learn so much, giving us wonderful breeding experience, and tolerating our innocent words. Thank you!

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

1. Discoveries:

Discovery 1: The Heritage Museum of Pingtung Sugar Refinery collects many cultural artifacts, each of which has its own story. Through our research, we visited Uncle Zeng and collected stories of happiness, anger, sorrow and joy in the museum.

Discovery 2: We found that the Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center is a cultural asset that needs to be well protected.

2. Lessons:

It is a challenge for us to have a preliminary understanding of the history of the sugar industry in the past hundred years. Although we work hard, there are still many stories we don't know about this history. Maybe someone interested may continue to explore. Maybe in the future, we can choose a more specific theme after considering the limitations of time and ability. Let's do a deeper exploration and let everyone have a deeper understanding. What we can know is that this historical exploration requires the continuous investment of time and effort.

3. Surprises:

Surprise 1: We share the video report, in the season of sugarcane breeding, we are at the Wandan Sugarcane Breeding Center, on the PeoPo Citizen News website and it is quoted by the citizen news program of the Public Television Service. This is an honor that we can see our report video shared with everyone on the 13th channel on TV, and our hearts are full of joy.

Surprise 2: When sharing our research project website with Mr. Zeng, he told us that the internal official documents sent by the head corporation recently required the cultural capital units in the various areas of Taiwan Sugar Corporation to complete the SOP written materials and take videos of actual drill of tour guide about the cultural articles. Mr. Zeng thinks that these are all things that he has done to assist our team in the research project activities during this period. This coincidence makes us realize that the research project activity of the Cyberfair is valuable.

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