University Social Responsibility (USR) triggers three forces to reappear TianTouShui
「TianTouShui」 is the abbreviation of Tianzhong, Shetou and Ershui in Changhua County. They are important gateways between Changhua Plain and Nantou Mountains. They used to be the residence of the Pingpu ethnic group hundreds of years ago. Owing to Babao Irrigation Canal developed by emperor Kangxi in Qing dynasty, a large number of Han people migrated here, and Sanheyuan, temples, ancestral halls, and street shops gradually appeared. During Japanese colonial period, the Taiwan sugar railway of Xizhou sugar company, the Ji-ji railway of transporting Nantou timber, and longitudinal railway crossed in this area. Transportation and industry contributed to the prosperity of three townships for nearly a century and also accumulated rich history and industrial cultures.
However, because of social changes, TianTouShui is no longer prosperous and widespread problems in Taiwan's rural areas cannot be avoided. The government is aware of the crisis in Taiwan's rural areas and promotes various revitalization strategies from community empowerment to local revitalization so TianTouShui which has rich cultures, can be re-developed. Prof. Hsui, Min-Sun from Department of Tourism and Recreation Management at Hsiuping University of Science and Technology who is a local resident has involved in local community and tourism guidance for a long time. After a long observation, he discovered that problems of TianTouShui needed to be solved urgently including a lack of integration of activities and resources in various townships, unstable a number of tourists and a lack of a powerful marketing platform. Therefore, Hsiuping University was in accordance with experiences of Teaching Excellence Project and the first phase of USR Project. Hsiuping University combined four departments of College of Tourism and Creativity with local communities including tourism guides, itinerary planning, baking and drinking, multimedia design, foreign language guides, and storytelling marketing. Hsiuping University expected to be an academic pusher, collaborates with local organizations and schools, and integrated to promote the development of local tourism industry. After the implementation of the second phase of the USR Project, preliminary results have been achieved.
TianTouShui's local organizations including SheTou's QingShuiyan Ecological Cultural and Creative Association, Tianzhong Tourism and Commercial Development Association, ErBaShui Tourism and Commercial Development Association, Babaozhen Cultural Association, Ershuiyuanquan Community Development Association, Babaozhen Cultural Association, Zhongtan Community Development Association, Corn Doll Studio, Daqiu Park Leisure Farm, Tianzhong Hotel, Fujing Canteen, Women's Smelly sticky Tofu, etc., are all passionate and powerful collaborative partners. They are energetic with rich experiences in the maintenance and promotion of local cultures. For nearly a year, local partners provided relevant advices and assistance to collaborate with us and to participate in various activities together on the TianTouShui project. We hosted high school teachers and students from other counties and cities to visit TianTouShui areas for boosting beautiful TianTouShui areas. Some local schools including Tianzhong High School, Holy Savior High School, Da Der Commercial and Technical Vocational School, Xinmin Elementary School, etc. in TianTouShui areas have also work together with us and co-organized some activities such as training for teachers and students so they can participate in the activities of introducing to be a tour guide for events or foreign tourists. We feel very lucky to have fabulous cooperative partners and we are glad to help each other through COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The teachers and students of Hsiuping University apply innovative and creative teaching, creativity classroom, and professional integration into our learning. Besides, we attend speeches of local experts and visit TianTouShui and participate in local activities (e.g., Tianzhong Growner Market, Travel Tianzhong, Tianzhong Marathon, etc.) to gather information and to understand the attractions and cultures of TianTouShui. After the teachers and the students understood local cultures and characteristics, students selected the characteristics of TianTouShui and developed their creativity for innovations to design a main image and three types of cute dolls instructed by Prof. Wu, Shiu-Hua from Department of Digital Media; students utilized Ershui fragrant pomelos, Shetou guavas, and Tianzhong rice to develop pomelo pastry, dried quava snow cookies, and sweet cone of dried fruits and rice guided by Prof. Chen, Chun-Jung from Department of Tourism.
Under the leadership of Dean Chang, Chih-Lin, Hsiuping University's teachers and students cooperated with local groups to hold a variety of excellent activities. In order to cultivate local tour guides,
Prof. Hsui, Min-Sun from Department of Tourism established 「TianTouShui Creativity Classroom」which collaborated with local education institutions such as Changhua County Community College, Tianzhong High School, Da Der Commercial and Technical Vocational School, Holy Savior High School, Tianzhong Elementary School, Santan Elementary School, and Xinmin Elementary School to integrate tourism professions for training local guides. In addition to holding 「TianTouShui Forum」, Hsiuping University invited local experts to share their experiences so students and local people could know more about TianTouShui areas.
Prof. Lin, Chen-Wei from the Department of Applied Japanese guided his students wearing yukata to visit architectural attractions built during the period of Japanese colonial occupation; Prof. Chen, Shu-Jen from Department of Applied English instructed her students to film English guided tour videos and to train their foreign language skills; Prof. Tsai, Li-Chueh from the Cultural and Creative Club taught her students to film TianTouShui marketing videos; Prof. Chang, Chi-Hsia from Marketing and Management Department directed her students to write touching stories for local areas.
Due to the support of USR project from Ministry of Education and cooperation with local partners, Hsiuping teachers have more opportunities guiding students positively face and think that Taiwan's rural areas are confronted with dilemmas. In the same time, Hsiuping University integrates teachers' professions, courses of various departments, and creativity of teachers and students to cultivate local talents in TianTouShui areas, promote TianTouShui, and fulfills University Social Responsibility.
University characteristic Startup Stage Project
Taichung City
Hsiuping University of Science and Technology
Further reading
From 13:00 to 14:00 on December 12 (Saturday), 2020
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