Sketch of Archilife Study Tour, October 2019
2019年10月份見識之旅縮影 ![]() For the study tour of October 19, 2019, Ms. Lu Ming-yun led 10 ARF interns and their parents to the northeast coast to learn about marine ecology and rustic fishing village. It was rainy on the day of the tour, and the interns and their parents were on time for the departure. At the start of the day's activities, team leader Ms. Lu Ming-yun reminded everyone about things to note and what to observe, and gave the interns some background knowledge. ![]() Centering on the northeast coast, the study tour was guided by Mr. Wu Wen-yih, chief of the local Fulian village. The tour began with a visit to New Taipei City Maritime Resources Recovery Park. Mr. Wu said there used to be a booming industry for the farming of the variously colored abalone in Maoao Bay. However, due to weakened immunity from prolonged inbreeding and the import of low-cost Chinese small abalone which were later found to carry diseases, the industry was almost entirely destroyed. Everyone watched a video introducing the environmental resources around Maoao Bay, the rise and fall of the small abalone farming industry in the Gongliao area and updates on small abalone restoration. Using aerial photos of Maoao Bay, Mr. Wu explained Maoao Bay's superior geographical position and diverse marine environment. To deepen the emotional connection between children and the ocean, marine education engaging the local industries and environment is integrated into the local elementary school curriculum. Besides learning about small abalone farming, diving and ocean swimming, students can only graduate after having swum across the Maoao Bay, released small abalone seeds underwater and dived to the ocean bed to retrieve their graduation certificate. During the tour of the nursery, Mr. Wu explained the internal characteristics of marine organisms and encouraged the interns to get to know these organisms by touching them, thus cultivating their concept of marine conservation. ![]() After lunch, everyone took the footpath to Sandiao Cape Lighthouse. At the top of the lighthouse, Mr. Wu pointed out Maoao Bay along the winding coastal line and said there are three probable reasons for the name of the bay. Firstly, the bay looks like the Chinese character for "mao" from a bird's eye perspective. Secondly, the character "mao" which means five to seven o'clock in the morning refers to the time the village fishermen go out to sea. Thirdly, the name implies "making big bucks" in Taiwanese as fishermen earned a lot of money from the bounteous ocean catch in the early days. In the next part of the itinerary, everyone visited ancient stone houses. In the past, before the northern coastal road was open, residents mostly used locally found materials, such as coastal sandstone and reef, to build houses by laying or stacking these materials. A house owner's economic status can be seen from the method and refinement of the stone-laying. The walls of the stone houses may be laid using the horizontal angle method, 45-degree-angle method and random laying method. To adopt the horizontal angle method, builders must polish and straighten the stones, making it highly labor-intensive and time-consuming, and is usually adopted by the wealthy. During the entire tour, Mr. Wu was humorous and friendly, and interacted well with the interns. At this point, the day's itinerary came to an end. Everyone took a group photo before heading back and looked forward to the next study tour. |