During our time in Changhua, we had the privilege of taking a full day field trip to the coast. On this field trip, we participated in a mixture of excursions and lectures that helped us gain a deeper understanding of the coast’s unique landscape and the economic and cultural importance it holds for local people. 

Outdoor Excursion: Changhua Coast

When we arrived to the coast, we started our day with an exploration of an intertidal mudflat– which serves a variety of economic and farming purposes. We were guided by Dr. Tsai, who is an accomplished environmentalist whose work has surrounded strengthening the environmental and social resilience of the Chanhua community. Our tour of this natural area started with an introduction to the vast fields of mangroves at the front of the shoreline. Though it is generally thought that mangroves serve as an asset to ecosystems, Dr. Tsai explained that in Changhua, rather, they pose a threat to the mudflats and the species that feed off of them– like shorebirds. Environmentalists have advocated for the removal of these mangroves as they continue to erode the mudflat, but due to public misconceptions of the role mangroves play, this has been difficult to accomplish. As we toured the coast and walked through the mudflat, we walked along a paved road which was built for local economic development. With this in place, shuttles can easily transport tourists to and from the mudflat for a price of $1,900 NTD.

You might be wondering, why exactly are tourists paying this price to travel down Changhua’s mudflat? That would be the main attraction of the area– the oyster farms. These oyster farms spread miles along the mudflat, and at low-tide, tourists are able to visit to participate in harvesting. When we visited, there was even an activity where tourists could participate in building new oyster farm infrastructure where you could compete to see who can dig the wooden stake into the ground fastest. 

After learning about the centrality of oyster farming on the Changhua coast and seeing how this is incorporated into the region’s eco-tourism industry, we then walked back to the front of the shoreline, where the mangroves stretch along the coast. As Dr. Tsai guided us on a walk through the mangroves, he told us how they not only are eroding the landscape of the mudflat, but also decreasing biodiversity. Outside of the mangroves, you can find up to five different kinds of crab species in different colors– red, black, and white mainly –which serve as a valuable food source for local shorebirds. Although, where the mangroves stand, crab diversity is limited to only one species, which poses negative feeding prospects for the neighboring seabirds. 

After our tour by Dr. Tsai, we left for a lunch full of traditional oyster dishes locally sourced at a neighboring restaurant to the coast. Through this start to our day on the coast, we were able to gain a close look at the ecosystems of Changhua’s coast, and how farming and economic development are related with each other in this region.

Afternoon Lectures: Dacheng Junior High 

After lunch, we returned to Dacheng Junior High to have our lectures for the day. These lectures gave us three different perspectives of environmental affairs on the coast. 

Dr Tsai chose to do his dissertation in Changhua because it is a very underrepresented community. In fact, the school we were having our lecture in is in the only junior high school in Dacheng. Petrochemicals are a state-owned enterprise and therefore very hard to fight against.  

Kou-Kwang Petrochemicals used to be in the natural coast area, where there is (supposed to be) no land reclamation (as opposed to industrialized coast and middle land reclamation). The government was afraid that Formosa petrochemical would be the largest petrochemical company in Taiwan and built another, Kou-Kwang DPP. Of course, the locals were very unhappy with this decision, due to health concerns such as the increase of cardiovascular disease in the area, and operation for this plant stopped in 2008. Ever since, party alteration would continue happening as the plant migrated from Yunlin to Changhua. Although the DPP are known for aligning closer to environmentalism and green energy, this is an example of how certain political parties do not always embody certain environmental positions. 

Our second lecturer, Mr. Hsieh talked about the process of construction and supply on the coast, giving some insight into the perspective of those that do work with wind power and ocean research. To utilize wind energy on the coast, it is sort of impossible to avoid any habitat of the white dolphin, but if you can’t stop wind power from happening then you need to find a way to work with the system.

Place based education and deliberative democracy is important to conservation efforts. Tacheng represents the prevalent phenomena of tensions between governmental environmental regulations and local economic needs. The community believes that the wetland belongs to them whereas the government claims it to be public land. The core of the Changhua wetland controversy is that local people want more economic development- this is a recurring problem if you recall learning about the Jiading wetland. 

The deal here is how to go from taboo to civic action. This involves deliberative dimensions; starting communication within a community, demonstrating student capacities in environmental citizenship. 

Reflection

Our full day trip to the Changua coast was an experience that was pivotal in reinforcing the main theme of week three: renewable energy and community revitalization. With expanding wind power development, we often think about the local communities and ecosystems that are often disregarded. By visiting the coast and listening to the expertise of different environmentalists familiar with Changua, we were able to understand the centrality of oyster farming, local eco-tourism practices, the positionality of wind farm industries, and how place-based environmental advocacy may be fostered by Changhua’s future generations.

The Dayu Community Farm was one of our favorite parts of the study abroad program as we got to meet a community of wonderful people and learn about the different customs and farming techniques. The entire theme of this farm visit is community revitalization as the community comes together to grow the farm and help support each other in their endeavors. We first stopped by the nest academy, which is a classroom for the elderly to learn as well as a community care center for the public to utilize. At this place, we learned that this place used to be a pig pen. They introduced us to the farm and told us to wear these bamboo hats as that is what the farmers wear when they go to work. 

We toured around the farm seeing a variety of different plants and recyclable materials being put to use. We walked by a recyclable table, which means that the community utilizes recyclable materials to make a lot of their daily items. During the tour, we walked by a little house where they showed us how a man gets a woman to fall in love with them. The man is supposed to be outside on the porch and sings a song to attract the attention of the woman. The woman will then decide to open the blinds or the windows and determine whether or not to welcome the man into the house. If she finds the man attractive, then she will let him into the house. We were very intrigued by this unique custom by this elderly community. 

Before we walked towards the rice field, we met a group of elderly people. These people showed us true hospitality and offered us lychee as well as some of their soup. We gratefully accepted their offer and we learned a lot about how welcoming this community is. It seems that everyone in this community knows each other and are willing to offer help towards the foreigners. After serving us their delicious lychee and soup, we continued to walk past the giant rice fields. While we walked by that place, it seemed that everything was already harvested. Therefore, we did not get to see the full stalks of rice.

They took us into a classroom where we were then taught how to make bamboo coasters. While the teacher was doing the bamboo coasters with ease, we often struggled to keep up with him. For making the coasters, there was a lot of weaving and hand-eye coordination. We had to keep track of the patterns as well as make sure that our bamboo sticks were straight. After weaving, we had to glue bamboo sticks to the edges of our weaves and wrap it in twine. I would often mess up on this step which led to me not finishing my coaster in time. However, for people who finished their coasters first, they received gifts from the farm like bamboo baskets, bamboo hats, and other bamboo decorations. 

After our bamboo class, we ended it off with a giant feast prepared by the farm. This was one of the best meals we had on the study abroad program. The meal consisted of fried fish, pork belly, duck, cabbage, three cup chicken, mushrooms, and many more. The food was all from their farm and we were glad we got the opportunity to enjoy such fresh food. At the end of our day at the farm, they gave us all small souvenirs to take home.

After the visit to the Dayu Community Farm, we made our way to the 921 Earthquake Museum. The museum was the actual location of where the earthquake had happened on September 21st, 1999. This earthquake had a magnitude of 7.3, and caused 2,415 deaths.

When walking in the first exhibition, we were able to see a simulation of what a room would look like after the earthquake, and our tour guide had explained the reasoning behind the design. The room was all white because for Taiwanese culture, white had represented more negative memories. We then walked out, where we were able to see the Chelungpu Fault Gallery, and the uplifting the earthquake had caused to the area. Our tour guide further explained the design of this gallery: the white part represented the boundary, the top part of the building represented the needle, which connected with the cables, representing the thread, which all together represented the image of stitching the wound caused by the fault. Dr. Weng had also mentioned the reason how the structure had also helped the preservation of this site from erosion. 

Something that was cool was the Earthquake Engineering Hall, where there was an indoor exhibition with interactive experiments. We were shown two different experiments, one called the “soil liquefaction experiment,” where we could see the dangers of living near the sea or river, as during earthquakes, water comes up, which could allow the houses to sink and collapse if not held up correctly. The other one was where there were four displays of different structured houses, and we would see which structures would hold better during an earthquake based on their foundations. 

After the two experiments, we walked out and saw the display of the North classroom of the Kuang-Fu Junior High School. The tour guide described it looking like a “pancake,” and explained how the collapse was due to weak column structures. We further learned that on the left, was actually the gym of the junior high school, but now it’s become a gallery where you could watch a quick cartoon clip in the theater, or experience the earthquake simulation. Unfortunately, we were not able to experience the earthquake simulation because all the seats were already filled up, but it was an awesome tour.

Overall, we feel like this trip to the museum was really cool to see and experience because there were the actual buildings preserved there. Not only that, but this place creates a great place for education and awareness. we think the way it’s set up is really good for people to learn about not only earthquakes, but the considerations of where or how your house is built from doing the interactive experiments at the Engineering Hall. This earthquake was an unfortunate situation that of course can’t be prevented, but created a way to learn from it. This allowed us to see how Taiwan had used this earthquake as a learning experience, which further allows for future structural engineering designs, emergency preparations and responses.