Cultural Camp – Speech by NDHU Principal

Chinese Language Center of National Dong Hwa University, in order to let foreign students of our school experience the beauty and diversity of different cultures, held a Cultural camp on October 13^th. The activities including visiting Feng-Lin town, Principal's Dream Factory and forestry cultural park "Lin-Tian Shan", and also DIY cloth dying. For a sweet ending, students enjoyed ice cream at the Sugar Factory at Guang-Fu. We had 130 attendants from 21 countries including United States, France, Thailand, Vietnam, eSwatini, Guatemala, etc. When our students were getting ready to take the first group photo at Feng-Lin Hakka Cultural Museum, it seemed as if we were the miniature United Nations. We also receive warm welcoming from the other visitors and the local people there.

Cultural Camp – Speech by Director of OIA

During the participation of Cultural Camp, Han-Chieh Chao, the principal of National Dong Hwa University, shared his own experience with our international students. Since childhood, Principal Chao has the opportunity to understand the Hakka Culture since his mother is also Hakka, also along with the other different cultures in Taiwan. He encouraged our students to cultivate the ability to open their vision and mind to get into local culture. The director from the Office of International Affairs, Yuan-Rong Ma, expressed that he was amazed by how the food was arrange for this camp, satisfying all the needs of attendants from different countries.

During our visit, many students showed special interest in "DIY cloth dying", expressing that this activity shows not only traditional art of cloth dying, it also highlights the importance of environmental protection. Vietnamese students said that the agricultural machinery and tools in Hakka Museum are similar to those they have back in Vietnam. At the Hakka Museum, we can see the connection of different cultures, letting our students experience the wisdom of Hakka tradition. Many attendants shared with us that by visiting Lin-Tian Shan and Sugar factory at Guang-Fu, they learned the ability and capacity of industrial marketing of Taiwan, which turned a declining industry into a cultural and educational spot, pouring life into the old-fashioned factory area. Our foreign students expressed their support and satisfaction of how the camp was arranged, even though the time was not enough, most of the students wish the Chinese Language Center to hold more cultural camps like this in the future.

Cultural Camp – Guang-Fu sugar factory, tasting the delicious ice cream

The chairman of the Chinese Language Center, Chia-Wen Chu, mentioned that Chinese Language Center of NDHU has been devoting to Chinese teaching, offering opportunities to international students of Dong Hwa to get in touch with local culture through field trips. In 2017, the center held a field trip to understand more about the aboriginal culture; the participants had the opportunity to visit a native tribe, having the chance to appreciate the festive occasion and ceremony where people gather in order to have a prosperous year. Furthermore, at the Cultural and Art center in Yilan, foreign students were able to know how important is it for Chinese people to gather at the temple so they can be renew to continue in their journey. In 2018, the educational radio station in Hualien offered the opportunity to Chinese learners of NDHU, in order to improve their speech skill. Every activities held by Chinese Language Center aim to combine education and entertainment, arousing the passion toward our local tradition and culture.

In the past, for students that were looking for a place to study Chinese in Taiwan, only big cities were among their options to start their Chinese learning journey. Even though Dong Hwa is located at the eastern part of the island, with its natural beauty and diversified cultures, NDHU has attracted more and more, including visitors and students. This cultural camp taught students what cannot be experience during Chinese class. In the future, Chinese Language Center will continuously having more innovative activities, providing both static and dynamic courses for our students in NDHU！

Cultural camp – Feng-Lin, DIY dying cloth exhibition

Cultural Camp – Hakka Culture Museum guidance

Cultural Camp – Lin-Tian-Shan Group picture