There are more than woodcarving crafts in Sanyi, Miaoli. Back in the 60s to 70s, Miaoli was world-famous for its citronella oil and had the representative slogan of “Getting a house with a bucket of citronella oil”; citronella industry was the essential economic income source back then. Miaoli integrated grand tour attraction spot and citronella season, in order to create a chance for the youth to experience local citronella harvesting culture and its historical trails. Political Deputy Minister of Ministry of Education, Xun-Lu, Fan, had visited today on June 23rd, 2019. She expects more young people to have chances to experience Taiwanese local lifestyle and culture from diverse grand tour activities. Meanwhile, she encourages officials to continue with holding outdoors education with schools locally to extend the spirit of trying out new things and exploring local communities.
The Ministry of Education's Youth Development Administration collaborated with local colleges and non-profit organizations, established grand tour recreation spots around Taiwan, and led people to explore land and nature by following the locals’ lead. Sanyi, Miaoli joint grand tour recreation destination last year in 2018; the staffs of the operation department, Miaoli County Sanyi Tourism Culture Development Association, are mostly young people at the average age of 30. Hopefully, a younger team will lead Miaoli’s future to an energetic brand-new dimension. The managing director of Miaoli County Sanyi Tourism Culture Development Association, Guo-Xin, Wang, indicated that the purpose of holding grand tour activity is to bring out the social impact on passing down the intelligence and wisdom of our ancestors. By giving the youth a chance to experience citronella drying, tying, and citronella oil extracting, Wang and his association introduce the extinctive traditional industries to the youth, holding activities to visit charcoal industrial historical trail and charcoal kilns to inspire the youth to think of a more creative and innovative way that can combine new and traditional cultures then recreate the prosperity of Taiwan citronella industry.
This year, Sanyi, Miaoli grand tour attraction spot participated in the promotion of an outdoor education project and cooperated with teachers from nearby schools, such as Lyiues Elementary School, Jianzhong National Primary School, Ciao Cheng Elementary School, and Yuying Elementary School, co-developing a diverse outdoor education experiencing program including Hakka, historical trail, woodcarving, vernicia (tung tree), citronella industry, and other local elements. The learning is the fusion of all the elements and the five senses, providing cross-domain exploratory fields, cultivating students' sense of identity and responsibility, and rooting down the creative seeds for the local.
Political Deputy Minister of Ministry of Education, Xun-Lu, Fan, visited Sanyi, Miaoli grand tour attraction spot and exchanged experiences with the principals of Elementary schools in Sanyi: Guo-Ji, Luo from Lyiues, Jing-Jing, Lu from Jianzhong, Min-Xian, Xie from Ciao Cheng, and Chun-Wen, Luo from Yuying. They have also proposed to found "Sanyi Academy" and encourage young people to connect with more local youth, schools, organizations and resources, to strengthen community connection, and continue to innovating traditional industries and cultures, activating local development, and integrating campus resources for better outdoor education, exploratory activities, and positive social impact promoting.
There are 59 grand tour recreation spots, and each of them carries various local stories to be explored. Visit Youth Travel in Taiwan Website (https: //youthtravel.tw) for more information and signing up for your own tour!