SU’s USR Team Represents History of First-Ever Primary School in Taiwan

SU’s professor Hin-Chung Wong, who hosted a University Social Responsibility (USR) project run by the School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, cooperated with Chien-Hung Wu, a teacher of Shilin Elementary School, and they adapted the history of this first-ever primary school in Taiwan into short films.

Shilin Elementary School has preserved valuable historical records spanning from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the end of World War II (1895-1945), including not only written texts, but also old photo images and antiques, and has digitized and kept them in the school's history room.

Professor Wong was so moved by the school’s history and precious records that he dug deeper into literature on women’s dress and makeup in the past and visited many temples to produce 17 short films with themes including the history of education in Taiwan, Chinese language education in Shilin in the late Qing Dynasty, the development of women's education, a female Han Chinese teacher and the legendary teacher Xiang-Yao Chen.

The short films will serve not only as teaching materials for schools in Shilin area, but also as a reference for understanding the cultural and educational settings and social changes during Japanese rule.