In recent years, as well as working to develop the economy, many caring people in Taiwan have come to attach importance to community regeneration, and in the process of exercising "good-neighborly concern," have brought a more individual and cultured aspect to previously drab communities. If we look more closely at the success stories among efforts toward community regeneration, we see that they all involve felicitous combinations of the three factors of "individual contributions," "unique characteristics," and "effective strategies," through which some communities have been able to create an attractive sense of warmth.
To give readers inside and outside Taiwan an insight into the current situation and the strategies being adopted in community regeneration in the ROC, Sinorama is collaborating with the Council of Cultural Affairs to produce a series of reports introducing distinctive communities in northern Taiwan, which we hope readers will find informative and enjoyable.
In late spring and early sum-mer the mountains in northern Taiwan are covered in a sea of snow-white tung tree blossoms. This "May snow" has become a new symbol for the Hakka people of northern Taiwan, who in the past largely resided in the mountains.
At the end of April, the opening ceremony was held in Peiho Village in Kungkuan Rural Township for a series of "Tung Blossom Events" sponsored by the Hakka Affairs Commission and the Miaoli and Hsinchu county governments. The ceremony, based on the Hakka "nine offerings" tradition, was directed to the deities of the mountains, earth, and heavens, in a spirit of respect for nature and gratitude for nature's bounty.
With an area of 71 square kilometers and a population of about 34,000, Kungkuan is an old-fashioned rural Hakka community. These days, with both traditional industry and agriculture declining, it is facing a transition. What can Kungkuan, which was formerly a center of ceramics production in Taiwan, do to reverse its fortunes? Can agriculture be revived? Community activists will play an important role in answering these questions.