Perhaps dreams of one's ancestral homeland lie in the sub conscious of every wanderer living abroad! As we approach the end of the 20th century, a wave of interest in searching for their roots and origins has arisen among Chinese scattered in lands around the globe.
In the South Pacific, Chinese-Tahitians who have been educated in French since infancy have formed a club called L'Association Wen Fa (meaning culture in Chinese); in Canada, where the official languages are English and French, Chinese-Canadians have been working to establish courses in their ancestral language; and on both coasts of the United States, second-generation Chinese-Americans have been exploring their maternal culture in films and novels.
In Taiwan, the wave has struck even harder and made even a bigger splash. A concrete example is the "cultural camps" and similar activities that many civic organizations, unbeknownst to each other, have sponsored during this year's summer vacation. By searching for our forebears and defining ourselves, we can come to know more about our past, present and future and find our place in life.
Among all the various cultural camps this summer, Sinorama chose four for in-depth special reports: the Ami Cultural Study Camp of the Eastern Shore, aimed at Ami children; Taiwan Folk Culture Field Camp, the open to all regardless of provincial origin, age or level of education; the Hakka Youth Cultural Camp, for Hakka children; and the Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the Republic of China, which has 24 years of history and more participants this year than ever. Due to space limitations, we are carrying articles on the first two camps this month and will follow up with latter two next month.
Chimei is known for its longans, a tropical fruit with a green skin. A couple of local children have climbed up a tree to eat them. What bliss!
The little bancha are listening to the legends of their ancestors' origins. Ironically, the carvings on the pillars are actually copied from Africa.
Come on, friends, let's savor the carefree life in the mountains ourselves! During group activities in the evening, the camp counselors take a turn dancing themselves.
Afraid of the woods and the water, the little aborigines of the city no longer react naturally to nature.
The class on recognizing wild plants stumped a lot of them.