Reflection
"Not Just A Battle, Not Just A Name—Through Our Journey, Their Spirit Remains."
Team Leader : Sammi Huang
The experience of organizing an interview with the Chairman of the Seediq Youth Association and a visit to the Shunyi Museum of Formosan Indigenous Peoples allows me to develop several different skills in life and also gain a better insight about the Seediq tribe. During the whole research process, the interview of the Chairman of the Seediq Youth Association impressed me the most. First, our group took a lot of time to organize the time to meet the Chairman. At the beginning, we used g-mail to ask him about his willingness to be interviewed. He replied to the g-mail within one week. Later on, we discussed the time with him for the time of interviewing. However, the typhoon that appeared a few days ago destroyed our original schedule. It caused the trees to fall and block the middle of the way. Finally, we quickly organized another time to meet with him. This experience allows me to develop problem solving and time management skills, which help me to navigate challenges effectively and adapt to unexpected changes. In only forty minutes of interviewing, we learned about the main factors that shaped Seediq people’s identity, their history, and also their cultural tradition. The chairman was really enthusiastic and patient. He didn’t just answer our questions, he also talked about a lot of interesting facts and stories about the Seediq tribe, which provided us with a deeper understanding of their values, beliefs, and way of life.
Participating in the CyberFair was a unique and meaningful experience for me. I joined the CyberFair competition just out of curiosity. At the beginning, I did not expect to take something from this experience, however, I realized that this journey offered much more than I had anticipated. First, the members in our team are all very collaborative and supportive. As a team leader, I am very happy about this. Everytime during the after-school discussion, everyone contributed their ideas and opinions enthusiastically, creating an open and inspiring environment. Second, participating in the CyberFair allows me to learn a lot of different skills that will be really useful in the future. Including communication skills, problem solving skills, time management skills and leadership skills. Moreover, participating in the CyberFair also improved my ability to organize a large amount of information and my English writing skills. Finally, the biggest gain I got from the Cyberfair is that I tried a lot of different things that I have never done before. For example, this is my first time learning how to design a website. At first, I thought I wouldn’t be interested in this kind of thing. After I tried it, I found it quite interesting and amazing. In conclusion, participating in the CyberFair not only changed my view of a lot of different things, but also inspired me to try new things and be open to unexpected opportunities.
Vice Team Leader : Sabrina Wang
Through this competition, I have gained extensive knowledge about Taiwan’s indigenous peoples and developed a variety of skills. For instance, during our interview with the chairman, we not only accumulated experience in conducting formal interviews but also improved our communication skills. We gained a deeper understanding of the true identity of the Seediq people and further compared our findings with historical documents, refining our ability to analyze data. Additionally, we learned to effectively transform our thoughts into well-structured writing, enhancing our writing skills. Beyond that, we conducted field investigations to explore the Seediq people’s culture, living environment, and traditions. The final step was summarizing our findings—eliminating irrelevant data and selecting the most essential information for our report. Though this process may seem simple, it was, in reality, quite challenging. The content had to align precisely with our theme, and choosing the most suitable information from a vast pool of sources was no easy task. Throughout each stage, we continuously honed essential skills crucial for producing a strong report. From individual efforts to teamwork, we dedicated significant time and energy to this project. Whether it was the late hours spent working after school or the busy moments searching for information outside, our commitment was evident. Regardless of the final outcome, I firmly believe that as long as we give it our all, we will achieve outstanding results in the competition.
Since our team wanted more information to elaborate on our report, we visited an exhibition about the Seediq people. The exhibition mainly simulated their living environment, featuring small-scale models of traditional Seediq houses and projections showcasing seasonal changes in daily life. Additionally, sound effects were used to enhance the experience—on sunny days, traditional Seediq songs would play, whereas on stormy days, the singing would cease, reflecting the impact of weather on their cultural expressions. The exhibition also displayed a variety of everyday items. In terms of music, instruments such as mouth harps and hunting flutes were showcased in glass cases, each equipped with a button that allowed visitors to listen to short segments of traditional Seediq music. As for household utensils, we observed that bowls, plates, and pots were mostly made of ceramics, while ladles and large storage jars were crafted from wood. The cooking pots, like the weapons on display, were made of metal, demonstrating that the Seediq people had metalworking skills. Below the pots, there was an old-fashioned stove made of bricks, clearly designed for burning wood as fuel. At the center of the exhibition stood a wooden monument, symbolizing the close connection between the Seediq people and the forest. In the clothing section, we noticed that their textiles had unique patterns. Overall, through these various exhibits, we were able to explore the Seediq people’s way of life, technical skills, and distinctive cultural features. The collection was so captivating that it was hard to leave!
Sophia Lin
Through attending the CyberFair competition, we worked truly hard on gathering information and communication, which also influenced me a lot not only on improving skills, but also the lesson of culture’s importance. As a member of our team, I gained valuable skills not only from the process of researching and interviewing for information but also from visiting the historical museum, which gave insights into our topic. Gathering information requires using a variety of tools, making me improve myself from being unfamiliar with the tools to now being able to easily find sources that we need. The most significant and valuable point that I learned during the preparation for this competition is the importance of communication. During the time of gathering information, communication was needed everywhere and at all times, including communication with the team, Interviewee, employees of the museum, etc. My communication skills improved from discussing and interviewing, which will make me speak more confidently in the future. Additionally, although gathering information is the main job of our competition, as I get more information, I understand why the natives were working so hard to protect their culture and trying to spread their culture by using our ability. Overall, participating in the CyberFair competition helped me develop essential research and communication skills and understand the importance of understanding a culture that will aid me in future academics.
Due to the theme of this competition, which focuses on the Seediq culture, our team decided to visit the Shunyi Museum, which records the history of the indigenous people. The museum records many aspects of indigenous cultures and provides valuable historical content supporting our project’s main goal. During our visit, we saw different indigenous cultures from different tribes, which helped us compare the cultural differences due to different unique ways of living. We saw the indigenous culture, such as instruments, festival supplies, artwork, and dances, but we also saw the dark side of torture due to the beliefs during the pass. The documents helped us understand how their culture changed as time continued. Also, one of the most unforgettable moments of our visit was meeting students from the United States. After we watched the short film about the indigenous, we shared our culture with them and exchanged some ideas with them, which gave us the opportunity to help us achieve one of our team’s goals—spreading awareness of indigenous culture. Overall, this experience of visiting a historical museum definitely made me learn the importance of protecting and spreading indigenous culture, and it also provided a meaningful learning experience that we will never experience in a classroom.
Doris Lee
I learned a lot while participating in this competition. Whether it is the process of how to search and organize information, the process of interviewing, or the process of building a website, they are all valuable experiences for me. I will effectively use the knowledge I have learned in my future studies. The topic we chose this time is about the Seediq people in Taiwan. We hope to further understand Taiwan’s history and culture and let the world see the beauty of Taiwan. Through this subject, I learned a lot about the history and culture of the Seediq people, which gave me a deeper understanding of this indigenous people. In the process of making the website, we communicated with the chairman of the Seediq tribe and listened to his views on culture and traditions. These exchanges have given me a better understanding of the Seediq way of life and have made me admire their history and stories. We hope that through the website we have created, more people will get to know this group and understand their stories and values.
Our topic for this cyberfair is about the Seediq people, an indigenous people of Taiwan, so we decided to visit the Shunyi Museum of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples. This is a very rare and meaningful experience. The museum displays the history, culture and lifestyle of many Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, which gave me a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, especially the Seediq people. The museum displays a variety of traditional Indigenous costumes and handicrafts. In addition, the museum also introduces the origins, languages, beliefs and living habits of various ethnic groups. Through these displays, I learned about the importance of indigenous peoples to the development of Taiwan’s history. Visiting this museum not only taught me a lot about Indigenous people, but also inspired me to pay attention to the inheritance of Indigenous culture. This experience has made me respect and cherish Taiwan’s diverse cultural background even more, and I hope to continue learning and understanding more about the stories of the Indigenous people.
Nina Huang
Through this competition, I learned many different skills, whether it was engaging with industry experts, gathering data, or building a website—these experiences are more valuable than the rankings themselves. As times change, many resources can now be found online. For this internet exhibition, we chose Taiwan’s Seediq Tribe because we wanted to use the website we built to help the world better understand Taiwan’s indigenous culture and promote their unique features internationally. This competition made me realize that both technology and cultural transmission require continuous learning. Through this experience, I learned how to use the internet to promote cultural exchange. I hope to apply these valuable experiences in other areas to continue improving myself.
I am very happy to have had the opportunity to interview the chairman of the Seediq Youth Association and visit the Shunyi Museum of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples through this competition. I believe that indigenous culture is precious and deserves more attention. It not only allows us to learn about the wisdom of our ancestors but also encourages us to reflect on our relationship with nature and the aspects we have lost during the process of modernization. This visit deeply made me realize the importance of cultural heritage in indigenous traditions, which helps us better learn how to live in harmony with nature. Through my exchange with the chairman, I gained a deeper understanding of how to help more people recognize and respect these cultures. I hope there will be more opportunities in the future to pass on these valuable cultural assets to more people, allowing them to pay attention to and protect this precious heritage.
Alex Yang
After visiting the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Indigenous, we gain a better insight about how the Indigenous people lived and what resources they used in nature. The Museum presents the cultures, beliefs, festivals, and their agriculture. For example, their pottery, musical instruments, containers, carvings and patterns, hunting and fishing, drinking culture and other objects. What impressed me most was the artifact from the Amis native Taiwaneses. It was a flat pot with a conical lid that is made of bamboo strips. The amis people use it for fishing. Usually use it to hold small fish and shrimp, and bring back large catches by stringing them together in bamboo strips. The reason this artifact impressed me is because it looks so complicated to make it by hand. It is so strong that they could hold many fishes and shrimps. Decades before, the technology was not that mature. But the native Taiwaneses could use their environment and natural resources well. We also saw their houses called Balhiu. Houses for Balhiu were built and used to leak when it was raining. But the structure of Balhiu was different from others, it was built with stone slabs and the roof was shaped like the scales of a snake, so the rain would not leak into the house. Instead of leaking in houses, rainwater would flow from the roof to the ground outside. Overall, this visioting of Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Indigenous helped me understand the native Taiwanese more deeply and aroused a lot of curiosity in me.
Participating in the CyberFair has helped me and changed me a lot. In this Cyber Fair competition, I learned a lot of things about information technology and knowledge of Native Taiwanese. In school, we presented our poster to everyone and did a presentation. I learned how to make a poster with electronic devices. Also the most important thing of this competition is to create a website about our research. General students, even general adults, don’t know how to create a website, but we learned it. Although it was hard and tough, we made it through. We also improved our presentation skills because we presented in front of everyone in school. We deeply explored the history and living habitats of the Indigenous people, which is really interesting. We did a lot of research on them and we even went to a museum to observe their items for daily use. Overall, this experience has not only improved my technical and presentation skills but also broadened my understanding and appreciation toward the Seediq culture.
Ian Chang
Participating in this competition helped me improve my teamwork and research skills. Throughout the process, we worked together to gather information and present it in writing. This experience made me realize the importance of cooperation and planning. Through our research on the Seediq Tribe, I also understood the significance of promoting cultural heritage. With the internet, we can share these valuable traditions with people around the world.
Visiting the Shunyi Museum of Formosan Aboriginal Peoples was also a memorable and fulfilling experience. The museum displays traditional costumes, hand tools, and daily necessities from Taiwan’s various indigenous ethnic groups. When I saw these exhibits, I admired the wisdom, creativity, and exquisite craftsmanship of the Seediq people even more. Each exhibit showcases their unique culture, from the exquisitely woven totems on their clothing to the tools made from clever use of natural resources, all of which demonstrate their respect and understanding for nature. This visit also made me think about the impact of modernization and globalization on indigenous culture. With the rapid development of modern society, the younger generation may face difficulties in cultural inheritance, and traditional culture may gradually be lost. This realization has made me more convinced of the importance of cultural preservation and has inspired me to continue learning about the history and traditions of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples and actively share these meaningful cultural stories with more people. I hope that through such efforts, I can promote more people’s understanding, respect, and appreciation of Aboriginal culture, and do my part to protect Taiwan’s diverse culture and continue its cultural values.