Last year, our projects in communities, commissioned by Cultural Affairs of Hsinchu County, included a Hakka village nearby Beipu : Nán-Kēng (南坑). We had regular meetings and activities with the inhabitants, mainly older people who are treasures of knowledge about the local history and the agricultural past of this area. Their practices are still very rich and it was easy to catch their attention on it, wakening old gestures such as bamboo weaving, hand-cropping of ricefields and playing Beiguan music. We eventually released a book containing visual documentation of these events (some photos were shot by the elders themselves) and a CD devoted to the Beiguan group that we could convince to reform after four years of sleep…

This year, we are focusing on a old path, Qiān Duàn Qí 千段崎, which was once a very important road. Opened 100 years ago, it was constitued by stairs made in stone, more than 1000 pieces. It led to differents traditional houses and fields above the hills. Nowadays the path is almost forgotten, some stones have been burried or stolen. With the inhabitant we are trying to retrieve the history and stories about this old path. Write the anecdotes, document the nature around, record the sounds of the traditional practices which are related to the place, draw a map…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 9:41 am and is filed under Communities 藝術進入社區, Hakka in TW 台灣客家, Nán-Kēng (南坑).