School Outing with Stanley's!

Stanley travels with Wen-Au students, during a long-anticipated school outing, to the Er-Kan Village of Old Residences and Hsi-Tai Fortress. The Er-Kan residences are famous for their archaic (what does 'archaic' mean?) architecture style and structural/spatial awareness of nature, community and environment. Each mansion is meticulously decorated with colourful shapes, elegant friezes and deliberate Chinese eaves that illustrate the symbolic significance of an abiding place: the desire to stay and prosper, the attempt to make permanent a 'home' that never survived waves of forced exodus, and the resolution to map out both the root and route that had brought thousands of Chinese immigrants from across the strait to Taiwan. Each mansion is connected by a central corridor that allows kids to run from one household to another, benefitting its residents with extra security/care for children and an unobstructed channel for communication and collaboration.

The Hsi-Tai Fortress, on the other hand, witnessed an era of upheavals and wars. Built during the Ching Dynasty, the Fortress was established with an aim to defending the coastline of Penghu against foreign invasions. Now a historical site for tourists to explore, it was once equipped with cannons and other fiery weapons to shield Ching Dynasty's Navy of roughly 5,000 men. Click [here] for more photos of Stanley and his friends at Wen-Au.