Beating homework books and talking to big trees: Meinong's "Kids' Fun Market" lights up the rural grassland with a thousand people

Longdu Elementary School in Meinong, Kaohsiung, has a total of just over 160 students and teachers, yet on October 19 this day more than a thousand people poured in, all drawn by the "Kids' Fun Market."

The main stage is not large. There is no exaggeratedly decorated high platform, and no scaffolding or canvas either; a simple hand-dyed cloth hangs horizontally above the audience area, filtering out most of the autumn sunlight. Under the big trees and on the grass, people can be seen spreading picnic mats and sitting on the ground everywhere, and visitors heading to the various stalls to find food all bring their own eco-friendly tableware. Here, "plastic-free" is by no means a slogan, but a group of people gathering their strength to express true love for the Earth.

The children performing are singing, the audience enjoying it is swaying their hips, and applause and laughter never stop. There are all kinds of stalls: some sell tea or coffee, or make bread and chicken wraps on the spot, while others make it clear they are only here to make friends, free of charge drawing pictures, playing games, and telling stories with children, and even opening a "Worry-Relief General Store." A child wrote on a slip of paper, "I don't like doing homework," and the shopkeeper gave a brilliant reply: "Please bravely defeat the homework book, because working when you grow up will be even more tiring."

Xiaole, a first grader at Longdu Elementary School, was one of the last children to leave the event. Even though it was already dark and all the stalls had been packed up, he was still reluctant to leave and kept looking back on the way home. He raised his head and asked, "Mom, will there be a market again tomorrow?"

"Guoran Hong" combines "farming" and "art" to build up rural energy

The organizer, "Guoran Hong Studio," is the farming partnership of the couple Luo Yuanhong and Cai Jiarong. This year marks the third year of the "Kids' Fun Market," and the event has grown bigger and livelier each time. Starting a little after nine in the morning, traffic gradually appeared on the originally quiet community road, and before ten o'clock, 57 stalls from the nine districts of Qishan and Meinong in Kaohsiung and from Pingtung County took their places one after another. By before noon, attendance had reached its peak.

Luo Yuanhong and Cai Jiarong have no children of their own. What made them vow to hold the "Kids' Fun Market" in their hometown?

Luo Yuanhong, 46, is a local of Meinong and comes from a farming family, while Cai Jiarong, 43, is a daughter of Nanzi and comes from a family of auto repair shop owners. The two met 18 years ago and married 16 years ago. After the marriage, Luo Yuanhong's father passed away, and the couple decided together to return to Meinong to take care of the fields and also care for his mother. In the three or four years after returning home, the two took over the papaya orchard his father had left behind and also tried hauling the fruit up to Guanyin Mountain in Dashe to sell, but life was precarious, which prompted Cai's father to ask his daughter, "Do you really not want to find a job?"

The concern of relatives and friends still rang in their ears, but after Typhoon Morakot, the couple made an unshakable decision and simply gave up conventional farming methods to farm with natural farming instead. At the same time, Luo Yuanhong also cultivated his own field in creative work. He first collaborated many times with the Meinong Love-Hometown Association on performances and mixed-media creations, and later went to Canada and Japan in 2014 and 2015 to learn, and because of a performance at the "Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale," he gained a new vision for developing art in rural areas.

In 2017, Luo Yuanhong and Cai Jiarong were finally able to fulfill their long-cherished wish. They self-funded the first "Little Land Art Day" at their own farm, proving that even a small rural village can create art and building up the cultural and ecological significance of agriculture. That same year, they also began launching the country's first "Kids' Fun Market" aimed at children. Cai Jiarong said, "Behind every elementary school is a community. Promoting in elementary schools allows us to step further into the local area."

Grassland picnic under the sunflowers: plastic-free, eco-friendly, love the Earth

At the "Kids' Fun Market" service counter, there are no explanatory flyers, only a row of sign-in sheets and an oversized handwritten plastic-free slogan: "No single-use containers provided." Luo Yuanhong said, "Actually, we can't force everyone to do it. We can only do as much as we can, but our spirit is 'being friendly to the environment' and 'showing local characteristics.'"

In addition to the stalls, the market also has three installation artworks: "Dragon-Turtle Dialogue," "Ant Workers," and "Talk-Talk Nest." "Dragon-Turtle Dialogue" refers to the legend of the origin of the Longdu settlement; "Ant Workers" sounds close to the Hakka word for "volunteers," symbolizing a group of enthusiastic friends who volunteer to contribute to the market; "Talk-Talk Nest" is the most profound, jointly created by Luo Yuanhong and his artist friend Aji, and specially placed beneath the hundred-year-old Indian almond tree grandfather at Longdu Elementary School.

On the principle of not damaging the original space, Luo Yuanhong first used rebar as a frame to prop up two circular forms, and then Aji covered them with branches, dead leaves, and banana leaves that can be seen everywhere in rural areas. This design allows children to "hide" in the nest and chat with tree grandfather.

Unexpectedly, most of those who entered the "Talk-Talk Nest" to write slips of paper to tree grandfather were adults. Someone wrote, "If you play Red Light Green Light, just wait to lose for a lifetime!", and someone else gave the old tree 100 likes, "because you have held up your hands to shade and cool the children for a hundred years, we really cannot do without you!"

Current principal Zhang Erwen, an alumnus of Longdu Elementary School, said, "When I was studying in the 1970s, there was a climbing frame under the Indian almond tree. Every time class ended, everyone rushed over to play. I remember it very clearly. This time Yuanhong and the others chose the hundred-year-old tree to design a space like this, which is very interesting!"

Whether it is spatial dialogue or whispered memories, the "Talk-Talk Nest" leaves behind children's laughter and also awakens the long-dormant childlike hearts of grown-up children. Aji said, "Recovering the mutual goodness and trust between people and nature is the original intention of our creation."

Seeing so many people appear at the school, and lively without being noisy, Principal Zhang Erwen felt moved. He said, "Just now someone told me they never knew Longdu Elementary School was here. Before, every time we went to Yellow Butterfly Valley, we drove all the way north, and I never expected there would be such a great community and school along the way!"

Luo Yuanhong, standing nearby and chatting with friends, also mentioned at this time, "Actually, next year's 'Kids' Fun' has already been discussed. The next stop will be Guangxing Elementary School."

It is not hard for children to take charge; adults just need to let go