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Yuanli's independent bookstore runs a "Taro Teaching Department," helping high school students sprint toward exams in hopes they'll return home to support the community

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Today they help high school students cram for exams; someday those students will return home to support the community. Yuanli's independent bookstore launches the "Taro Teaching Department"

Yuanli sits at the southernmost end of the Miaoli section of the West Coast Highway, right next to Dajia in Taichung. It's a small coastal town so easy to miss that drivers pass it by without a second glance. Ever since the "anti-wind-turbine" movement against onshore wind turbines broke out ten years ago, quite a few local young people and outsiders have been drawn back to Yuanli to join the protest.

After the protest wound down in 2013, local resident Liu Yu-yu and fellow activist Lin Hsiu-peng chose to stay in Yuanli and put down roots, founding the "Xian Hai Feng" (Lifting the Sea Breeze) team. They began publishing a magazine, researching local history and culture, and organizing events; in 2017 they even planned a large-scale event, the "Sea Breeze Festival." In 2018 they opened Yuanli's first independent bookstore, "Xian Ce Dian" (Lifting the Pages), continuing their path of returning home. This year, they organized a free "exam sprint class" for local high school students. Lin Hsiu-peng hopes that when students take their exams, they can feel their hometown's support, and that after leaving to study, one day they too can become people who come back to support their hometown.

Chinese language teacher Chung Meng-ling was inspired by Xian Hai Feng and, upon learning of the Taro Teaching Department plan, volunteered to serve as the Chinese language teacher (photo / Lin Chi-yang)

An independent bookstore becomes an exam sprint class

At six o'clock on Friday evening, the high school students of Yuanli are already seated and ready for class. Today is tutoring time at Yuanli's independent bookstore "Xian Ce Dian." According to the schedule, today is Chinese language class, and the teacher is Chung Meng-ling, a junior in the Chinese department at National Chung Hsing University, who answered Xian Hai Feng's call and volunteered to serve as the Chinese language teacher.

Chung Meng-ling works through the questions one by one with the students, while also reviewing essay-writing techniques with them. Since she is also a Yuanli local and an alumna of the school, the similar age and lively, vivid teaching style mean many shared topics make the class atmosphere much more relaxed. As someone who has been through it all, she guides her younger schoolmates in preparing for the upcoming General Scholastic Ability Test.

Beyond holding talks and events, they also run exam sprint classes, helping Yuanli teenagers face the road to higher education and explore their own life journeys. During summer, Xian Hai Feng holds "Are You a College Student Yet?", bringing back many Yuanli students studying away and local professionals, so that Yuanli high schoolers can learn about different academic departments through these older schoolmates and understand what those departments actually do. This helps them more clearly explore their own life aspirations, and the cross-generational exchange gives high schoolers a yearning for college life and more drive to face the General Scholastic Ability Test.

Lively discussion and an energetic atmosphere are a major feature of the Taro Teaching Department plan. _Provided by Xian Hai Feng

The "Taro Teaching Department" plan: those with money give money, those with strength give strength, those with taro give taro

Because the summer activity introducing college departments was so well received, Xian Hai Feng devised another plan at the end of 2019. About twenty days before the General Scholastic Ability Test, they once again hired college students with perfect scores or exceptional subject expertise to return home as education volunteers, helping high school students prepare for exams in every subject.

By their calculations, this plan required over 10,000 (NT dollars) for volunteer travel expenses and handout materials. To raise the funds, Xian Hai Feng approached a partner who had built deep trust during the "anti-wind-turbine" movement: farmer Lin Ching-chin. Upon hearing that growing taro could also help local young students, Lin Ching-chin without a second thought brought out his taro. A portion of the friendly-farmed famous local product "Dajia taro" was set aside for Xian Hai Feng to sell online; after deducting the farmer's reasonable profit, the surplus profit would go to Xian Hai Feng to run the "exam sprint class."

Those with money give money, those with strength give strength, those with taro give taro. Under Xian Hai Feng's planning, 300 jin of taro sold out within a week of going on sale. After the exam sprint class schedule was drawn up, students from two high schools in Yuanli Township signed up one after another.

Although Lin Ching-chin speaks a little slowly, he is full of confidence when it comes to land and crops _Provided by Xian Hai Feng

Not just preparing for exams and higher education, but planting the seeds of returning home

An independent bookstore becoming an exam sprint class sounds a little jarring at first. After all, don't the knowledge and independent thinking that independent bookstores pursue somewhat conflict with the values of exam-oriented advancement? Lin Hsiu-peng explains that in their vision there is a virtuous cycle: high school students can feel their hometown's support when taking exams, and they hope even more that after leaving to study, one day those students can become people who come back to support their hometown.

"These local kids come to class not just to chase high scores. We hope even more that through participating in the bookstore's activities during high school, when they grow up they'll remember there was a group of older brothers and sisters in their hometown doing these things. We plant a thread in these kids' hearts, an emotional connection, so that even after leaving home, they'll still be willing to come back and carry on this spirit of service."

In the "Taro Teaching Department" plan, college students come back to serve as teachers; farmers contribute taro and agricultural products; those with money buy taro; and high school students attend classes for free, but after the General Scholastic Ability Test they must "pay their tuition" by giving two hours to give back to the community with their own abilities.

"From encouraging farmers to grow friendly taro to a deeper integration of agricultural sales and education, everyone in a place can connect and create a cycle. In this model, everyone is an active agent." Lin Hsiu-peng says that many teachers and graduates, even if they don't take part in the Taro Teaching Department plan, send their reference books back to the bookstore as tangible support.

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