Every summer vacation a group of “sea-folks” gather around in Taijian. Accompanied by the sea and sunshine, they start a test that requires full physical strength, wisdom, and courage. They walk through Taijian in search of its history and culture; go to the lagoon to experience the life as a local fisherman and oyster farmer; acquaint themselves with the diverse ecology of wetlands; and clean up the beach and become an eco-warrior, learning to live like the real Taijian sea-folk.
To enable teenagers to acquaint themselves with the ecology, humanities, history, industry, and economy of Taijian National Park, raise their environmental awareness through experience and actions, and foster their capability of independence and teamwork, Taijian National Park has been organizing the Taijian National Park Youth Camp - Taijian Sea-folk Camp since 2013. The camp is a creative environmental education camp designed by incorporating the various environmental education courses and projects of the Taijian Wetlands School and the three characteristics of environmental resources unique to the Taijian area, namely “Wetland ecology”, “Taiwan development history”, and “Fishery and salt industry”. The camp has been held for 8 years till now and become the most popular event during the summer vacation.
Taking the camps in recent years as an example, the courses include “Sea-folk Climate”, “Sea-folk Island Memory Puzzle”, “Seafood Monopoly”, “Tidal Guardian”, “Sea-folk Adventure”, “Oysters' Fiery Test”, and “Sea-folks' Final Test”. The courses were conducted in the form of experience activities and challenge games, through which the teenagers learned about the ecology and industrial culture unique to Taijian and thus had a fulfilling and unforgeable summer vacation. The courses aimed to convey the idea that Taijian sea-folks live with the land and to raise their environmental awareness, so that they will join us to guard our homeland in the future.