It often comes as a surprise to many people when they learn that an elementary school perched 900m up a mountain in Nantou County is the home of an award-winning string orchestra composed of young Aboriginal students.
The people who have it possible for the humble Chin Ai Elementary School to serve as a venue in which gifted musicians can develop are a 30-something married couple: Wang Tzu-chien (王子建) and Chen Pei-wen (陳珮文).
Wang and Chen are violin teachers at the school in Cinai Village (親愛), in Renai Township (仁愛), one of the many remote areas across the nation hindered by inadequate educational resources.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
The couple are not that different from other teachers who have devoted themselves to educating disadvantaged children, except that they have gone one step further than most by using almost all of their salaries to help fulfil their students’ musical dreams.
In an effort to cultivate the musical talents of Chin Ai Elementary’s student body, the couple established the country’s first-ever string orchestra comprised solely of Aboriginal students.
They also bought a minivan so they could drive the students home after practice and purchased a house in the county’s Caotun Township (草屯) to accommodate those who are selected for the prestigious music courses offered at Caotun Junior High School.
Although not a moment goes by when Wang and Chen are not enjoying their jobs, their devotion to their students has left them more than NT$10 million (US$333,500) in debt.
“Pei-wen and I were a ‘classroom couple’ at National Feng Yuan Senior High School. Since we were trying to attend the same college, I decided to let Pei-wen file my college applications,” Wang said.
Wang’s wish came true when he and Chen, who was just his girlfriend at the time, were both admitted into the National Pingtung University of Education.
After graduating, they both secured jobs at Chin Ai Elementary in 2006.
Their first two years on the job passed without incident, until one day, a student saw Chen playing her violin and said: “Teacher, what is that? I also want to learn how to play it.”
Chen was so touched by the child’s desire to learn that she purchased four violins with her own money, unaware that the charitable act was the first step toward something extraordinary.
Since the cost of buying or repairing violins can run high, Wang decided to go online to learn how to make and repair the instruments.
He persuaded the school to designate a classroom exclusively for the production of violins and has been teaching fifth and sixth graders how to manufacture the string instruments once a week.
As the string orchestra grew, finding enough qualified violin teachers to train the students became a problem.
However, the problem was alleviated when the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, moved by the couple’s dedication, sent some of its members to the school to teach.
With this assistance, the couple could continue with their pet project. Every day, Wang prepares dinners for the students as they hone their violin playing skills under Chen’s tutelage. Once the children finish practice at 9pm, he drives them home.
Although the resources available for his classes are limited, Wang has made an effort to instill the principle of sharing among his students.
He seems to be teaching them well, as evidenced by his students choosing to donate some of the instruments they received from charitable organizations to Aboriginal students at the Syuhai Day Care Center in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹).
The center is a charitable organization established by Pan Yi-fang (潘儀芳), 45, to ensure that children in Mudan’s Syuhai Village (旭海) are well-fed and taken care of after school, since most of their parents work out of town.
Even though they have already achieved a lot, neither Wang nor Chen said they will stop at conducting the school’s 15-person string orchestra — their ultimate goal is to form a much larger orchestra composed of Cinai residents.
“We want to help more Aborigines with musical talent find their place on stage and shine,” the couple said.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
Taiwan and the US have begun trade negotiations over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said in an interview this morning before reporting to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US, has already established communication channels with the US Department of State and the US Trade Representative (USTR), and is engaging in intensive consultations, he said. Points of negotiation include tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and issues related to investment, procurement and export controls, he
RSS