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Across the Sand and Sea

If we borrow the eagle’s vision and hover high in the sky to look down on Zhuangwei, we will see the east of Guishan Island floating quietly, the endless blue Pacific Ocean, embracing the gray sand shore stretching from north to south, and countless snow-white waves surging on the tide line where the sea and sand meet. Parallel to the sandy shore and the tide line is the verdant windbreak forest and embankment, and then there are the paddy fields and rich settlements that stretch west to the snow-capped mountain range, and you will also see Lanyang Creek all the way from the top of the snow-capped mountain to the ocean with a graceful curve like a dragon soaring clouds, it is its dense watershed footprints for thousands of years stacked into the rich Lanyang Plain, and at the mouth of the sea where it meets the Pacific Ocean to expand into a beautiful sandy shore.

The ancient place name “Kebalan” in Yilan comes from the original Kamalan language of the Lanyang Plain, “Kbalan” in the Kamalan language, which means “human beings of the plains”, mainly used by the people of this ethnic group to distinguish the Atayal people who lived in the mountains at that time “Pusulan”. The Kamalan “Chirippoan Settlement”, which has been living on the inner edge of the coastal sand dunes in the lower reaches of Lanyang Creek (now in Donggang Village, Zhuangwei Township) since ancient times, has never left the “Chirippoan Settlement”, and the name “Kirippoan” originally means “sand” or “sea mound”, and the ancient place name marks the characteristics of this place where sand borders the sea. Because it is located in the lower reaches of Lanyang Creek and the sea, the terrain is flat, and the soil is sandy, with good drainage and sufficient sunshine, so agriculture is its main industrial activity, in addition to the coastal areas to grow root crops (peanuts, radish, watermelon, yams, etc.), the entire Zhuangwei area has also become one of the three major rice warehouses in Taiwan. As a result, we have created the magnificent enclosure we see today, with streets criss-crossing the sand and the blue sea, and Guishan Mountain gazing at each other towards the sun, so peaceful and fertile., and gazes at each other with the morning sun of Guishan, so quiet and rich. People say that “one sand, one world”, if every grain of sand is a time and space capsule that condenses the memory of the planet’s generation, it is no wonder that the Zhuangwei Sand Sea, which has countless sands, is such a fertile land of fish and rice, and has nurtured rich and diverse humanistic customs for thousands of years.

Now that the “Zhuangwei Living Arts Festival” has reached its sixth edition, after so many years of hard work, we continue to try to redefine and lead visitors to understand the richness of the people living in Zhuangwei who have been stacked for generations from the perspective and practice of local residents. Through the practice of art and cultural performances, the natural landscapes, agricultural and fishery labor landscapes, artistic and cultural customs intertwined with Zhuangwei Island, sea, sand dunes and plains are gradually outlined, and through a series of sand dune concert activities, series of experience activities in local art and cultural bases, etc., more and more travelers and viewers are led to come to Zhuangwei Dune Ecological Park to appreciate the richness and excitement of life in Zhuangwei, and also condense the recognition of more local life practitioners.

We hope that when people come here, in addition to “seeing” the unique and beautiful natural and cultural landscapes, they can also deeply feel that they are “in” in this scenery and become a part of it through the integration of body and mind—how to transform the one-way sightseeing gaze into a fluid line of sight through artistic viewing, and continue to establish a deeper relationship from these encounters.