Franz Collection Imagination Project marks 10 years, transforming rural Chiayi's betel nut industry.

In contemporary society, rural education and the urban-rural divide remain core issues within Taiwan's educational reform and social innovation sectors. To allow the creativity and passion of university students to truly infuse resource-scarce remote areas, a public welfare platform long promoted by the private sector has demonstrated concrete practical results. The 10th Franz Porcelain Imagine Project held its achievement exhibition today, drawing high attention from educators, university student teams, and various sectors of society across Taiwan. On this stage, which converges the creativity and social care of the younger generation, various college and university teams delivered stunning scorecards of local practice through the integration of art, culture, and local industries.

Among the numerous participating teams, a group of passionate university students chose Zhongpu Township in Chiayi County as their field of practice. Rather than opting for popular tourism themes, the team focused their sights on the local "green gold industry"—betel nuts. For a long time, betel nuts have often been stigmatized in Taiwanese society and rarely incorporated into positive local culture and industrial education. However, these university students led local children to explore the community firsthand and document it through lenses, rediscovering this local plant—which supports many family livelihoods yet carries controversy—and transforming this profound exploratory journey into a vibrant short documentary.

The essence of this project lies in "companionship" and "empowerment." Under the guidance of the university students, children in the rural area were no longer passive recipients of knowledge, but active chroniclers discovering their hometown stories. They visited betel nut groves and interviewed farmers to understand the rise and fall of the industry and environmental changes, learning how to operate photographic equipment, compose shots, and edit along the way. This learning process not only broke down the barriers of traditional classrooms, but also instilled a strong sense of identity and self-confidence in the children toward the land where they grew up. Ultimately, the short documentary—embodying the students' creativity and the children's innocent perspectives—stood out in fierce competition, winning the championship of the 10th Franz Porcelain Imagine Project achievement exhibition and earning high praise from the jury.

Since its inception, the Franz Porcelain Imagine Project has been dedicated to building a bridge between college youth and rural schoolchildren, encouraging the younger generation to leverage design thinking and interdisciplinary expertise to find more possibilities for educational innovation. With changing social environments, the challenges facing rural education are no longer merely a lack of hardware facilities, but also a shortage of cultural stimulation and the establishment of local identity. By providing resources and a stage, the Imagine Project enables university students to apply what they have learned to real social fields, which not only cultivates youth social responsibility, but also opens a door for rural children to a broader world, realizing two-way learning and growth.

To allow this touching endeavor to reach a broader public, the organizers have specially planned a physical exhibition. The championship-winning short documentary from Chiayi's Zhongpu and other outstanding creations by participating teams are officially on display starting today. This is not only a carnival showcasing the achievements of educational innovation, but also an important opportunity inviting the public to re-examine urban-rural relations and ponder the future development of rural education. Through these warm imagery and creations, all sectors of society can witness the potential of the younger generation to transform Taiwan, while injecting a continuous source of momentum and hope into the sustainable development of Taiwan's culture and education.