Southern Miaoli Slow Travel: New Immigrant Families Explore Tai’an and Gongguan Together, Building a Sense of Dual Cultural Belonging

To strengthen the connection between new immigrant families and the land of Miaoli while helping second-generation immigrants develop a multicultural identity, the Southern Miaoli New Immigrant Family Service Center is holding the “Southern Miaoli Slow Travel: Local Culture Family Learning Camp” on Sunday, March 22. The program will bring 80 new immigrant parents and their children on an in-depth visit to the Atayal Indigenous Cultural Industry Park in Tai’an Township and the strawberry industry in Gongguan Township. Through this relaxing day, children will discover a cultural landscape shaped by both their mothers’ homelands and where they are growing up.

Breaking Daily Barriers: Rediscovering Family Time Through Slow Travel

Miaoli is well known for its rich agricultural and cultural heritage. However, with both parents working and long working hours, many new immigrant families find that family interactions often revolve around schoolwork and household responsibilities. Based on frontline observations of social workers, the center found that many second-generation children have relatively weak connections to local culture and often feel unsure about their mothers’ cultural roots. This slow-travel program therefore incorporates food and agricultural education, craft experiences, and guided cultural interpretation, enabling parents to move beyond the role of service recipients and into learning facilitators, sharing meaningful experiences with their children in a relaxed environment.

Atayal Culture and Hot Spring Experiences: A Dialogue Across Cultures

The first stop of the journey will a guided tour of the Miaoli County Atayal Indigenous Cultural Industry Park, where families will learn about the migration history, traditional weaving craftsmanship, and hunting culture of the Atayal people. Families will also enjoy unique experiences such as boiling eggs in hot springs and relaxing with hot-spring foot baths, allowing them to immerse themselves in the charm of indigenous culture while enjoying the soothing hot-spring environment.

The Home of Strawberries: Food Education and Local Identity

At noon, participants will enjoy local specialty cuisine at the renowned Tzao Juang Traditional Garden Restaurant in Gongguan Township. The journey will then continue onto a local strawberry farm, where children can carry bamboo baskets through the fields and learn about harvest seasons and processing methods, while experiencing the joy of picking strawberries themselves. By touching the soil and crops with their own hands, second-generation immigrants will not only learn to appreciate food but also develop a stronger sense of belonging to Miaoli – the place they call home.

Strengthening Cultural Identity: Building Dual Belonging for Second Generation Immigrants

The Southern Miaoli New Immigrant Family Service Center emphasizes that the program aims to help children build a sense of “dual identity,” empowering them to proudly share the cultural characteristics of both their mothers’ countries of origin and the land of Miaoli.

In the future, the center will continue sharing information about local cultural learning activities through its official LINE account and Facebook page, supporting new immigrant families as they take root and thrive in Miaoli.

Participation in these programs has been enthusiastic, with 80 new immigrant families expected to join, together creating warm and inspiring stories of multicultural integration in Miaoli.

There are 80 spaces on this program for new immigrant participants and their family members. Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Registration Contact:

Supervisor Li (Coordinator)

Telephone: 037-371283