Blue Thinking Hat: The Three Major Driving Forces Behind Lukang's Jian-dui
Blue Thinking Hat: Blue is a color of calmness, representing command and control. It stands for the control and organization of the thinking process, calmly managing the thinking procedures and steps, understanding needs, summarizing, and making decisions.
With the personal endorsement of Changhua County Magistrate Wang Hui-mei, we have become even more confident in our research and promotional activities for Lukang Jian-dui.
Jian-dui is a limited-edition delicacy in Lukang, Changhua during the Dragon Boat Festival. For Lukang locals, the festival isn't complete until they eat Jian-dui. Through our field research, we realized that the tradition of Lukang Jian-dui is actually a great cross-field collaboration among the government, temples, and the public.
Reference Video: 114-05-19 2025 Lukang Dragon Boat Festival
From the administrative perspective (the government setting the stage), the "Lukang Dragon Boat Festival," co-organized by the county government and the township office, is now in its 48th year and is one of the top twelve festivals in Taiwan. In this year's event (May 30 - June 1), the popular location "in front of the Assembly Hall" was specifically designated, giving Jian-dui a super exposure opportunity with official recognition.
From the temple perspective (the gods acting as sponsors), on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, temples in Lukang (such as the Chenghuang Temple, Tianhou Temple, and Xinzu Temple) distribute free Jian-dui to people waiting in line.
(Reference Video: Not just Zongzi! Free Lukang Jian-dui... [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cYib3mE8IY])
The temples act like the strongest sponsors and distribution stations for this event. They turn the tradition of "eating Jian-dui" and "Nuwa mending the heavens for blessings" into a limited-edition Dragon Boat Festival food that everyone can get.
From the public's perspective (a mutual rush between locals and tourists), if local Lukang people are no longer willing to continue eating this Jian-dui, the tradition will disappear.
Lukang Jian-dui has become a unique feature not because it uses premium ingredients, but because of this perfect formula: "the government provides the stage + temples provide resources + the public provides participation." The objective combination of these three forces has successfully turned a homemade pancake, originally found only in grandparents' kitchens, into a cultural highlight that attracts crowds of tourists to make a pilgrimage to Lukang every Dragon Boat Festival.
Currently, the government, temples, and the public are all working hard. In the future, I hope we can also join in from the "educational side"! We can draw the story of Jian-dui into picture books or hold "Little Jian-dui Guide" activities during our local culture classes at school. Let us elementary school students be responsible for telling this story to more people, becoming the fourth driving force of cultural inheritance!
