Taoyuan student magazine celebrates youth

2015-04-16

A magazine produced by the student body of National Wuling Senior High School in Taoyuan City remains a bellwether for the voice of the youth 45 years after its launch.

Running a wide array of articles ranging from academic research and creative writing to political issues and social agenda, Wuling Literature reinvented itself in 2010, further deepening strong emotional and intellectual ties with the readership.

“We needed to get a better handle on what our readers were thinking,” said Huang Shao-yu, editor in chief of that issue. “So we threw caution to the wind and added a survey section that posed some bold questions.”

According to Huang, one real eye-popper was Why do students want to sneak out of school? “The results were incredibly revealing and reflected the true feelings and thoughts of the youth,” he said, adding that they also cleared communication channels between students and teachers.

The section soon became a regular feature of the magazine. In the last issue, the editorial team dared the readership to voice an opinion on its feelings about the school, one of the region’s top-ranking educational institutions.

But the magazine is not obsessed with the theme of navel-gazing commonly dominating the pages of similar offerings nationwide. Musings on Taiwan’s recent oil scandal, same-sex marriage and the student protests of last year feature prominently in recent issues.

Although Huang has graduated to greener pastures, he still finds time to return to Wuling and school the students on the finer points of magazine editing and publishing. “This interaction between past and present pupils is important, as many alumni later claimed major literary awards in Taiwan,” he said.

“By walking the fine line between high school culture and the real world, Wuling Literature is raising the bar in remaining fresh and relevant after all these years.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=229329&CtNode=413)