STUST Cultural Heritage USR Project Team undertook the Ministry of Education's "Creation and Dissemination of Local Cultural Heritage—Fucheng VS Yuejin" Project, dedicated to the work of helping local culture take its root. Due to the severe pandemic this year, the Shennong Street team borrowed from the traditional custom of wearing sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival to prevent diseases. They developed sachets exclusively for Shennong Street, hoping that through the traditional customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, everyone could expel poison and defile.

[Participating students were sewing "Jinhua Tiger Blessing Sachets for Shennong Street.]

Traditional sachets are mostly sewn by women at home. They are generally made of various animals or fruits in the shape of sachets, and most of them are in the shape of tigers. Folk hope to use the image of fierce tigers to drive away evil spirits. This year is the year for tigers. In 2009, the Dragon Boat Festival sachets in the shape of tigers were very popular among the people. For this reason, the USR project team of STUST took the tiger on Shennong Street as the protagonist on the wall of the atrium of Jinhua Mansion, which represents suburban business culture, and developed the Q-version "Jinhua Tiger Blessing Sachets for Shennong Street." The sachet designer was Ya-ling Wang, a student of the Department of Visual Communication Design, STUST, who has been trained since 2017 and has been designing posters for the Wutiaogang Cultural Center for the project team after graduating and becoming an alumni in 2019. She is greatly familiar with and has deep affection for Shennong Street. Naturally, she could vividly depict the tiger with white eyebrows, white beard and white soles on the wall of Jinhua Mansion. The development process of this work also had twists and turns. It was conceived as early as the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in the Year of the Ox, but it was put off due to the pandemic containment measures in May last year. The white-footed Jinhua tiger was printed on the cloth, and the products were made in time for the Dragon Boat Festival of the Year of the Tiger.

[A large "Jinhua Tiger Blessing Sachet for Shennong Street]

In order to let the public understand and experience the process of sewing sachets, Jinhua Tiger blessing sachets for Shennong Street were developed into a DIY material bag that could make parents and children have fun together, with practical and online courses for the public to learn and experience. Having taken into account the current situation of the pandemic, the practical course planned to allow students to DIY in the outdoor Jinhuafu atrium and in front of the Wutiaogang Cultural Center. The number of students working outdoors was only five; other students purchased material packages in advance and watched the teaching videos on the Wutiaogang Cultural Center’s Facebook at home and sewing Jinhua Tiger blessing sachets without too much worries on the pandemic. The five students who participated in the practice a few days ago were mostly parent-child groups. After the parents and children worked together to sew the Jinhua Tiger blessing sachets. The host of the USR project team of STUST brought the students to understanding the origin of Jinhua Mansion and the process of building and becoming a municipal monument. After appreciating the beauty of the architectural space decoration, the traditional way of passing the furnace provided by the temple allowed the students to pass the completed Jinhua Tiger blessing sachets through the furnace ceremony in Jinhuafu, so that everyone could ward off evil spirits and drive away toxic elements, staying safe together through the difficulties of the pandemic.

[A comparison between the tiger in the atrium of Jinhua Mansion and the cub in a Jinhua Tiger blessing sachet for Shennong Street]

Deng-maw Lu, President of STUST, said that the USR project team of STUST has entered its fifth year in Shennong Street. In addition to getting acquainted with the residents of the community, the team has also conducted a solid field survey and survey of local culture in order to integrate the local culture. With the cultural and creative development of traditional folk festivals, this Jinhua Tiger blessing sachet for Shennong Street won the recognition and praise of the Jinhua Temple. He hoped that the team would use this experience to start from the local cultural connotation, leading Shennong Street to creating its own unique cultural and creative industry.

[The host of STUST USR Project Team was explaining the reasons for the design of Jinhua Tiger blessing Sachet for Shennong Street.]

[A child was holding a tiger sachet over an incense burner.]