Ecological grounds
However, making a "clone" of a natural environment in the middle of a city isn't as easy as one might think. You can plant plants, but how do you persuade the animals to come?
School authorities installed a three-meter-wide pipe below the observation platform and the wading path as an "animal corridor" through which small creatures could come in from outside the school's grounds. Currently, lizards, earthworms, and millipedes are frequently seen.
Near the pond you can also often see several wrinkly-skinned toads. Chang Chi-ming says in fall and winter, during their breeding season, two males will fight over a female and the female gets "squeezed" so tightly by them it looks like she can't breathe. It is all played out on the school grounds, and teachers use the opportunity to teach about reproduction and competition in the animal world.
In addition, the former nature teacher Chang says recently he saw a Gunther's frog, which was taken off the Council of Agriculture's list of protected species just last year, hop onto the observation platform. Though he isn't sure that the seven-centimeter-long, white-lipped frog with an elongated head came in through the animal corridor, any addition to the school's environment is a welcome surprise for the city schoolchildren.
But city kids are often spoiled. Their parents love the idea of them getting in touch with nature, but hate to see them get bit by mosquitoes. They especially worry in the summer, when dengue fever is in season, and they always hope the Environmental Protection Bureau will send someone out to the school to spray insecticide. But while insecticides kill mosquitoes, they also seep into the soil and stay in the waters, harming the habitat of plants and animals.
Faced with this conundrum, the school authorities decided to place mosquitofish and paradise fish, both of which eat mosquitoes and their larvae, in the pond. The "natural pest control" worked well.
But just as it seemed the mosquito problem was solved, a single white egret that would fly onto the school grounds on weekends looking for food caused both happiness and worry. The appearance of this "special visitor" meant another species in the ecology, but the bird would eat the paradise fish in the pond. It was as if it were coming to the aid of the mosquitoes. However, Zhang says, "This also gave the kids an opportunity to see how nature makes adjustments and maintains its own balance." Now the school releases more fish at regular intervals so they won't all be eaten up.
The recycling of natural resources is another of Shuanglian's specialties. All of the pond water and water used on the plants comes from a rainwater recycling system on the roof of the adjacent classrooms. Rainwater is used after passing through a filter, and none is wasted.
Additionally, the four large composting bins near the pond are used to collect and store organic waste from the 20 or 30 trees on the grounds. When they are full, their contents are dampened, mixed with some soil, and covered with sailcloth. After five to eight months, the product can be used as fertilizer. A mulberry tree planted in this fertilizer grew so well that it was the envy of a nearby silkworm farmer. He'd come onto the school grounds late at night and pick off all its leaves, prompting the school to step up patrols.
Though, like most city schools, Shuanglian and its 1,600 students and faculty don't have a river or mountain of their own, they have recreated a miniature ecological environment in the midst of the concrete jungle. It may be small, but it is beautiful.