Children are greeted by a massive surprise in playgrounds all around Taiwan: vibrant elephant slides. Older Taiwanese recall how common these slides once were on the island.
The slides, often referred to as “Grandpa Elephant,” are mainly composed of terrazzo or concrete and were a common sight in schoolyards in the 1960s and 1970s.
However, after the island tightened playground safety standards and eliminated certain slides and made others off-limits to kids, the number of sightings has decreased.
As someone who has been recording the surviving structures since 2010, Yu Chiu-ling, 58, put it this way: “The elephant slide is like a friend who grew up with us.”
Yu, a writer, claimed that the inspiration for the project came from a visit to her former elementary school in the western Lukang township, where she was struck with great nostalgia at the sight of the elephant slide.
All things considered, the elephant had not changed. It’s still plump and round, and it hasn’t aged—it’s been kept in good condition,” Yu told AFP.
“It was quite emotional to see it again, it felt like it had been waiting for me.”
Yu started going to schools all throughout Taiwan to document the surviving elephant slides, posting pictures, captions, and locations on a Facebook page because she believed that other people her age would feel the same way.
“The elephant slide is a memory shared across generations of Taiwanese, who find resonance in it,” she stated.
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