At the Province’s Edge, at the Nation’s Corner省尾国角
Local Culture Week · Peripheral Narratives & Community EngagementProject Type
Community Cultural Week / Public Programme & Local Narrative Project
Time & Location
2023
Chaozhou, Guangdong, China
Organiser
Escape Art Club (EAC)
Role
Project Planner · Programme Curator
Cai Boxuan (Boosen Tsai)
Background
At the Province’s Edge, at the Nation’s Corner takes its name from a colloquial expression used to describe places that sit outside dominant cultural, economic, or political attention. “省尾国角” does not merely refer to geographic marginality, but to a shared lived experience of being overlooked, peripheral, and easily forgotten.
The project was conceived as a response to the tendency of cultural narratives to concentrate on central cities and symbolic landmarks. Instead, it sought to reclaim the everyday histories, voices, and creative energies of places commonly perceived as being “at the edge.”
Description
Presented as a week-long cultural programme, the project brought together film screenings, public talks, small exhibitions, and informal gatherings to explore how local identity is shaped from the margins. Rather than attempting to romanticise peripheral status, the programme invited participants to critically reflect on what it means to live, create, and remain in such spaces.
Activities foregrounded personal memory, oral storytelling, and contemporary cultural practice, allowing local residents and young creators to articulate their own narratives. By positioning the “edge” as a site of agency rather than deficiency, the project reframed marginality as a space for alternative perspectives and cultural experimentation.
The programme functioned as both a cultural event and a collective reflection—challenging dominant centre-oriented narratives and asserting the value of local experience as cultural knowledge.
Outcomes
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Delivered a themed cultural week addressing peripheral identity and local narratives
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Activated community participation through accessible public programmes
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Created a platform for youth-led cultural expression beyond mainstream discourse
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Encouraged critical reflection on centre–periphery dynamics within cultural production
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Strengthened Escape Art Club’s engagement with grassroots communities
Significance
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Repositioned “peripheral” spaces as sites of cultural agency
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Demonstrated how public programmes can articulate local identity without spectacle
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Contributed to broader discussions on decentralised cultural practice in China
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Reinforced the importance of bottom-up storytelling in community-based arts
Keywords
Peripheral Narratives · Local Identity · Community Culture · Youth-Led Practice · Public Programme · Cultural Decentralisation · Grassroots Arts