Za School: A Free Exhibition Funded by Bankrupt Savings, Opened by the Vice President 11 Years Later

30-Second Overview: Za School (ZA SHARE) is Taiwan's alternative education carnival, originating from the "Not Very Obedient Education Festival" launched in 2015. Initiated by Su Yang-chih, an ad curator, one year after the 318 Student Movement, the first free two-day event attracted approximately 30,000 visitors but ended with a 7 million NTD loss. In 2016, it was renamed Za School and began selling tickets. By 2017, it occupied the entire Huashan 1914 Cultural and Creative Park, hosting 500 educational innovation units. In 2019, Vice President Chen Chien-jen, State Councilor Tang Feng, and Deputy Minister of Education Fan Hsiu-lv appeared on stage together for the opening. In October 2024, for its 10th anniversary, it co-hosted the "Education World Expo" with IDEC (International Democratic Education Conference), welcoming over 500 educational leaders from 50+ countries. In 2025, the brand was reshaped into EDit, moving to the Taoyuan International Convention Center. Su Yang-chih self-evaluates: "Commercially, it was a total failure; spiritually, it was a huge success" ¹. But after 11 years, the first half of that statement is no longer true.

Confucius, Not Very Obedient

Hey, did you know that on May 9, 2015, on the walls of the East 2BCD Hall at Huashan 1914 Cultural and Creative Park, there was a poster of "Jolin Confucius" ².

The main visual transformed Confucius into various influencer-style images, mixing pop symbols. This was the hallmark of the first "Not Very Obedient Education Festival." An advertiser wanted to use "the most hijacked educational totem" as a slogan of rebellion: "Confucius proposed the concept of 'education without discrimination' over two thousand years ago, which perfectly aligns with our 'not very obedient' spirit," Su Yang-chih later told INSIDE ¹.

The two-day exhibition was free to enter, attracting about 30,000 people. There was no ticketing mechanism, no business model, and no sponsorship arrangements. "I invited everyone in Taiwan with 'crazy' ideas about education to set up free booths" ¹. According to Huashan 1914's exhibition records, the first edition's scale only occupied a portion of the East 2BCD Hall ³. But the people who squeezed in over those two days included experimental educators, homeschooling families, education reform veterans, and parents wanting to fight the system. Su Yang-chih was a new father; his child was just over a year old. He said, "Being a father made me feel that education seemed to have something to do with me. I should stand up and fight for some things" ¹.

The Not Very Obedient Education Festival was an alternative continuation of the 318 Student Movement one year later. The people on the streets dispersed, and the legislative proceedings returned to routine procedures, but some things did not disperse: the distrust of the system and the impulse to reorganize the social contract from the bottom up. Su Yang-chih's version was to package this into an exhibition.

Lost 7 Million, But I Was Satisfied

Su Yang-chih's profession is ad curation, not education. He graduated from the Master's Program in Fine Arts at National Taiwan University of Arts, obtained a Master's degree in Image and Video Technology from Pittsburgh State University in the US in 2006, and started his first business in 2004 by opening an ad design company in Shanghai, which failed miserably; he even had suicidal thoughts ¹. He calculated that before the Not Very Obedient Education Festival, he had failed six times. Za School was his "seventh startup" ⁴.

The beginning of the seventh attempt involved investing 1.5 million NTD in profits from his design company: "I took 1.5 million NTD in profits from the design company I was then operating to host the exhibition, and ended up losing 7 million NTD" ⁵. The headline of an advocate's 2018 interview was "Bankrupting Savings to Host an Exhibition." Ten years later, he looked back at those two days: "Being able to do this, even losing money is enough" ⁵.

But the phrase "enough" feels strange in the context of Taiwan's education. The standard questions in Taiwan's educational culture are "Did you pass?" "Which school did you go to?" "What were your scores?"—all answers assuming "you cannot lose." Su Yang-chih's "losing money is enough" is not defeatism; it is a counter-question: If 30,000 people can walk through a rebellious exhibition in the rain at Huashan, the significance of that event is not recorded in a balance sheet.

It is precisely this aspect that distances the Not Very Obedient Education Festival from the label of "educational entrepreneurship." The contemporarily established "Teach For Taiwan (TFT)" followed an organizational recruitment route ⁶; Za School followed a carnival route. The former is a talent pipeline for educational services; the latter is an open field for educational imagination. Both received recognition from people who saw each other in post-318 Taiwan, but their methods were completely different.

The following year—November 26-27, 2016—Su Yang-chih renamed it "Za School" and started selling tickets. Over 63,000 tickets were sold in two days, setting a record for single-day ticket sales exceeding 10,000 at Huashan 1914 ⁷. The "not very obedient" scent remained, but the business model caught up.

Is the Entire Huashan Campus Education?

From October 20-22, 2017, Za School occupied the entire Huashan 1914.

Over 500 educational innovation units exhibited, attracting about 50,000 people over three days. The theme was "Asia's Largest Innovative Education Expo" ⁸. Early bird tickets were 300 NTD, online tickets 320 NTD, and on-site tickets 350 NTD. The ticket pricing design was clear: to live up to an expo of cross-border scale.

The physical event of occupying the entire Huashan actually has a political subtext. Huashan 1914 is a cultural and creative park supervised by the Ministry of Culture, with a mainstream positioning of "cultural and creative industries": exhibitions, markets, product selection, and lifestyle. Za School used the entire park to host an education carnival, effectively pushing the narrative framework of "cultural and creative" towards "education." A venue originally designed to display mature crafts and brand commodities became a square for discussing "why Taiwan's education is like this" for those three days.

This is a territorial invasion of curation. It does not ask "Will the Ministry of Education provide the venue?" It asks "Can a cultural park hold this topic?"

In 2018, Za School's theme was "DARE TO BE Brave Without Limits," divided into two sub-curated sections: "Za School Exhibition" and "Za School Exhibition: Children's Pavilion" ⁹. In April of the same year, Su Yang-chih held a public dialogue with Huashan Chairman Wang Rong-wen, discussing "How education grows determines how culture grows" ¹⁰. This narrative line embeds education into culture, and culture into industry, pulling the education issue out of institutional discourse and beyond mere marketing rhetoric.

The 2019 theme was "Life Drag Show" ¹¹. Rhetorically, it was a counterattack against the "standard answers of academic advancement": life should not have only one template. The cumulative numbers for that year were also displayed: over 1,400 educational startup brands and 200,000 paid visitors over five years.

But what everyone remembered that year was not these numbers.

The Vice President Came, Is Rebellion Still Rebellion?

On the afternoon of November 28, 2019, the East 2A/B/C/D + Central 4A/B + West 1 halls of Huashan 1914 Cultural and Creative Park were fully occupied. The words "Life Drag Show" were printed on the backdrop. Seated below were the 1,400 educational startup booth owners, among them were self-learners, experimental educators, education reform veterans, and someone who failed seven times before finding direction.

Vice President Chen Chien-jen stood at the opening podium, delivering a speech expressing affirmation for educational innovation ¹². On stage were also State Councilor Tang Feng, Deputy Minister of Education Fan Hsiu-lv, and Legislator Su Hsiao-hui. The Za School official website placed this image as a milestone: the rebellious site now had witnesses at the national level.

Four years prior, Su Yang-chih had borrowed 1.5 million NTD in profits from his design company to host a free exhibition and lost 7 million NTD. No one could have predicted the Vice President would come to open the event.

But this is also Za School's most "not very obedient" aspect. It allows "rebellion" to take the stage, receive awards, be recognized by the system, and enter official rhetoric. This itself is a contradiction. Social movements fear co-optation above all else: when the system gives you a stage, applause, and a Vice President's attendance at the opening, how much of the original "not very obedient" posture remains?

Su Yang-chih did not avoid this contradiction. In multiple interviews, he repeatedly emphasized "Commercially, it was a total failure; spiritually, it was a huge success" ¹—by 2019, this phrase had become a rhetoric of self-doubt rather than a description. Za School was no longer a "commercial failure"; it sold 60,000 tickets, occupied the entire Huashan campus, and had the Vice President attend the opening. Its "success" in spirit began to require new standards for testing.

In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID period, Za School did not hold physical large-scale exhibitions, continuing only with online content ¹³. This forced pause actually gave it a window for reflection.

Crossing the Zhuoshui River

From November 12-13, 2022, Za School held its seventh exhibition in Chiayi.

"Chiayi City Rebels Education Festival." This name is more direct than "Za School," translating "not very obedient" into "rebel" ¹⁴. The venue was not a convention center or a cultural park, but six major sites including Chiayi City God Temple and the Old Prison ¹⁵. 16 small-scale forums were scattered across these historical spaces, with speakers such as Chen Mei-ling, Chairman of the Taiwan Local Vitalization Foundation, Li Hsin, Secretary-General of the Taiwan Youth Democracy Association, and Huang Yi-zhong, a热血 (hot-blooded) citizen and social studies teacher, traveling south to participate ¹⁶.

Crossing the Zhuoshui River has specific significance in Taiwan's cultural politics. Taiwan's alternative education, experimental education, and innovative education have long been stories centered on Taipei: resources, media, communities, and occasions to see each other were concentrated in the Greater Taipei area. Holding the exhibition in Chiayi meant that the issue of "alternative education" crossed from Taipei's minority self-curation into local life textures.

The City God Temple and the Old Prison are two specific types of Taiwan memory: folk religion and martial law history. Za School embedded the education issue into these venues, effectively saying: Education is about how the entire social memory is placed, not limited to within the walls of schools.

After Chiayi in 2022, Za School's format entered a new stage. It was no longer just the annual large-scale exhibition at Huashan in Taipei; it became a methodology for co-curating with localities.

A Unique Species of Education

From July 19-21, 2024, the 10th Anniversary. Za School moved into the Huan-shan Expo Park (Zhengyan Hall), with the theme "Education Unique Species" ¹⁷.

The biggest difference from the previous nine years was the co-hosting partner. This year, IDEC (International Democratic Education Conference) was held in a Chinese-speaking country for the first time ¹⁸. IDEC was established in 1993, rotating annually in different countries worldwide. Taiwan in 2024 was the first Chinese-speaking host. Over 50 countries, over 500 educational leaders, nearly 150 submissions, 73 selected, and 55 exhibited on-site ¹⁷.

This route of international expansion is actually different from general imagination. Za School did not open branch meetings in Tokyo, did not hold satellite exhibitions in Seoul, and did not pursue outbound expansion. It brought global educators to Taiwan; it was an inbound strategy. In an advocate's 2024 interview, it was mentioned: "Surrounding countries such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore came to Taiwan to learn from us and invited Za School to land and develop" ¹⁹, but in recent years, Za School chose "to let the world see Taiwan's alternative education ecology" rather than exporting the brand.

This strategic choice has two readings. One is commercially conservative: not enough resources to achieve true multi-national branch meetings. The other is curatorial confidence: Taiwan's alternative education ecology itself is a specimen worth 50 countries coming to see. The theme word "Unique Species" perfectly gathers these two readings: a unique species is one that can only survive in this ecosystem and cannot be transplanted. Za School is talking about the uniqueness of Taiwan's educational species.

"Education Unique Species" is also a leap in self-positioning for the 10th anniversary. From "Not Very Obedient" (individual posture) in 2015 to "Unique Species" (species ontology) in 2024, this narrative shift repositions Za School from "an exhibition" to "part of an ecosystem."

EDit: Treating Education as Editing, Not Production

From October 23-26, 2025, Za School was rebranded as "EDit Taiwan International Education Innovation Expo" (Education Innovation Taiwan), moving the venue to the Taoyuan International Convention Center, with free entry ²⁰. Theme: "Edit the Future with Education."

The brand name "EDit" is quite interesting. It stacks "Education" and "Edit" into one word, meaning treating education as editing: a conscious process of selection, deletion, reorganization, and emphasis, rather than one-way production and indoctrination. This semantics actually fits Su Yang-chih's years of curatorial logic: he was never from the education background; he treated education as a curatorial object to handle.

The redefinition of roles from "Principal" to "Editor" is also worth noting. Su Yang-chih is known in the circles as "Dirt Potato Principal." The identity of "Principal" was the core framing of Za School from 2015 to 2024. But after renaming to EDit in 2025, the narrative of "Principal" was replaced by "Editor." A principal is a rank within the system; an editor is a decision-making role in the creative process. This difference is not semantic play; it means Za School is pushing its positioning from "alternative school" towards "cultural infrastructure."

Ticket prices returned to the first edition's free model, which is another marker. Over ten years, Za School proved it could sell tickets, but EDit in 2025 actively abandoned the threshold. One reading is a commercial strategy: free entry can increase participation and expand social influence data. Another reading is returning to the 2015 intention: using the lowest threshold to allow anyone who wants to see to enter.

Both readings make sense. Za School's 11 years have always been a tug-of-war between "commercial" and "rebellion," not one side压倒 (overwhelming) the other.

Things Still Growing

Placing Za School's 11 years on the timeline of Taiwan's educational history, what has it solved?

It did not change the culture of academic advancement. Taiwan's mainstream educational narrative remains the Joint College Entrance Examination, distribution, top universities, and employment. Za School's 11 years of exhibitions did not shake this structure. It did not make experimental education a mainstream choice. According to Ministry of Education statistics, the number of students participating in experimental education in Taiwan has always been a minority; Za School's exhibition popularity does not equal an experimental education enrollment boom ²¹. It did not truly enter the system: Za School did not become a regular seat on the curriculum framework consultation meeting, nor did it become a required content in teacher training.

But it did one thing that fewer people noticed: it pulled "alternative education" from a marginal issue into a visible cultural event.

In the past, Taiwan's alternative education—experimental schools, homeschooling families, out-of-system learning communities—had limited information flow between each other. A homeschooling family in Kaohsiung might not know that Yang Yi-fan, an 8th-grade student at Yilan Humanities Elementary School, started filming the documentary The Reason for Learning at age 14 ²². A Taipei-based alternative education entrepreneur might not know that next to Chiayi City God Temple, someone is creating a local vitalization-style learning space. Za School, as an annual gathering point, gave these scattered people a moment of recognition: "You are here too."

This moment of recognition has a name in social movements: "Collective Presence." You know you are not a lonely minority; you are part of a larger group. For Taiwan's alternative education ecology, the accumulation of this collective presence is more important than the sales volume of any single exhibition.

Of course, after 11 years, there are also unresolved tensions. The more commercial Za School becomes, the harder it is to maintain the original posture of "not very obedient." The free exhibition became a ticketed exhibition; the Vice President came to open it; the brand was reshaped into an operable IP. Each step makes the narrative of "rebellion" harder to tell. Su Yang-chih himself is aware of this tension; in a 2024 interview, he said "Za is the original appearance of the world; everyone is unique" ¹⁹. This sentence is more like a reminder to himself, reminding the brand not to forget why it existed in the first place.

Renaming to EDit in 2025 is a fresh start, and possibly a farewell. The three characters "Za School" carry the rebellious memory of the ten years from 2015 to 2024; EDit is the beginning of another brand cycle. If we look back ten years from now, 2025 might be seen as a阶段性 (phased) conclusion of the Za School IP. Or maybe not. Maybe EDit takes Za School's core to the next decade, translating "not very obedient" into "editing," continuing to find exits on the margins of Taiwan's education.

Su Yang-chih told INSIDE Side Chat E376: "Commercially, it was a total failure; spiritually, it was a huge success." Eleven years later, the first half is no longer true—Za School now sells 60,000 tickets, occupies Huan-shan Expo Park, co-hosts IDEC, and is rebranded as EDit. But the second half has also become difficult to test. When the Trojan horse of education truly entered the city, when the Vice President came to open it, when the Ministry of Culture gave the 10th-anniversary venue, how is "spiritual success" measured? This question has no answer, but the most interesting thing about Za School's 11 years is that it has always been willing to leave this question on the stage.

"Not very obedient" was originally resentment and protest against the system, but after growing into Asia's largest, most ticket-selling education expo brand, is that spirit still there? This may be the most important question Za School leaves for the next decade—the same question that all things in Taiwan that once wanted to rebel and were later caught by the system need to answer.

Further Reading:

• Education System and Academic Culture — The object of Za School's rebellion: How Taiwan's academic advancement culture is structurally replicated
• Teach For Taiwan TFT — Alternative education startups post-318 Student Movement; the organizational recruitment route of TFT and the carnival route of Za School are two different curatorial methods
• The Birth of a Teacher: Taiwan's Teacher Training System — How in-system teachers are cultivated, and how to place Za School's "Principal" identity in this control group
• Sunflower Student Movement — The historical background of Za School: How the 318 Student Movement continued as out-of-system social practice after dispersing from the streets
• Complex Life Festival — The version of "deliberately staying small" from the same wave of 318 energy: the 8th-grade "Unsuccessful Forum" of 200-300 people, versus Za School growing into Asia's largest education carnival, are two curatorial choices of intimacy and scale
• Rural Education in Taiwan — Another main line of educational inequality, forming the two ends of Taiwan's education in contrast to Za School's "alternative" position

References

1. INSIDE Side Chat E376: Su Yang-chih — Doing Education in the Worst Times — A long podcast interview between INSIDE and Su Yang-chih, recording Za School's founding background, entrepreneurial journey, educational views, and many key quotes.↩
2. HereNow Taipei: What Does Za School Teach — HereNow City Guide's description of the first "Not Very Obedient Education Festival" main visual and exhibition atmosphere, including memory points like Jolin Confucius.↩
3. Huashan 1914 Cultural and Creative Park: 2015 Not Very Obedient Education Festival Event Page — Historical evolution records retained on Za School's KKTIX ticketing platform, including the venue, date, and scale of the first "Not Very Obedient Education Festival."↩
4. La Vie: Cross-Generational Slash Life — Su Yang-chih Interview — La Vie Magazine's 2019 long interview with Su Yang-chih, including core arguments like "Za is a verb, slash is a noun," and the context of seven startups.↩
5. Advocate: An Exhibition Bankrupting Savings — Za School Su Yang-chih Interview — A 2018 in-depth interview on the United Daily News Advocate platform, recording the specific numbers of 1.5 million investment / 7 million loss for the first Not Very Obedient Education Festival and Su Yang-chih's post-event reflection.↩
6. Wikipedia: Teach For Taiwan — TFT's founding background, organizational model, and timeline comparison with other alternative education advocacy in Taiwan.↩
7. Za School Official Website: About Za School — Za School's self-described historical evolution, including milestones such as the first ticketed sales record in 2016, occupying the entire Huashan campus in 2017, and cumulative 1,400+ educational startup brand collaborations.↩
8. Za School KKTIX 2017 Ticket Page — Official ticket page for the 2017 "Asia's Largest Innovative Education Expo," containing first-hand information such as theme, date, venue, ticket prices, and number of exhibiting units.↩
9. Ozzie Creative ZAEXPO 2018 Exhibition Page — Su Yang-chih's Ozzie Creative official website record of the 2018 Za School Exhibition "DARE TO BE Brave Without Limits" sub-curated structure (Za School Exhibition + Children's Pavilion).↩
10. Huashan 1914 Cultural and Creative Park: Wang Rong-wen × Su Yang-chih Public Dialogue — Record of the public dialogue between Huashan Park Chairman Wang Rong-wen and Su Yang-chih in April 2018, including dialogue quotes like "How education grows determines how culture grows."↩
11. Huashan 1914 Cultural and Creative Park: 2019 Za School "Life Drag Show Life Drag Show" Exhibition Page — 2019 Za School official exhibition page, containing theme, date, venue, 100+ exhibiting units, and data on cumulative 1,400+ educational startup brands and 200,000 paid visitors over five years.↩
12. Presidential Office News 25071: Vice President Attends "2019 Za School Opening" — Official press release from the Presidential Office on November 28, 2019, recording Vice President Chen Chien-jen personally attending Za School's opening press conference, alongside State Councilor Tang Feng, Deputy Minister of Education Fan Hsiu-lv, and Legislator Su Hsiao-hui.↩
13. VERSE Magazine: Can Passion Be Eaten as a Meal? — Za School Interview — VERSE Magazine's comprehensive interview with Za School, including the online strategy during the COVID period and a review of the overall 11-year positioning.↩
14. La Vie: Chiayi City Rebels Education Festival — Za School's First Southward Step — La Vie Magazine's pre-exhibition report on Chiayi's "Rebels Education Festival" in 2022, including theme naming, venue layout, and speaker lineup.↩
15. 1% Style: Chiayi City Rebels Education Festival — City God Temple and Old Prison Transform into Education Venues — Storm Media's 1% Style sub-site in-depth report on Chiayi's 2022 Rebels Education Festival, recording the curatorial logic of six major venues including the City God Temple and Old Prison.↩
16. FLiPER: Chiayi Rebels Education Festival Event Review — FLiPER's event report on Chiayi's Rebels Education Festival, including the 16-forum speaker lineup (Chen Mei-ling, Li Hsin, Huang Yi-zhong, etc.).↩
17. Za School Official Website: 2024 International Education Innovation Expo "Education Unique Species" — Za School's 10th-anniversary large-scale exhibition official page, containing specific data such as date, venue, 150 submissions / 73 selected / 55 exhibited on-site, and IDEC co-hosting information.↩
18. International Democratic Education Network: IDEC Taiwan 2024 — IDEC International Democratic Education Conference official website introduction to Taiwan hosting as the first Chinese-speaking country in 2024, including the 1993 establishment history.↩
19. Advocate: 10-Year New Startup — Za School Su Yang-chih Interview — United Daily News Advocate platform's 2024 10th-anniversary in-depth interview, including key quotes like "Za is the original appearance of the world" and "Walking the old road cannot reach new places," and reflection on international expansion strategy.↩
20. INSIDE Side Chat E376 (Second Half) — The second half of INSIDE's same interview discussing the 2025 brand reshaping into "EDit Taiwan International Education Innovation Expo" and the venue choice of Taoyuan International Convention Center.↩
21. Wikipedia: Three Laws of Experimental Education — Legislative background of the Three Laws of Experimental Education passed in 2014 and subsequent statistics on the number of students in experimental education, serving as a reference framework for understanding Za School's audience demographics.↩
22. Flip Education (Parenting World): Yang Yi-fan and "The Reason for Learning" — Flip Education platform's interview with Yang Yi-fan, recording his background as an 8th-grade student at Yilan Humanities Elementary School who started filming The Reason for Learning at age 14, and his later journey becoming Za School's Academic Affairs Director.↩