Creativity in culture, travel and farming
The night in Zhushan is quiet and still. Almost every family is watching a TV drama series, and as we glance into homes as we cycle along the road, we can follow the plot. To relieve stress, Ho Pei-jun goes for evening runs with Lin Jia-hong, who came home to take over the family business, and the two men chat as they run. Their conversation often revolves around a quite serious topic: What can be done to revive the waning bamboo crafts industry?
Lin Jia-hong is the third-generation boss at Yuantai Bamboo Crafts. His family history is a microcosm of the rise and fall of the bamboo industry in Zhushan. The first generation made bamboo ear cleaners, while the second made knitting needles. They prospered for a while, but with the advent of knitting boards in 2005, production of knitting needles declined. Lin returned to take the reins of the family business in 2010. He experimented with technological upgrading and new forms of marketing, but met with little success in a shrinking market. Then, after securing reliable supplies of bamboo, in 2015 he put out a bamboo toothbrush and began to appeal to customers based on environmentalism and natural materials. He accompanied this with DIY craft experience classes, and now each year he sells 50‡60,000 toothbrushes. Beyond the factory he has also opened a brick-and-mortar shop, where some of the most popular products include bamboo drinking straws and travel cups. Continuing to develop bamboo products for daily life is Lin’s way of reviving this sunset industry.
Ho Pei-jun’s approach, on the other hand, was to found the Nantou County Bamboo Life Cultural Association, which was established in 2013. He brought back instructors to once again train people in bamboo crafts, such as making bamboo baskets and vases, and sought out enterprises interested in purchasing such products to negotiate sales contracts.
In 2015 Ho rented another disused space: the second-floor former employees’ dormitory of the old Zhushan Bus Station. He used 5,500 six-foot-long strips of bamboo to weave openwork false ceilings and pillar cladding for the dormitory, transforming it into a cultural space called “BeYoung Garden.” By the end of 2018, BeYoung Garden was serving dishes made using locally grown ingredients, including chicken in bamboo sauce, stewed pork with bamboo shoots, and mashed sweet potatoes. This is not only an example of Townway’s approach to revitalizing a space, it is also significant in terms of the re-emergence of bamboo crafts in Zhushan.
At present Townway is energetically promoting a farmers’ market in Zhushan. One of the farmers who takes part is Michael Lin, who left Zhushan after graduating high school, then returned home three years ago to be at the side of his father, who was in the final stages of cancer. After his father’s passing, Lin decided to retire from his career in mechanical engineering and remain in Zhushan to look after his 84-year-old mother. He began learning the basics of farming from the courses offered by the Farmers’ Academy of the Council of Agriculture, and then built the AOM Farm on his family property. In 2018 income from the farm began to stabilize. In particular he uses eco-friendly farming methods to cultivate baby corn on 6,000 square meters of land. Crisp and sweet, it can be harvested in reliable quantities each month.
Other vendors at the farmers’ market include organic tea farmer Chen Yilong, who has held organic certification for over a decade; farmer Chen Shourong, who harvests his spring bamboo shoots before dawn, when they are still wet with dew; and Su Lianqi, whose sweet potatoes are made all the sweeter, and firmer to the bite, by the wide differences in Zhushan’s day- and nighttime temperatures.
In his efforts to attract entrepreneurs to Zhushan, one day when Ho Pei-jun was driving through neighboring Linnei Township in Yunlin County and saw Vannesa Chu selling mantou steamed buns from a roadside stand, he promptly invited her to relocate to Zhushan, a suggestion she acted on by opening a shop there. She takes part in activities at the Guangdian Gathering Place and is following Townway’s approach to reviving this small town, using Zhushan sweet potatoes and other local ingredients to make her steamed buns. Others located close to Townway’s base include Chen Sifan, who makes soap by hand, Chiu Ping-chang, second-generation owner of a bamboo supply firm, and the painter Mon, together forming a cluster of young entrepreneurs.
Young entrepreneur Chen Sifan (left) makes handmade soap in the shape of winter bamboo shoots, while craftsman Chiu Ping-chang makes cultural and creative products from split bamboo. Both are creating craft products that highlight Zhushan’s distinctive local characteristics.