The undersea world is unfamiliar to most people in Taiwan, but to Steve Hsieh Shin-shi, it is something close at hand. He seems to live half his life under water, training divers, doing underwater photography, and developing equipment for snorkeling and scuba diving. He never dreamed he would lead an undersea life.
In his student days, he studied fisheries, and later had a home business running a plant nursery and tropical fish shop. His main hobby was hunting (not yet banned at that time in Taiwan) and in 1962 he was on a hunting trip when a friend suggested a new hobby. His friend was a major in the United States army, who said, "Someday all the game on land will be hunted till it's gone. Then I'll take you into the sea to hunt." Hsieh thought it was just a joke, but his friend later sent him a Christmas present--a complete diving outfit.
With this encouragement, he took lessons at Taiwan's then one-and-only diving school, run by a German. Scuba diving takes a strong physique and a cool head to be safe against such dangers as being entangled in undersea rocks or using up one's air supply. Hsieh was thirty-three when he started learning, and hadn't swum for more than ten years, but he had a determined personality that got him through three months training.
His first time solo diving was like entering paradise. Darting schools of fish and waving fronds of algae astounded him. How could he share that beauty with others?
At that time, there was a single company in Taiwan selling diving equipment, for both sport and military applications. People who didn't wish to buy from that firm's inventory had to get a friend to bring gear from outside the country, which was both expensive and inconvenient. Hsieh decided to form his own diving equipment company and manage it part time, and got other divers to invest in the firm. Business soon picked up, and Hsieh eventually made it a full-time responsibility. At the time the government was sponsoring infrastructure development projects, and the company, China Diving Enterprise Co., Ltd., sold a large amount of equipment for use in building Suao harbor. At that time, the company still imported the products it sold, and Hsieh thought that didn't promise a good future for his firm. He wanted his company to be independent, and went abroad to learn more about the industry. He went to Japan to become certified as a scuba instructor. Thereafter, he consulted with other divers, and read numerous magazines and books about diving to deepen his understanding. He established a scuba class in Taiwan, and set up a factory for producing his own equipment. Soon he found that the number of divers in Taiwan was constantly increasing, but so was the number of diving equipment companies. Hsieh decided to turn to the world market to keep ahead of the competition. The domestic market is limited by government regulations that prohibit diving in areas sensitive for national defence. The foreign market, with many countries offering unrestricted diving, promised better growth.
Hsieh made some shrewd observations of the shortcomings of existing equipment. For example, imported face masks were designed for Europeans, and didn't fit the facial structure of East Asians, so he made a new design to compete on the Japan, Philippine, and Singapore markets. He also noticed that flippers are made in two types, one for snorkeling and one for scuba diving. The kind for scuba diving is heavier, and takes a lot of leg strength to use. The imported scuba fins were almost too heavy for the East Asian market. Hsieh's company developed a variety of new sizes and designs so that any Asian customer could find a suitable scuba fin.
He made special efforts to improve diving flashlights. The existing models were big and clumsy, and he wanted both lighter weight and greater utility. He redesigned the lamp at the front of the flashlight so that light could come out the side of the flashlight, and made a detachable red cover for the central portion of the lamp, to change the flashlight into a distress signal. His other items of equipment also exemplify a practical approach to product development that makes China Diving's equipment well accepted among divers.
When Hsieh first began diving, he continued his hobby of hunting underwater. But he eventually decided it was necessary to reduce pressure on sea life, and he traded his harpoon for a camera. At first he didn't know how to make his photos turn out well. His friends would laugh at the blurs that Hsieh had intended to use to show the beauties of the undersea world. Every time he dived, he recorded distance, exposure, f-stop, water temperature, visibility, and any other factors affecting photography. By 1976, he was getting consistent results, and he published a book of undersea photos. Now he has a file of more than ten thousand slides, not counting ones he rejected. He now has a lot of concern for the environment, and will give free scuba training to those studying marine biology. Currently he also works to protect the porpoises off Taiwan's coast from indiscriminate fishing. Thus Hsieh has gone from land to sea, and from hunting to protecting.
[Picture Caption]
Scuba diving is great exercise, and can satisfy man's curiosity about the sea.
1. Steve Hsieh diligently improved diving equipment; in his right hand is a flashlight, in his left hand an improved model he made, lighter and more useful. 2.3. Gear made by China Diving--2 shows a face mask, 3 a diving suit. 4. Compressed air tanks provide air for the scuba diver; he can't do without them. 5. A diver wearing a life vest checks his gear before a dive. 6.7.8. The sea contains every sort of strange living thing; 6 shows coral; 7 shows a sea urchin; 8 shows sea lilies.
Every kind of beautiful sea creatures. 1. Coral. 2. A species of Gymnothorax. 3. A flatfish with stripes formed of black spots. 4. A clown fish, which lives symbiotically with sea anemones.
Every kind of deep-sea coral, like the world of riotous colors in a kaleidoscope.
1. Steve Hsieh diligently improved diving equipment; in his right hand is a flashlight, in his left hand an improved model he made, lighter and more useful.
-2 shows a face mask.
3 a diving suit.
4. Compressed air tanks provide air for the scuba diver; he can't do without them.
5. A diver wearing a life vest checks his gear before a dive.
6.7.8. The sea contains every sort of strange living thing; 6 shows coral.
7 shows a sea urchin.
8 shows sea lilies.
Every kind of beautiful sea creatures. 1. Coral.
2. A species of Gymnothorax.
3. A flatfish with stripes formed of black spots.
4. A clown fish, which lives symbiotically with sea anemones.
Every kind of deep-sea coral, like the world of riotous colors in a kaleidoscope.
Every kind of deep-sea coral, like the world of riotous colors in a kaleidoscope.
Every kind of deep-sea coral, like the world of riotous colors in a kaleidoscope.
