Taiwan Review MAY 2013
Courtesy of Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Acclaimed artist Lin Hsin-yueh’s Aiwen Mango Harvest (2011). Lin uses images of local landscapes and homegrown fruit to highlight Taiwan’s beauty and the wonder of the natural world (page 42).
EDITORIAL
A Model of Health
S
ince it was invited to take part as an observer in the World Health Assembly, the decisionmaking body of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2009, Taiwan has proven itself a responsible stakeholder in the international community through its adherence to International Health Regulations (IHR) and contributions to public health. Now the country is looking for ways to build on these efforts to contribute more to global health. In March this year, for example, two experts from Australia were invited to review practices at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the north and Kaohsiung Port in
southern Taiwan, two of the country’s 10 designated ports of entry. The review was the latest move in Taiwan’s effort to meet IHR core capacity requirements, in this case aimed at curbing the spread of communicable diseases across national borders and being better equipped at responding to public health emergencies of international concern. This helps protect the interests of people in Taiwan and throughout the world. Taiwan has also been a willing provider of foreign medical aid for many years as seen in its many missions around the globe. In addition to offering services, the country trains scores of foreign health workers
every year as part of programs overseas or in Taiwan. The success of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system, which covers more than 99 percent of the country’s population including foreign residents, has also been an inspiration for public health administrators worldwide. In 2011, visitors from more than 50 countries traveled to Taiwan to study the system, for example. It is time for the country to be given room to expand its role in global health. Saying yes to Taiwan’s greater participation in the WHO would not just be a positive step for the wellbeing of the 23 million people of Taiwan, but for better health worldwide. n
The Art and Economics of Orchids
L
ater this month, Taiwan will showcase the strength of its orchid industry at London’s Chelsea Flower Show, arguably the world’s most prestigious event of its kind. The Taiwanese team, which has featured locally grown orchids since the country first entered the annual show in 2010, has been very successful, bringing home medals each year, including the top prize for best pavilion in 2011 and 2012. This has been possible because of the hard work of Taiwanese orchid enthusiasts, who have turned a hobby into a world-class industry in just a few decades, making Taiwan one of the top exporters of live orchid plants and cut stems in the world. The government is looking to build on that success through assistance schemes promoting the
development of orchid-related products in sectors such as biotechnology and the cultural creative industry. Orchid extracts have been used in skincare products and toothpaste, for example, while gold-plated blooms have been gaining popularity as luxury gift items. Government support has also been successful in enabling many small orchid farmers to overcome the financial barriers to entering the industry by providing low-cost loans and renting affordable land. This has led to the development of a huge variety of the plants by individual growers—more than 10,000 types of moth orchids alone—which is the cornerstone of Taiwan’s strength in the world market. Where local orchid farmers could use help is in selling flowering plants directly
to overseas consumers rather than supplying foreign companies with seedlings as they do now. The current system avoids the difficulties of shipping plants in bloom and the expense of establishing overseas growing facilities, but it also places the greatest share of revenue in the hands of foreign firms. Taiwan is a small island with limited land and water resources for farming. For some time, it has been apparent that the future of the country’s agricultural sector lies in creating high added-value goods. Finding ways to help local orchid growers establish their own brands and production facilities overseas would enable flower farmers to capitalize on their considerable expertise and open a new chapter in the n industry’s development. Taiwan Review May 2013
Taiwan Review CONTENTS
May 2013 / VOLUME 63 / NUMBER 5
Chang Su-ching
EDITORIAL
FRONT COVER A variety of the lady’s slipper orchid bred by a Taiwanese company. Within a few decades, Taiwan has turned orchid growing from a hobby for a few enthusiasts into a world-class export industry.
01 | A MODEL OF HEALTH THE ART AND ECONOMICS OF ORCHIDS FOCUS: ECONOMICS
04 | MAKING IT BLOOM
Orchids are still big business for Taiwan growers. BY JIM HWANG
PHOTOS BY CHANG SU-CHING
12 | INSPIRED BY ORCHIDS Local businesses are putting orchids to use in new sectors. BY OSCAR CHUNG
PHOTOS BY HUANG CHUNG-HSIN
DIPLOMACY
18 | TOWARD A NEW RELATIONSHIP Taiwan-US trade ties are warming. BY PAT GAO
PHOTOS BY CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY
SOCIETY
21 | A PRIZE FOR THE WORLD
A major new award will honor researchers in four key fields. BY PAT GAO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TANG PRIZE FOUNDATION
BUSINESS
24 | A CATALYST FOR CHANGE Local SMEs are learning to grow. BY OSCAR CHUNG
PHOTOS BY CHANG SU-CHING
BIOTECHNOLOGY
30 | IN QUEST OF BOUNTIFUL HARVESTS
Rice researcher Yu Su-may is seeking crops that can cope with climate change. BY KELLY HER
Taiwan Review PUBLISHER David Yung-lo Lin DIRECTOR Michael Chen EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Myra Lu
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Cindy Chang
ADDRESSES
DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORS
Donald Silver, Robyn Taylor STAFF WRITERS
Jim Hwang, Kelly Her, Oscar Chung, Pat Gao ART EDITOR Hu Ru-yu
PHOTOS BY HUANG CHUNG-HSIN
Huang Chung-hsin, Chang Su-ching PRODUCTION
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Chang Su-ching
04
24 Huang Chung-hsin
30
ECOLOGY
36 | SNAKES ON A PLAIN
Researchers are helping humans and snakes coexist. BY TIMOTHY FERRY
PAINTING
42 | REPRESENTING THE ENCHANTMENT OF TAIWAN Artist Lin Hsin-yueh draws on lessons from life. BY KELLY HER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TAIPEI FINE ARTS MUSEUM
CULTURE Huang Chung-hsin
48 | IN AN OYSTER SHELL
A development project is making art from oysters in a small rural town. BY JIM HWANG
PHOTOS BY HUANG CHUNG-HSIN
PHOTOGRAPHY
54 | CAPTURING THE ESSENCE
Three photographers put local performing arts in front of the lens. BY CINDY CHANG
PERFORMING ARTS
60 | DIVA WITH A DIFFERENCE
Tang Mei-yun is bringing Taiwanese opera to younger generations.
48 COPYRIGHT
Taiwan Review (USPS 003552) is published monthly by Kwang Hwa Publishing (USA), Inc. 6300 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1770 A Los Angeles, CA 90048. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA. © 2013 by Kwang Hwa Publishing (USA). All rights reserved. The magazine was published as the Free China Review from 1951, the Taipei Review from 2000 and the Taiwan Review from 2003.
BY PAT GAO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TANG MEI-YUN TAIWANESE OPERA COMPANY
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ECONOMICS
Orchids remain big business for Taiwan growers. BY JIM HWANG
PHOTOS BY CHANG SU-CHING
I
n one of the showrooms of the 2013 Taiwan International Orchid Show held in March in Tainan City, southern Taiwan, Fang Chao-ming (方昭銘), owner of Ben Yu Orchid Farm in Tainan City and director of the Taiwan Orchid Breeders Society, recalled the scene when he began to grow moth orchids four decades ago. “We started to collect orchid varieties and cross-breed them as a hobby, organized orchid clubs and shared our knowledge and experiences,” he said. “It was for fun rather than business.” Like his fellow enthusiasts at the time, Fang could not have foreseen that within a quarter of a century, his hobby would become part of an industry producing one of Taiwan’s most important agricultural crops. The country is currently the world’s largest moth orchid exporter. Statistics from the Council of Agriculture (COA) show the export value of moth orchids was US$114 million in 2012, or 59 percent of the value of Taiwan’s total floral exports that year. The figures also showed that moth orchids were Taiwan’s first agricultural export to surpass the US$100 million mark. In addition to moth orchids, Taiwan exports oncidium, cattleya, and several other species of orchids in smaller quantities. Ahby Tseng (曾俊弼), secretary-general of the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association (TOGA), says that as Opposite: A display of moth orchids at the 2013 Taiwan International Orchid Show, which is one of the world’s largest orchid expos
Taiwan’s economy started to grow, a number of hobby growers began to sell their orchids and a domestic market was formed by the early 1980s. It was, however, a small market in which the prices were often manipulated. “The profit from one unique orchid could almost buy the seller an apartment in downtown Taipei,” he says. “Orchids became more of an investment tool than an ornamental plant.” Nevertheless, the unusual market conditions helped set a solid foundation for the later success of the industry, as the ambition to produce unique plants pushed many growers to continue collecting, cross breeding and creating new varieties. An interesting development in Taiwan, therefore, is that most of these genetic resources and new varieties remain in the hands of and are developed by individual farmers instead of research institutions. The high market prices lasted for several years until the COA started to promote the commercial production of the moth orchid and Taiwan Sugar Corp. (Taisugar) began growing the plants on a large-scale in the mid-1980s. As a state-run enterprise, Taisugar was able to invest large amounts of funding and manpower in the project, and began selling its own orchids in 1987 under the brand Taiwan Review May 2013 5
name Taisuco. Only 5 percent of Taisuco moth orchids entered the domestic market, but that was enough to bring the sky-high prices down to very affordable sums. To this day, some 95 percent of Taisugar orchids are exported to Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States. Headquarted in Tainan City, the company now has With its expertise in orchid breeding, Taiwan can provide customers with made-to-order flowers.
6 Taiwan Review May 2013
production facilities in Canada, the Netherlands and the United States, in addition to several nurseries in Taiwan. Moreover, victories at several important international orchid contests have helped Taisugar establish a reputation as a supplier of high quality and unique moth orchids in the international market. The success of Taisuco orchids attracted other investors. King Car Food Industrial Co. Ltd., a beverage maker that produces the leading
In addition to shapes and colors, the size and number of flowers on one stem are factors used to evaluate the quality of orchids.
brand of canned coffee in Taiwan, set up a horticulture department in 1988 to select and breed various kinds of moth orchids. It now operates nearly 70,000 square meters of greenhouses in Yilan County, northern Taiwan and produces 2.5 million plants annually. J.J. Wang (王俊仁), a representative in King Car’s sales department, says only 10 percent of the company’s orchids are sold domestically, while most are exported to Japan. “The domestic market is just too small,” he says. “Exports are the only way to survive.” Most of Taiwan’s orchid growers, however, do not have the resources to duplicate Taisugar or King Car’s business model. “Raising a few pots of unique plants in a homemade greenhouse in the backyard was one thing, but raising tens
or hundreds of thousands of them was a totally different game,” Fang says. Like Fang, many orchid farmers who were originally hobby growers now focus on breeding unique moth orchid varieties, while leaving the management, production and marketing to their children and grandchildren. Fang notes that mass production is not much of a technical challenge, as the technique of tissue culture can easily duplicate tens of thousands of cloned plants from the cells of an individual plant. The problem that previously troubled many small farmers was the considerable initial investment, with much of it needed to build suitable facilities. The construction of a 100-square-meter greenhouse, for example, costs about NT$200,000 (US$6,800). The 2008 establishment of the 200-hectare Taiwan Orchid Plantation (TOP) as a research and production base in Tainan solved part of the problem by renting greenhouses to farmers. These greenhouses are all equipped with sensors that can be programmed to control humidity, light and temperature. If the temperature is too high, for example, fans turn on automatically. Set up by the government, TOP is now managed and operated by Taiwan Orchid Professionals Co. Ltd., which is a privately owned firm. In addition to building greenhouses, TOP provides farmers with low-interests loans, and has created a cluster effect, or complete supply chain, for the orchid industry. “It’s easy to work as part of a cluster, since all the experts, connections and supplies are nearby,” Tseng says. Currently, 49 orchid growers, including the three largest in Taiwan, operate greenhouses in TOP.
grows. In total, it takes between three and 4.5 years for the plant to grow into a large seedling. The upside is that the long growing time guarantees the uniqueness of a variety for at least three years, which is how long it would take for a copy to reach the market. Farmers, however, need to have the financial resources to wait for a return on their investment and hope that no serious problems arise during those many months of cultivation.
Working Around Risk
Most Taiwanese orchid growers specialize in a certain stage of plant cultivation in order to minimize their investment and risk.
The initial capital, meanwhile, is only part of the investment required as orchid culture is a lengthy process. Depending on the variety, a tissuecultured seedling is grown in a glass flask for between two and three years, before it is moved to three different sizes of soft pots—each for between four and six months—as it
Except for a few large enterprises like Taisugar, most Taiwan orchid farmers attempt to minimize their exposure to risk by “relay-cropping”—dividing the work and expense of growing orchids into several stages, with different orchid farms performing different stages. Each farmer purchases “semifinished products” from growers in the preceding stage, performs a given function and then sells the results to operators in the next stage. The system was developed several decades ago. Dawn Chien (簡菁 瑩) from I Hsin Biotechnology Inc. in Chiayi County, southern Taiwan notes that her family’s business began providing tissue culture services and plantlets around 1980. “Many small farmers at the time didn’t have the facilities or equipment to do it,” she says. “It was more of a service instead of a business.” Whatever it was, the approach is now commonly adopted by the industry so that growers can reduce the chance of things going wrong and see a return on their investment within six months. The central and local governments have made an effort to provide financial assistance and lower Taiwan Review May 2013 7
the amount of investment and risk so as to allow smaller farmers— many of whom were initially hobby growers—to enter the industry. With individuals often introducing a few unique varieties each, Taiwan supplies more orchid varieties than any other country, having developed in excess of 10,000 types of moth orchid alone. “Our competitive edge lies in Orchids have been grown by hobbyists as an ornamental plant for more than a century in Taiwan.
have been quite popular recently, for example. Yeh Yi-zhang ( 葉乂 彰) of Chian Tzy Orchid Nursery in Nantou County, central Taiwan, which specializes in breeding mini orchids, notes that the plants were developed about a decade ago in response to changes in society. “As cities have become more and more crowded, each person or family has less space,” he says. “A big pot of orchids looks great, but a small pot of flowers might fit better into some people’s lifestyle.” What is more,
they know that there’s no other place in the world where they can get everything they need so conveniently.” The launch of the Taiwan International Orchid Show in 1998 helped that process, as the show is now one of the largest of its kind in the world. According to TOGA, the organizer of the show, the number of foreign buyers increased from fewer than 1,000 in 2005 to more than 3,000 this year, with orders placed at the show increasing from NT$800 million (US$24.9 million) to NT$9.26 billion (US$319 million) over the same period. Last year, among the 86 countries that bought orchids from Taiwan, the United States was the largest purchaser of moth orchids. Moth orchids have gained more popularity in that country in recent years thanks to their long bloom time, which lasts for up to three months. In 2012, Taiwan exported US$42 million worth of moth orchid seedlings to the United States, which accounted for half of market demand there.
our collection of genetic resources and ability in breeding new varieties,” Tseng says. “Simply put, we can provide our customers with made-toorder orchids.” The breeding of a new variety takes from five to 10 years. Buyers, therefore, can either work with breeders to “preorder” a product well in advance or take what breeders have come up with. For the latter system to be profitable, a breeder needs to predict what will be popular several years down the road. Taiwan breeders, it seems, have been doing quite well in that effort. “Mini orchids”
exporting mini orchids saves a lot in shipping costs, Yeh says. But while Taiwan’s orchid growers have demonstrated strong ability in breeding and culturing the flowers, they were not always adept in the cultivation of foreign markets. To make the country’s orchids known, the COA and TOGA have helped local growers participate in international floral shows since the early 1990s with great success. “We no longer need to carry our catalogues and travel far to sell our orchids,” says King Car’s Wang. “Foreign buyers now come to Taiwan, because
Effort Behind Exports
8 Taiwan Review May 2013
A lot of extra effort has gone into achieving such export success. Tseng explains that since air cargo is quite expensive and it is difficult to package plants in bloom, Taiwan has mostly exported large seedlings via ship. Originally, moth orchid seedlings had to be removed from waterweed— their growth media—and cleaned before they left Taiwan, to prevent the transmission of plant diseases. The result was that as many as half of the plants usually died after the long trip. “It’s like being seriously ill for a long time,” Tseng says. “Only the
strongest can survive and it takes a long time to recover.” The problem was solved thanks to the work of the COA and TOGA. After a decade of discussion, the US government agreed to allow Taiwanese orchid seedlings to enter the country with their growth media intact beginning in 2005, provided that the seedlings are grown in bacteria-free greenhouses built to US
specifications. Since then, Taiwan has also been permitted to export seedlings in growth media to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea. The difference between shipping with growth media is a survival rate of 95 percent and recovery time of two weeks versus the 50-percent survival rate and recovery period of two months for plants without it, according to Tseng.
Some of the latest commercial orchid varieties. Taiwan’s strength in the industry lies in its ability to develop new varieties to meet market demands.
Japan is the second-largest market for Taiwan’s moth orchid exports. In fact, Japan was the largest market until 2006, the year after the United States began allowing moth orchid seedlings from Taiwan to be shipped with growth media. Japan, however, is still Taiwan’s largest buyer of cut orchids, thanks to the 20 million oncidium, or dancing lady orchid, stems exported to the country every year. Taiwan’s moth orchids have even gained success in Europe, which A potential buyer at the 2013 Taiwan International Orchid Show. Taiwan’s domestic market is too small to support the commercial production of orchids by itself.
Taiwan Review May 2013 9
is the world’s largest floral consumer market and has long been dominated by the Netherlands. Ho Chin-tang (何欽堂), sales manager at Sunhope Garden, which specializes in moth orchid propagation, notes that consumers in the European market are no longer satisfied with limited varieties of moth orchids, so companies in the Netherlands have turned to orchid exports from Taiwan. “Being large floriculture enterprises, these Dutch firms are very capable of developing their own varieties,” says Ho, who has customers in that country. “The problem is that research takes time, and it’s faster and cheaper to buy seedlings from Taiwan.” The
Netherlands is now Taiwan’s thirdlargest buyer of moth orchids and the largest for flask seedlings. After recovering from their journey, seedlings are placed under particular lighting conditions and exposed to cooler temperatures to encourage spiking, or the emergence of the flower’s stalk, which takes between three and five weeks, and flowering, which takes about 12 weeks. They are then ready to be put on the market, where the price of a live orchid in blossom is often five times that of a large seedling. In other words, orchid growers in Taiwan put in about four years of work and receive a fifth of the retail
Oncidium, or the dancing lady orchid, represents Taiwan’s largest cut-stem orchid export.
aiwan’s foreign aid programs began in 1959, when the government sent a team of agriculture specialists to Vietnam to offer technical assistance in growing rice. Since then, Taiwan has sent technical missions to countries in need worldwide. Initially, the focus of the missions was to help grow grain in order to boost food production in developing countries. Over time, the programs have expanded to include animal husbandry, aquaculture, as well as floriculture and horticulture, to promote economic development in partner countries. In recent decades, as Taiwan has become one of the world’s major suppliers of moth orchids, it has also shared its expertise and technological know-how in orchid production. Costa Rica is one of the first countries with which Taiwan shared its orchid growing knowledge. Working
10 Taiwan Review May 2013
with the Taiwanese technical mission stationed there, the Costa Rican government set up a parent plant collection room, a tissue culture laboratory and a seedling cultivation laboratory in 1988 to promote orchid cultivation. In fact, wild orchids were once prolific in Costa Rica, but human development caused many varieties, including the country’s national flower guaria morada, to become endangered. One of the tasks for Taiwanese specialists, therefore, was to help restore many of those varieties. In the mid-1990s, guaria morada and several of Costa Rica’s other rare orchid varieties finally began to reappear in the country. While artificially propagating the endangered species, Taiwanese specialists provided the Costa Rican floriculture community with training in tissue culture and other orchid growing techniques. In addition,
Courtesy of International Cooperation and Development Fund
On the Diplomatic Front T
they helped hobby growers there shift to commercial production. The establishment of a large commercial production facility for moth orchids by Taiwan’s state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp. in 1998 further helped
price of the flowering plant, while foreign sellers spend just four months encouraging the plant to bloom and collect four-fifths. “It’s like an OEM [original equipment manufacturing] or ODM [original design manufacturing] operation, where most of the profit goes to the brand names,” Tseng says. “Most foreign consumers don’t know that their orchids actually originate in Taiwan because the blossoming plants are sold under the brand names of foreign companies.” While some of the larger Taiwanese companies have already set up overseas production facilities, the majority of smaller firms in the trade settle for exporting seedlings for now.
The lady’s slipper orchid is among the many orchid species exported by Taiwan, albeit in very small numbers.
With assistance from a Taiwan technical mission, Saint Lucia has started to develop commercial production of several varieties of moth orchids.
technical advancement in Costa Rica, which in recent years has been recognized as an emerging orchid exporter in the international orchid market. South of the Costa Rican border, after three years of laboratory work, a
Taiwanese technical mission stationed in Panama also successfully aided in the recovery of that country’s national flower, named the Holy Spirit, in 2011. The Taiwanese project to save the highly endangered orchid species began in Panama in 2006. In addition to restoring the national flower, the technical mission has introduced several varieties of moth orchid as well as commercial breeding and cultivation techniques to Panama. Similar projects have been conducted in a number of other countries in the region such as Honduras, Paraguay and Saint Lucia, where Taiwanese orchid varieties have been introduced, breeding and culturing techniques shared and facilities constructed. In addition to passing on technical knowledge, Taiwanese
“Taiwan’s orchid growers need to develop from the current businessto-business type of operation to a business-to-consumer one. That involves considerable capital investment in setting up overseas production facilities, as well as marketing and the development of sales channels,” Tseng says. “It’s the way to go, but currently it’s beyond the affordability of [most] orchid growers.” Considered as a “product,” orchids take years to “manufacture.” But within a quarter of a century, greenhouses in professional farms have replaced green fingers in backyard gardens, and a hobby has turned n into a major local industry. development missions have helped farmers become better organized so as to improve production efficiency and create sales channels. In regard to orchids, nature has been kind to Latin American countries as the climate is perfect for growing the plants. Yet even oceans away in the Middle East, Taiwan has also seen success in the Kingdom of Bahrain, as specialists from the Taiwan mission there have managed to overcome the desert climate and are breeding several varieties of moth orchids. At present, production is only sufficient to supply demand from the royal family in that nation, but there is already a lucrative orchid market in Bahrain, while there are currently plenty of wealthy buyers in the region. From rice to orchids, Asia to the Middle East, Taiwan’s technical missions continue to facilitate economic growth for partner countries. —Jim Hwang
Taiwan Review May 2013 11
ECONOMICS
Inspired by Orchids Local firms are pressing orchids into service in whole new sectors. BY OSCAR CHUNG
PHOTOS BY HUANG CHUNG-HSIN
Courtesy of Philina Yang
I
aY an g
t was a beautiful mistake, says Philina Yang (楊彩玲), metal artist and founder of De Wind Gallery in Tainan, southern Taiwan, in reference to the “golden orchid” she helped develop. In 2004, staff at a metal research center in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan that was funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) forgot to turn off electroforming equipment over a weekend. The result was an unusually large and beautiful metal deposit that was created by the long hours of electroforming. Yang learned about the deposit from a former student, who worked at the research center, and was inspired to use the technique on organic materials. After experimenting with roses, pinecones and even insects, Yang concluded that electroformed moth orchids had the greatest market potential. “They’re a luxury gift that aren’t sold in great quantities, but they’ve been gaining popularity in mainland China in the last few years,” Yang says.
lin hi fP o sy rte Cou
Orchid-related products, such as golden orchids (opposite and above), which made their debut about five years ago, are becoming part of the image of Tainan City and of Taiwan.
Yang’s golden orchids were featured in a wall calendar published by the MOEA’s Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) this year. The calendar is aimed at promoting specialty products from different areas around the country, and Yang’s creation appeared for the month of March, the time of year orchids bloom in Taiwan. “Orchid farming in Taiwan is already quite mature. We can develop businesses on the basis of such success,” says Chen Tsung-hsien (陳宗賢), manager of the Regional Industrial Service Department of the southern branch of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The SMEA commissioned the ITRI branch to carry out the development of Tainan’s orchid sector as part of a two-year program to boost local industries with high growth potential. Tainan City Government is one of three local governments that are garnering help under the 2012–2013 scheme, the other two being northern Taiwan’s Miaoli County and Changhua County in central Taiwan, which are seeking to develop their woodcarving and flower-cultivation sectors respectively. “With Tainan’s orchid industry doing well as a primary industry, we’re moving toward its second and third stages of development,” says Yin Shih-shi (殷 世熙), secretary-general of Tainan City Government’s Economic Development Bureau. The official explains that the second stage of development includes the production of orchid-related cultural creative and biotech products, whereas the third stage is tourism centered on orchid farms. The SMEA has earmarked
Orchid-themed cultural creative products include a titanium napkin ring (top), paper weight at left and tea-brewing device at right (above) designed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute’s branch in southern Taiwan and made with the center’s laser technology.
NT$10 million (US$345,000) for the development of orchidrelated businesses in Tainan under the current two-year scheme, with Taiwan Review May 2013 13
the Tainan City Government providing a further NT$3.4 million (US$117,000). By the end of 2012, ITRI and the local government had approached 17 enterprises in the Tainan area, with 10 electing to take part in the project, including Orchis Floriculturing Inc., the only orchid farm participating in the program up to that point. “Most orchid growers Orchid-derived body care products developed by Taiwan Orchid Innovative Biotech Co. were officially launched in February this year and attracted attention at the 2013 Taiwan International Orchid Show. Chang Su-ching
hesitate to explore [other opportunities within] their existing business because they’re quite content with the sales of their flowers,” says Lin Yu-ming (林育民), an employee in ITRI’s service department. Yang of De Wind Gallery has designed five new items centered on the moth orchid as part of the government program. “Compared with other flowers I’ve experimented with like roses and carnations, moth orchids are better suited to [electroforming] because their petals are thicker and much less complex, which means that the gold is deposited more evenly,” Yang says. 14 Taiwan Review May 2013
“Moreover, the species is endemic to Taiwan and comprises the vast majority of Taiwan’s orchid exports.” The metal artist exhibited her golden orchids for the first time in 2007 at the Taiwan International Orchid Show, an annual event in Tainan displaying orchids and related products. “Since then I’ve focused on the moth orchid whenever I consider making an orchid design,” she says. Allen Chuang (莊世豪), chairman of Hwang Sun Enterprise Co., is another Tainan-based business owner who has participated in the government program. “The image of the Tung blossom is now used on various cultural creative products. Why can’t we expect the same of images of orchids?” he asks. Tung flowers grow in many regions with a large Hakka population and are widely used as a cultural symbol of that ethnic group. As part of the SMEA scheme, Hwang Sun is endeavoring to find ways to use images of orchids in its existing tourism business, which is based on the traditional salt farms of coastal Tainan. In November 2012, and with the help of the Research Center of Cultural Creative Design at Tainan University of Technology, Hwang Sun created 366 decorative seals. Each of the seals corresponds to a specific day of the year and features salt crystals displayed in an acrylic handle and an image of a particular plant—including 20-odd orchid species—on the stamp. The seals are now on sale at tourist spots managed by Hwang Sun. Since the summer of 2012, ITRI’s Clean Energy and Ecotechnology Center has been researching the potential of orchid extracts for use in biotech products. According to
Allen Chuang (top) and some of his company’s decorative seals (above). The seals are part of a government effort to develop cultural creative products with an orchid theme.
Yang Psung-yin (楊叢印), the project manager for orchid-related research at the center, a number of orchid derivatives have been found to be especially effective at retaining moisture and have anti-oxidant properties. ITRI has already helped develop a number of products including orchid-based facial masks and toothpaste, as well as an orchid-based soft drink, which was launched at the 2013 Taiwan International Orchid Show.
Courtesy of Philina Yang
Taiwan Orchid Innovative Biotech Co., a major enterprise in the local orchid sector, has high hopes for its new line of orchid-derived body care and cosmetic products named AMABILIS, a word that makes up part of the scientific name of the moth orchid, Phalaenopsis amabilis. The first products from the line were launched at a number of high-end retailers in Taiwan in March this year. The firm has ambitions to grab 10 percent of the ethnic Chinese market for body care products within three years, having already signed contracts with distributors in mainland China and other Asian nations. The biotech firm is an affiliate of Taiwan Orchid Professionals Co., which has been commissioned to manage the Taiwan Orchid Plantation (TOP), a government initiative in Tainan City aimed at improving the competitiveness of Taiwan’s orchid-growing sector. Taiwan Orchid Innovative Biotech says all of the active ingredients of products in the AMABILIS line come from TOP, which claims to contain the largest cluster of orchid greenhouses in the world.
Natural Properties
Although it is not part of the SMEA-led scheme, Taiwan Orchid Innovative Biotech has been exploring the frontiers of research in orchid-based body care products for the past four years. It has relied on assistance from the Orchid Research Center, which was established in 2009 at Tainan’s National Cheng Kung University, and the company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City to set up a research center at that school devoted to analyzing the properties of orchids. It is hoped that the Fu Jen center, which will be named after the AMABILIS brand, will be established by the end of this year. Mavis Yang (楊富涵), general manager of Woei Shyang Dar Enterprise Co., is optimistic about
Philina Yang, a metal artist based in Tainan (left). Yang has incorporated orchids into a number of her designs (top right).
biotech products that use orchids. A maker of body care products derived from seaweed since 1995, the Tainanbased business launched a line of cosmetics containing orchid extracts that made its official debut at the 2012 Taiwan International Orchid Show. Woei Shyang Dar then began to work with ITRI to produce toothpaste containing orchid and bamboo extracts, which are believed to improve gum health. Before teaming up with ITRI, all of the orchid extracts the company used were imported from the United Kingdom, but this year it gradually shifted to extracts from locally grown plants. Yang says the firm received a high level of interest in its products at this year’s flower show, where it set up two booths. “This time sales of orchid-based products doubled and gained more attention from international buyers,” she says. Given the maturity of the local orchid-growing industry, especially in Tainan, orchid-themed cultural creative and biotech products are on track to enrich Taiwan’s image as the “kingdom of orchids.” From golden orchids to body care products made from the flower, local busin nesses are giving new meaning to that title. Taiwan Review May 2013 15
I
When Art and Orchids Meet
Central News Agency
16 Taiwan Review May 2013
have impressed the judges, the typical choice for wedding decoration in the West being roses. The TOGA team led by Cheng first took part in the London show, which is organized by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) of the United Kingdom, in 2010, when it won a silver medal for its pavilion. The prize translates to a third-place award. Just one year later, however, the team was able to grab the highest honor thanks to its previous experience, which helped team members become more familiar with the overall event, Cheng says, as well as to financial support from the Republic of China (ROC) government. Taiwan won its first gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011 with a display resembling an orchid-themed church wedding (below), which impressed many visitors including Queen Elizabeth II. Emily Cheng (right) was the chief designer of the pavilion.
Cheng began designing flower arrangements around 1990, but became serious about the skill in the mid-1990s when she traveled to Europe to study with experts and made trips to big flower shows around the world. “We put the money earned from flower sales at our shop into any learning opportunities that came my way,” she says, referring to Onely Floral Services Inc., the store she opened with her Central News Agency
n late May 2011, the atmosphere at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London was as vibrant as it always is around this time of the year, as the hospital’s grounds double as the venue of the annual Chelsea Flower Show. That year was an especially exciting time for Taiwan, however, as the team representing the country at the world’s most prestigious flower show won its first gold medal in the Great Pavilion Awards. Represented by the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association (TOGA), the Taiwanese team presented a design for an orchid-decorated church wedding. “We showed a wide range of orchid species and the wedding theme is unusual compared with other contestants,” says Emily Cheng (鄭秀煒), the team’s chief flower designer that year, of two major reasons for the success at the competition. Cheng adds that the use of masses of orchids must
Courtesy of Taiwan Orchid Growers Association
The team from Taiwan was a gold medal winner at the London show again in 2012. The government has funded the team since 2011.
husband Jeff Chen (陳清鈺) in 1990 in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. The investment has paid off as Cheng has been invited to show her talent at home and abroad. In 2010, Cheng was introduced to RHS chief director Stephen Bennett at the Taiwan International Orchid Show, which led to Taiwan’s debut at the Chelsea Flower Show two months later. The flower designer says Onely and the TOGA shared the expenses of about NT$1.2 million (US$38,000) for the 2010 Chelsea Flower Show. Since then, the central government has been funding the team’s participation in the London event, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Agriculture providing NT$2 million (US$67,880) and NT$1 million (US$33,940) respectively in 2011. The increased funding definitely helped the team’s effort to add richness and diversity to its presentations. In 2010, the TOGA team displayed 1,000 stems from 40-odd types of orchids. The following year it exhibited more than 4,000 stems from 100 types of orchids, 90 percent of which were moth orchids,
with the remaining 10 percent made up of such species as dancing-lady orchids donated by Taichung City Government. The Taiwan pavilion at the 2011 show was also seven times larger than at the 2010 event, and was located at the most conspicuous site in the whole exhibition venue.
Flower Ambassadors
Chen adds that the choice of 100 types of orchids was deliberate as the ROC government celebrated its 100th anniversary that year, and the team publicized the centenary and the beginnings of the ROC among visitors to the Taiwan pavilion. It is apt to talk about the origins of the ROC in London, he says, because Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), the founder of the nation, was temporarily kidnapped in the city in 1896 by the Qing dynasty embassy there. He was finally released thanks to the intervention of several Englishmen and the British government. Sun went on to lead the revolution that overthrew the dynasty in 1911. Having built a solid image with silver and gold performances at the world-class flower show, the TOGA
team won its second gold medal, also in the Great Pavilion Awards category, in 2012 with a dragonshaped centerpiece in honor of the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar. Queen Elizabeth II has visited the Taiwan pavilion every year since 2010. The 2011 visit was especially noteworthy since the queen was presented with Doritaenopsis Elizabeth II, a new type of orchid developed in Taiwan and named after her. Winning awards at prestigious flower shows not only helps boost Taiwan’s visibility and image in the international community, but also enables the world to see the beauty of orchids and Taiwanese designers’ ability to combine art and flowers. Since November 2011, Cheng, the chief designer on the TOGA team in 2010 and 2011, has sold designs for orchid arrangements in Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore. The design templates are either sold alone or together with orchids grown in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese team is ready to awe orchid lovers again by taking part in the 2013 Chelsea Flower Show, which marks its centenary this year. The new display was planned to create a scene of Taiwan’s lofty mountains, complete with butterflies and woodland spirits, with ferns and bamboo plants included to supplement the design. As Taiwan has performed impressively in the exhibition since 2010, its fourth pavilion in London is certainly one of the most highly anticipated at this year’s show. —Oscar Chung
Taiwan Review May 2013 17
DIPLOMACY
Toward a New Relationship The resumption of trade talks with the United States is a reflection of Taiwan’s liberalizing economy and deepening ties with global trade partners. BY PAT GAO
PHOTOS BY CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY
I
n March this year, the bilateral relationship between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the United States saw an upturn with the resumption of trade talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between the two countries after a hiatus of more than five years. Cho Shih-chao (卓士昭), vice minister of economic affairs, headed Taiwan’s delegation at the talks, which were held in Taipei. The US side was led by Deputy United States Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis. After the meetings, Cho said discussions had been “fruitful” and had laid a solid foundation for the continued development of economic and trade relations between the two sides, while Marantis described the talks as a “big success.” The March meeting marked the seventh round of talks under TIFA since the agreement was signed in 1994 in Washington, D.C. The first TIFA meeting was held in March, 1995 in the US capital. In the years since, TIFA has been the core mechanism through which the two 18 Taiwan Review May 2013
countries have deepened their economic relationship. “[TIFA] provides a platform for high-ranking officials from both sides to conduct regular dialogues on major economic and trade policies,” says Dale Jieh (介文汲), deputy chief negotiator in the Office of Trade Negotiations under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The next TIFA meeting is scheduled to be held in 2014 in Washington, D.C.
ROC President Ma Ying-jeou, right, greets Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis at the Office of the President in Taipei. Marantis led the US delegation at the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks held in March this year.
Taiwan and the United States have enjoyed strong economic ties for decades. In 2012, total trade volume between the two countries reached
around US$56.6 billion, making the United States Taiwan’s third-largest trade partner, trailing only mainland China and Japan. “Economic and trade exchanges between two countries are usually an indicator of their bilateral relationship in general. Despite changes in global economic conditions, the United States continues to be a significant investor in Taiwan and a source of high-quality technological know-how,” Jieh says, adding that the United States is also a major destination for Taiwanese students who opt to pursue advanced studies abroad. After the sixth round of TIFA talks took place in Washington, D.C. in 2007, however, the meetings were suspended largely because Taiwan’s food safety regulations banned imports of US beef products containing ractopamine, a feed additive that enhances leanness in cattle. In July last year, the Legislative Yuan passed revisions to the Act Governing Food Sanitation, thereby authorizing
on the new working groups, Chang Pen-tsao (張平沼), chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China, says they are a big step forward for Taiwan’s foreign trade negotiations. Some areas of disagreement remain, however, and will require further negotiation. In the area of US meat exports, for example, US negotiators expressed hope that Taiwan’s food safety regulations would fall in line with international standards, while Taiwan has lingering concerns over issues such as feed additive residues found in meat products other than beef.
Huang Chung-hsin
Huang Chung-hsin
Dale Jieh, deputy chief negotiator in the Office of Trade Negotiations under the Ministry of Economic Affairs
the government to set “a permissible tolerance” for such additives in meat products. The Department of Health subsequently implemented a regulation allowing a minimal amount of ractopamine residue in imported beef. The new regulation opened the door to more US beef imports and removed the greatest obstacle to future TIFA talks. “Our government has made its stance clear and showed a strong determination to resume the talks, which are essential to the comprehensive development of the Taiwan-US relationship,” Jieh says. Major topics at this year’s TIFA meetings included agriculture, the digital economy, intellectual property rights, pharmaceuticals and medical devices as well as regional and multilateral economic cooperation. “Although both sides have their own position on the issues, the TIFA meetings allow them to exchange opinions, narrow gaps and enhance mutual understanding,” Jieh says. A major result of this year’s meeting was the issuing of a joint statement on trade-related principles for information and communication technology (ICT) services. The statement was similar to those the United States has released in cooperation with the European Union and Japan. As both Taiwan and the United States are important players in the worldwide ICT market, the establishment and consolidation of principles such as those governing open networks and use of spectrum are likely to help both countries boost competitiveness. Taiwan and the United States also agreed to form new TIFA working groups to tackle investment issues and technical barriers to trade. Commenting
World-leading information technology companies including those from Taiwan and the United States display their wares at an annual trade show at the Taipei World Trade Center.
Taiwan Review May 2013 19
ROC Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Cho Shih-chao, third left, led Taiwan’s delegation at this year’s TIFA talks.
Marantis said that the resumption of TIFA talks between Taiwan and the United States was significant because it represents a new stage in the bilateral economic relationship, while the meeting’s positive outcome was a testament to the liberalization of Taiwan’s economy and its deepening Taiwan’s 2012 implementation of a regulation concerning feed additive residues in imported beef products removed the greatest obstacle to subsequent TIFA talks.
20 Taiwan Review May 2013
ties with global partners. Jieh says that the direction of foreign policy under the administration of Republic of China President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英 九) has played a crucial part in fostering stronger Taiwan-US ties. “Our government’s increasingly pragmatic and flexible diplomatic approach has changed our role from being perceived by other countries as a potential cause of international conflicts to that of an active promoter of international order,” Jieh says.
Cho said that as the 11thlargest trade partner of the United States, Taiwan can do much to promote bilateral and multilateral economic integration. Jieh also has high expectations. “The resumption of TIFA talks could be considered an important step toward an eventual Taiwan-US free trade agreement,” he says. “Also, as both sides are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the World Trade Organization (WTO), they’re able to cooperate and support each other in those international frameworks.”
Crucial for Development
Taiwan views membership in such regional and global trade organizations as crucial for continued economic development. At a meeting with Marantis and the US delegation in the Office of the President in Taipei, Ma said that the government is working toward the goal of joining the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), two proposed free trade blocs that would include many of the world’s largest economies. Jieh points out that Taiwan’s economy underwent considerable restructuring and market liberalization when the country acceded to the WTO in 2002. “That means our starting point for further liberalization is not too bad,” he says, referring to Taiwan’s ongoing effort to prepare for participation in economic frameworks like the RCEP and TPP. “We can move closer to the goal of participation if we work n properly and adequately.”
SOCIETY
A Prize for the World A new international award aims at recognizing top-notch research in four important categories. BY PAT GAO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TANG PRIZE FOUNDATION
I
n January this year, a new prize for firstclass research results produced worldwide was announced in Taipei at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s foremost research institution. The Tang Prize is named after the reign of ancient China’s Tang dynasty (618–907), a period noted for its political and economic strength as well as pluralistic culture. Beginning in 2014, the NT$40 million (US$1.4 million) prize will be shared by up to three finalists from around the world in each of the four areas of biopharmaceutical science, the rule of law, Sinology and sustainable development. An additional subsidy of up to NT$10 million (US$345,000) will be allocated to research projects submitted by a prize recipient, who must use the funds within five years. The total NT$50 million (US$1.7 million) per category in prize money exceeds that of the Nobel Prize, which recognizes the world’s most outstanding achievements in the
Tang Prize founder Samuel Yin, left, and Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey announce the establishment of the new award in Taipei in January this year.
fields of chemistry, economics, literature, medicine, peace and physics. The greater prize money does not mean that the Tang Prize has been established to compete with the Nobel awards, however, founder Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) said at a press conference for the launch of the new prize and the formation of the Tang Prize Foundation. The foundation and prizes are funded by a NT$3 billion (US$104 million) donation from Yin. “It’s intended to extend the spirit of the Nobel Prize,” said Yin, who described the creation of the award as the realization of one of the biggest dreams of his life. The philanthropist added he hoped that the award would encourage more top-notch research to benefit mankind and create a better world. The Tang Prize Foundation calls the prize a new contribution from Mandarin-speaking societies to the world. Yin is chairman of the Ruentex Group and the chief engineer of its Taiwan Review May 2013 21
Huang Chung-hsin
A solar cell developed by a Taiwanese company. The Tang Prize for sustainable development will cover technological innovations in energy development, among other areas.
Han characters written on bamboo slats as they were in ancient Chinese books. The Tang Prize will recognize achievements in Sinology and three other fields.
Important Differences Chen Mei-ling
22 Taiwan Review May 2013
construction and development sector. Ruentex also operates in other business sectors including education, finance, medical services, retail and textiles. The group’s chairman majored in history during his undergraduate study and holds a doctoral degree in business administration from National Chengchi University in Taipei. Currently he teaches part time in the Department of Civil Engineering at Taipei’s National Taiwan University. The Ruentex chief was elected as a member to Taipei’s Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering in 2004, and in 2008 to the Moscowbased International Academy of Engineering, for which he heads the Taiwan chapter. In 2010, the American Society of Civil Engineers, a prestigious organization in its field, granted Yin the Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research, a prize established in 1996 to acknowledge leaders in the design and construction industry. The Tang Prize will differ from the Nobel Prize in important ways. For one thing, whereas the Nobel Prize places great emphasis on originality of research in the sciences, the Tang Prize will place equal importance on the impact of a given line of inquiry. According to the Tang Prize Foundation, its prize for biopharmaceutical science, for example, will recognize research that is both original and has a clear influence on the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of major diseases. The Tang Prize for Sinology will highlight studies in fields including archaeology, culture, history, linguistics, literary studies
and religion, but exclude literary works, which are recognized by the Nobel Prize. In a similar way, the other two Tang categories also highlight the more practical interests of academic research into social development, human civilization and the natural world. The prize for sustainable development will cover scientific and technological innovations in such areas as construction, energy and environmental studies; the prize for rule of law seeks to promote the principles that all people are born equal and that all people, nations and international organizations should be governed accordingly in order to maintain peace and protect human rights. The Tang Prize Foundation has signed an agreement with Academia Sinica that tasks the prestigious research organization with the responsibilities of guiding the nomination process and selecting winners for the new prize. According to Academia Sinica, the selection system will follow the style of the Nobel awards in that the selection committee will invite eligible individuals or institutions to present nominations. Given the importance of the new international award, representatives from Academia Sinica have vowed to do their best to ensure a smooth working relationship with the foundation. At the press conference announcing the Tang Prize, Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) pointed out that many of the institute’s academicians have attained significant status in a wide range of fields at home and abroad, making the organization a responsible
choice for the prize’s award committee. “We’ll invite local and foreign experts from various fields to form a selection committee in order to make a scrupulous and objective choice of the most original and influential researchers or organizations from the four major fields,” Wong said, “and thereby gradually build the Tang Prize’s international credibility.”
Influence of Academia
One of the world’s leading genomicists, Wong is widely considered to be among the Taiwanese scientists with the best chance of winning a future Nobel Prize. He became president of Academia Sinica in 2006, succeeding Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1986. Lee is now president of the International Council for Science, which is based in Paris, and was also present at the announcement of the Tang Prize.
Samuel Yin shakes hands with Lee Yuan-tseh, right, former president of Academia Sinica and co-winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, at the launch of the new prize.
By March this year, Academia Sinica counted more than 260 members from the humanities, life sciences, mathematics, physics and social sciences among the ranks of its lifetime, honorary academicians, not counting the many talented researchers who are associated with the institution. This month, the first Tang Prize selection committee will call for nominations, which must be submitted by the end of September this year. The Tang Prize Foundation will announce the laureates on June 18, 2014, a date chosen to coincide with the day the first Tang dynasty emperor took the throne more than n 1,300 years ago. Taiwan Review May 2013 23
BUSINESS
A Catalyst for Change A government program is helping Taiwan’s small and medium-sized businesses explore their growth potential. BY OSCAR CHUNG
PHOTOS BY CHANG SU-CHING
A
ccording to general manager Liang Huang-chien (梁晃千), this year could be a turning point for Wiltrom Co., a small business with 10 employees. In October 2010, the firm received funding from Taiwan’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as it endeavored to develop a fusion and fixation system for repairing disorders of the human spine. That investment looks set to pay off, as Liang expects the product to be approved for sales in the United States and much of Europe by autumn this year. “Only when you enter overseas markets can you make significant profits,” he says. The SBIR program was inspired by an initiative in the United States that funds and encourages innovative start-ups and small businesses founded by teachers and students from local universities. “[The Taiwan program] is like a catalyst the government offers to businesses. We provide some help and that makes it more likely they’ll break through development bottlenecks,” Fuh Wea-shyang (傅偉祥), deputy director-general Chuan Li Rice Cookie Food Co. is run by manager Chien Chih-yuan, right, his father, center, and younger brother, left. The Small Business Innovation Research program helps firms like Chuan Li break through development bottlenecks.
24 Taiwan Review May 2013
of the Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), says of the SBIR program. DOIT launched the SBIR program in 1999 to assist innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) like Wiltrom. In Taiwan, an SME is defined as an enterprise in the manufacturing sector with no more
than 200 employees or with capital of less than NT$80 million (US$2.8 million), or as one in the service sector possessing no more than 50 workers or generating no more than NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) in annual revenue. DOIT has commissioned the China Productivity Center, a Taipei-based organization that was founded in 1955 to offer management
advanced research work and funding if there’s a great opportunity to move forward and realize good profits,” Fuh says. “But if the proposed project is deemed unlikely to bear fruit, we’ll stop the subsidy and recommend the applicant come up with a new project. That also helps the enterprise because it can avoid the risk of making an additional investment in something that’s unworkable.” Subsidy applicants that have already performed their own preliminary research can skip phase 1 and enter the SBIR program at phase 2, in which the project is developed in detail. Subsidies are highest in phase 2, with those for individual SMEs capped at NT$10 million (US$345,000) and those for research alliances capped at NT$50 million (US$1.7 million). In phase 2-plus, research is conducted with the goal of enhancing the project’s applicability and commercialization.
Locals Know Best
The central government-backed SBIR program branched out in 2007 when it began to work with local governments to develop specific local economic sectors. “Local governments know best when it comes to economic development in their area, so they’re encouraged to join the program,” Fuh says. In joint efforts involving the central and local governments, the latter evaluate applications and are responsible for providing part of the subsidy, if one is awarded. In the first year of the local program, Tainan County, which merged into Tainan City in December 2010, was the only local government to participate in an SBIR project. By 2012, however, 17 local
Courtesy of Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs
advice to enterprises, to implement the SBIR program since 2008. Prior to that year, the program was run by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a government-sponsored research organization. Taking care of SMEs is crucial for Taiwan’s overall economic development, as such firms represent 97 percent of the 1.31 million companies operating in the country. Local SMEs account for about 71 percent of Taiwan’s total investment in research and development, with the government contributing 15 percent and large enterprises the remainder. Numerous conditions are attached to assistance offered through the SBIR scheme, however. To encourage participants to invest in their own research, for example, the subsidy provided cannot exceed half of the total funding needed to carry out a given project. Participants can include single SMEs or research alliances, which qualify to apply for the SBIR subsidy if more than half of the members are SMEs. The three-member alliance led by Wiltrom, for example, includes INTAI Technology Corp., a company based in Taichung, central Taiwan that manufactures precision medical products for international enterprises. Projects in the government program are categorized as belonging to one of three phases, with subsidies supplied accordingly. In phase 1, preliminary research is conducted to assess a project’s feasibility. The maximum SBIR subsidy provided during phase 1 for a single SME is capped at NT$1 million (US$33,300) and at NT$5 million (US$166,700) for an alliance. “In the beginning, we provide limited financial support to evaluate a project, but put in more in
Liang Huang-chien, general manager of Wiltrom Co., demonstrates how his company’s fusion and fixation system can be applied to correct spinal problems.
governments around Taiwan were taking part in such initiatives. Over the years the SBIR program has pumped a significant amount of funding into research work, as by 2012 the MOEA had allocated a total of NT$9.1 billion (US$314 million) for the program since its inception and local governments NT$328 million (US$11.3 million) since 2007. Those figures do not include the amount SMEs were required to invest Taiwan Review May 2013 25
Courtesy of Wiltrom Co.
Bone graft substitutes are another major business focus for Wiltrom. The company is a spin-off founded by three former members of the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
to qualify for a subsidy. In 2012, the SBIR program awarded NT$782 million (US$26.4 million) in subsidies to 729 SMEs, up from NT$180 million (US$5.6 million) shared by 78 businesses in 1999. 26 Taiwan Review May 2013
So far, 2009, the second year of the recent global recession, has seen the highest amount of SBIR subsidies. “During the downturn, we made a special attempt to encourage SMEs to take advantage of the slow business cycle to conduct research work and upgrade their operations,” Fuh says. In 2009, around 1,300 SMEs submitted applications for subsidies to the MOEA for evaluation,
with the central government agency approving 729 of the applications and earmarking NT$1.66 billion (US$57 million) for the projects. All of the figures for that year represent record highs. Wiltrom was founded at the end of 2009 in Hsinchu County, northern Taiwan as an ITRI spinoff. Wiltrom’s three founding members previously worked for ITRI’s BioMedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories, which gave the start-up a solid research foundation. That was important to the development of Wiltrom’s system, as it consists of a complex set of implants and devices that provide a minimally invasive surgical solution for patients suffering spinal problems like herniated discs. The SBIR program provided NT$4.5 million (US$142,000) to back Wiltrom’s effort to develop the spinal system, which was certified by the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health for use in the domestic market in March 2011. “For us, the SBIR program is about more than just financial aid. The sponsorship is like an endorsement from the government for our product, which could help reassure surgeons who’re thinking about using it,” Liang says. Because conventional spinal surgery carries the risk of serious complications including pain, spinal cord injury and the need for further surgery, Wiltrom’s minimally invasive approach offers an attractive alternative. “Surgeons usually hesitate about operating on patients aged 80 and over, who could be paralyzed or even die from bleeding,” he says. “But with our system, patients can get out of bed three days after the surgery.”
Courtesy of Wiltrom Co.
Courtesy of Wiltrom Co.
Fuh Wea-shyang, deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Technology, calls the SBIR program “a catalyst the government offers to businesses.”
and Liang notes that being able to cite the growing amount of domestic cases in which the device is used is helpful when he promotes it abroad. Although regulatory approval is still pending in the United States, Wiltrom has been promoting it there for more than a year in anticipation of tapping that large market. The company also has developed other products, notably bone graft substitutes, but it has particularly high hopes for long-term profits generated by the spinal system, the sales of which currently represent about half of Wiltrom’s annual revenue. The SBIR program has also assisted in the development of less high-tech—but no less innovative— SMEs such as Chuan Li Rice Cookie Food Co. After opening its doors in 1971, Chuan Li built a reputation for the baked goods sold at its shop in Keelung City, northern Taiwan. A milestone in the company’s development came in 2011, when Chuan Li won a prestigious iF Product Design Award from iF International Forum Design GmbH of Hannover, Germany for its Double Happiness Box, which holds rice cookies and
Wiltrom’s fusion and fixation system provides a minimally invasive surgical solution for spinal problems and has been used to treat more than 1,000 patients.
other traditional wedding gifts. “Small businesses usually lack funding for marketing,” says Chuan Li manager Chien Chih-yuan (簡志源). “So we’ve had to rely on word of mouth and other strategies like winning big awards to attract attention.” Chien worked as a real estate investment specialist in Taipei before returning to Keelung in 2001. His bakery is a family-operated business Wiltrom’s Liang, third right, helps promote his company’s products during a trip to Hungary earlier this year.
Courtesy of Wiltrom Co.
Liang says that as many countries are confronted with problems associated with an aging population, the global market for spinal treatment systems is growing at a phenomenal pace. At present, Taiwan is the largest market for Wiltrom’s system, followed by Vietnam. To date, more than 1,000 patients in Taiwan and Vietnam have been treated with Wiltrom’s spinal system,
Taiwan Review May 2013 27
Courtesy of Chuan Li Rice Cookie Food Co.
Chuan Li’s rice cookies come in more than 30 flavors.
that has gone through its share of ups and downs, and Chien’s father occasionally talked about closing it for about five years after Chien returned. Chien was initially hesitant to become involved in Chuan Li, but committed to taking over management in 2007, when the company began focusing on rice cookies, and since then he has been determined to expand the business. Chuan Li first benefited significantly from government assistance that same year, when Chien learned about branding and marketing strategies through his company’s involvement in the One Town One Product program implemented by the MOEA’s Small and Medium Business Administration. “Government programs have played a big role in the growth of my business,” Chien says. The food company was helped by a clearer branding and marketing strategy, but Chien’s ambitions remained. “I was thinking of 28 Taiwan Review May 2013
increasing production in order to explore export markets,” he says. The problem, however, was that making rice cookies by hand was costly and slow, so he began working with two small engineering firms in 2009 to develop a machine that could churn out a large amount of rice cookies in a short time. That was a challenging task, however, since existing automated equipment handled only the production of moist or liquid foods, not dry ones like rice cookies. The alliance was another beneficiary of the SBIR program, which offered subsidies and commissioned ITRI to cooperate in the development of the machine. Chien is grateful for the support Chuan Li received, saying “Without the SBIR program, we wouldn’t necessarily have engaged in such research work.” The project to design and build the machine began in October 2009 and ran through 2010. The total cost was NT$8 million (US$250,000), with the SBIR program providing more than NT$3 million (US$93,750) and Chuan Li and the engineering firms sharing the remainder. The machine was built and fine-tuned at Seng Din Industrial Co.—one of the two engineering companies involved—at its facility in New Taipei City and began operating at Chuan Li in early 2012. At present, however, the machine can only make shallot-flavored rice cookies, one of the 30-odd
flavors the company has developed, which means that Chuan Li’s goal of automating a significant percentage of its production has not been met. “Rice cookies with different ingredients vary in stickiness and firmness, and currently the machine is not versatile enough to process more than one item,” Chien explains. He admits that the development process has been more difficult than he had ever imagined, but says Chuan Li will keep investing in research and seeking advice from ITRI experts to improve the machine’s versatility. Chuan Li’s awardwinning Double Happiness Box (left) contains rice cookies and other traditional wedding gifts (below).
A Chuan Li employee shapes rice cookies by hand (above). Support from the SBIR program helped the company build a machine capable of mass-producing rice cookies (right), although its versatility is currently limited.
Courtesy of Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs
Despite the machine’s presently limited capacity, Chien is positive about the project’s value. “After all, we’ve still taken a big stride [with the creation of the machine]. We wouldn’t know how great the challenges of growing the company are if we hadn’t tried,” he says, adding that the two engineering companies also benefited from the program. “They’ve gained knowledge and accumulated research experience, which will help them when developing other food production equipment.” By acting as a catalyst in the development of firms like Wiltrom and Chuan Li, the SBIR program capitalizes on SMEs’ existing strengths and potential for growth. “People who work for SMEs are usually relatives, close friends, or teachers and students. It’s easy for them to communicate among themselves and that lets them make decisions quickly,” DOIT’s Fuh says of one of the many advantages of SMEs. “They also have a great passion for taking up challenges,” he says, adding that targeted, timely support
can help such firms develop into larger, stronger businesses.
Focusing on Innovation
With government financial assistance backing their ambition to stand out in the corporate world, SMEs like Wiltrom and Chuan Li are ready to create their own growth stories. “Taiwanese companies have been involved in the global medical implant industry for a long time, but up to now they’ve just been contract manufacturers,” says Wiltrom’s Liang, adding that his company seeks to break that cycle by focusing on innovation and branding, which bring higher profit margins. Though still a small business today, Wiltrom looks set to become another source of pride for ITRI, which has spawned more than 200 spin-off enterprises to date.
Chuan Li’s Chien also has big dreams for his family-operated business. “As a second-generation member of the shop, I feel my mission is to improve Chuan Li’s influence and prestige,” he says. With government assistance such as that provided by the SBIR program, Chien is closer to making that mission a success than n ever before.
Taiwan Review May 2013 29
BIOTECHNOLOGY
In Quest of Bountiful Harvests Taiwanese scientist Yu Su-may is working to develop rice varieties that can boost food supplies and thrive under the effects of climate change. BY KELLY HER
PHOTOS BY HUANG CHUNG-HSIN
F
ew people are likely to be more suited to their profession than Yu Su-may (余淑美), a plant molecular biologist who is working on an ambitious project that could reduce world hunger by vastly improving rice yields. On the one hand, Yu is a distinguished research fellow in the Institute of Molecular Biology at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s preeminent research
institution, and the leader of the country’s scientists who are participating in an international rice project. On the other, she is from a rural town in Taichung, central Taiwan and often helped her grandparents in the family’s rice paddies when she was a child. Those experiences give her an understanding of the hardships endured by farmers. “I saw how farmers had to
work hard to produce crops and only earned a meager income,” she says. “I also saw them coping with pathogens and insect pests and unfavorable weather. Those scenes have always lingered in my mind. My hope is that I can help them improve their yields and profits.” Researchers like Yu are concentrating their efforts on rice because
Plant molecular biologist Yu Su-may is participating in an international rice project aimed at developing high-yield rice varieties.
the grain is the primary dietary staple for more than half of the world’s population. Boosting rice yields would therefore have a dramatic impact on food security, which is emerging as one of the world’s most pressing concerns as fears over climate change mount. In the view of most climate researchers, rising temperatures are causing extreme weather events like droughts, floods and storms at the same time as they are shrinking supplies of fresh water and decreasing crop productivity, thereby driving up food prices. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established in the Philippines in 1960 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping rice farmers, consumers and the environment worldwide. In response to the rising concern over food security, in
2008 IRRI launched the C4 Rice Project, which is endeavoring to develop rice varieties that have higher photosynthesis efficiency in warm and dry climates by using a four-carbon acid cycle, thereby enhancing world rice productivity. Yu, the head of the Taiwanese team working on the project, and other researchers believe that in warm areas, growing C4 rice instead of conventional varieties would result in a production increase of 50 percent while requiring less water and fertilizer. About 96 percent of all plant species, including rice and wheat, have a three-carbon acid (C3) photosynthesis cycle, which means that they are able to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fix the molecule into three carbon acids. C4 plants comprise the remaining 4 percent of all plant species. They are better at carbon dioxide fixation in warm temperatures—and thus able to convert more carbon into new plant mass—because they have an additional four-carbon acid cycle. While they are few in number, C4 species include important semi-tropical and tropical food crops like corn, sorghum
and sugar cane. As most rice is grown in warm climates, IRRI scientists see obvious benefits in developing rice varieties with a C4 pathway. Researchers involved in the C4 Rice Project are well aware that converting a plant from a C3 cycle to a C4 cycle will not be easy to do, however, as it will involve manipulating genes to rearrange cellular structures and more efficiently express various enzymes related to the photosynthesis process. Yu’s team from Academia Sinica represents one of 17 research institutes worldwide working to identify the genetic factors that cause expression of the C4 cycle in plants. The British government, IRRI and the US-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have committed funding of US$14 million for the three-year second phase of C4 rice research that began in 2012. As a student, Yu channeled her affection and concern for rice farmers into her research. She majored in Current rice research at Academia Sinica is focused on developing new varieties that contain more nutrients, have higher yields and require less fertilizer and water.
Opposite: As rice feeds more than half the world’s population, increasing rice yields would substantially improve global food security.
Taiwan Review May 2013 31
32 Taiwan Review May 2013
Powerful Tool
When the complete genome for rice was released in 2004 by the Inter national Rice Genome Sequencing Project, researchers gained another powerful tool for analyzing and understanding the function of certain genes in rice as well as other monocot plants. Compared with other major crops such as corn and wheat, rice has a relatively small genome size of approximately 50,000 genes, Ku says, which is one reason it was sequenced before other cereal plants. With sequencing done, identifying the functions of all genes in
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A normal rice plant, left, and two dwarf varieties developed by Yu and her team
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Maurice Ku (古森本), a professor in the Department of Bioagricultural Science at National Chiayi University in southern Taiwan, credits Yu for her research, saying that her results have contributed significantly to technical advances in plant transformation. For a long time, researchers have used agrobacterium, a bacteria genus able to transfer its DNA to plants, as an easy, efficient and inexpensive method of genetically transforming plants, Ku says. Before Yu got involved, researchers had only used the agrobacterium technique successfully on dicotyledonous plants like tomatoes and tobacco, rather than important monocotyledons such as rice, corn and wheat. “Yu’s success in establishing rice transformation using agrobacterium [in 1993] was a big breakthrough and has changed the landscape of rice biotechnology,” Ku says. “That technology has since been adopted the world over and become very mature.” The Taiwanese group has contributed greatly to the C4 Rice Project through the Taiwan Rice
rtes
With genome sequencing completed, scientists are now working to identify the functions of rice genes.
Insertional Mutant (TRIM) database. The database was set up by Yu and other researchers at Academia Sinica to identify novel genes that activate structural and functional features such as those related to C4 photosynthesis. Over the last 10 years, Yu’s multidisciplinary team has identified approximately 100,000 independent mutant rice lines that exhibit either gene activation or “gene knockout,” a condition in which genes are inoperative. That effort has given TRIM one of the world’s largest rice mutant line libraries. Researchers can access the TRIM database by registering at http://trim.sinica.edu.tw.
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plant pathology in her undergraduate and master’s programs at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) in Taichung between 1971 and 1979 and received a doctoral degree in plant pathology and biology in 1984 at the University of Arkansas. From 1984 to 1987, she was a postdoctoral fellow at two institutions in the state of New York: the privately operated Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of Rochester’s Department of Biology. Next, in 1987 and 1988, she engaged in rice molecular biology research at Cornell University. Yu’s extensive academic background enabled her to begin a career as a plant molecular biologist, with emphasis on rice research, at Academia Sinica in 1989. Since then, her findings have resulted in 23 international patents for techniques that increase stress tolerance and yield in crops and precisely control which genes are expressed in genetically modified (GM) plants, among other things. Yu has garnered a long list of awards and honors at home and abroad for her decades-long dedication to plant research. Besides having won many eminent awards from Academia Sinica, the Ministry of Education and National Science Council, Yu was elected as a member of the Italy-based Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in 2005 and as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009. She received the Best Woman Scientist for Innovation Award from the Malaysia-based World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations in 2009 and gained the rank of academician at Academia Sinica, a lifetime honorary title, in 2012.
Yu’s decades of basic research have resulted in 23 international patents for techniques that increase stress tolerance and yield in crops.
the rice genome is the next major challenge for the scientific community, Ku says. TRIM is a valuable aid for that task, he adds, due to its information on specific gene activation or knockout. By examining the characteristics of a rice line in which a certain gene is known to be active, for example, scientists can begin to zero in on the function that gene controls. So far, researchers have identified the functions controlled
by less than 5 percent of the 50,000 genes in the rice genome. Such discoveries are timely, as the world’s population is projected to grow substantially from the current 7 billion to 9.5 billion by 2050, Ku says. That will trigger higher demand for food at the same time as climate change reduces supplies of arable farmland and water, leading to decreased food production. Given such conditions, Yu notes that researchers are currently endeavoring to develop new crop varieties that contain more nutrients, have larger yields, require less fertilizer and water,
resist pathogens and insects and tolerate cold, drought and salty soil. The goals are achievable through genetic transformation techniques including those being used to develop C4 rice, Yu says. “To meet future food needs, scientists worldwide are working to utilize biotechnology such as genetic engineering. The aim is to find solutions that raise agricultural productivity,” she says. The problem is that food products made from GM crops remain controversial for a variety of reasons. Around the world, concerns over GM crops largely center on their potential to cause allergic reactions in humans and the possibility of genetic contamination of non-GM species, Ku says. Economics also likely play a role in the resistance to GM foods. In Yu’s opinion, for example, the governments of many European countries ban the cultivation or importation of GM crops due to economic concerns, as cheap GM imports could affect the livelihood of local farmers. Chen Jen-pin (陳建斌), deputy director-general of the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Agriculture and Food Agency, says in addition to food safety concerns, controversies surrounding GM crops extend to their effect on the environment, the ethics of manipulating living organisms at such a fundamental level and their impact on international trade. Thus, Taiwan and many other countries remain very cautious about developing GM produce. Taiwan Review May 2013 33
Genetically modified rice plants are cultivated in a walk-in growth chamber that controls the variables of humidity, light and temperature for scientific research.
Due to such concerns, at present the COA prohibits local farmers from cultivating GM food crops, Chen says, adding that so far no country has approved commercial production and sales of GM rice. For the time being, the COA is focusing its genetic research efforts on non-food plants such as flowers. The agency’s Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute in Taichung, for example, is endeavoring to accelerate breeding cycles of certain plants by utilizing molecular markers to indicate useful genetic traits. While the COA bans commercial cultivation of GM food crops, researchers are still permitted to run field trials. Yu, for example, has been collaborating with NCHU on field trials of GM rice in Wufeng District in Taichung. Despite the concerns over GM crops, more are being planted every 34 Taiwan Review May 2013
year in countries that have embraced the technology, a list that includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, mainland China and the United States. Tallies compiled by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) show that a record 16.7 million farmers in 29 countries planted 160 million hectares of GM crops in 2011, compared with 1.7 million hectares in 1996. ISAAA, headquartered in the United States, is a nonprofit, industry and government-funded international organization that promotes the use of agricultural biotechnology, with a special focus on helping resource-poor farmers in developing countries. The GM crops produced by those farmers are finding their way to international markets. The Rainbow papaya, a GM variety developed to enhance the plant’s resistance to viruses, has been cultivated in Hawaii since 1998 and is consumed widely, Yu says. Japan, for example, gave the green light to GM papayas imported from Hawaii in December 2011 despite the country’s strict regulations
governing GM foods. Meanwhile, in the United States, many processed foods on supermarket shelves contain GM ingredients, mostly in the form of corn, soya and canola oil, she says. In fact, most Taiwanese people have already eaten GM foods, as more than 80 percent of soybeans imported into the country are genetically modified. Currently, the Department of Health permits imports of GM soybeans and corn, most of which come from the United States. As for health concerns, Yu says that GM foods are digested by the body in exactly the same way as other foods and leave no harmful accumulations. Meanwhile, she claims that there has not been a documented case anywhere in the world in which human health problems could be attributed to GM food since Monsanto, a US agricultural biotech company, began marketing the first GM insect-resistant corn in 1996. Yu notes that the development of transgenic insect-resistant crops, which have the ability to produce proteins that repel insects but do not
Courtesy of Yu Su-may
harm humans, reduce the amount of pesticide needed to produce quality crops. Using less pesticide has obvious benefits for human health and the environment as well as reduces production costs, she adds. Ku says that all GM food products are subject to comprehensive biosafety assessments and regulatory approval before they can enter the market in Taiwan and in most other countries. “It’s normal for people to have doubts, fears and concerns in response to any new technology. Given a few years of laboratory testing and educational campaigns, we can overcome the public’s skepticism about GM organisms,” he says. It should be noted, however, that some researchers remain unconvinced of the safety of GM food. Scientists in France, Scotland and the United States, for example, have published research or given interviews questioning the effects of GM crops on health or the environment. Their findings proved controversial in each case, although GM opponents quickly blamed that backlash on corporations invested in introducing such crops. Most scientists who have studied the subject back the safety of GM food, although a reputable minority continues to call for more extensive testing. Concerns over GM species contaminating
GM rice grows at an experimental farm owned by National Chung Hsing University in Wufeng District in Taichung, central Taiwan. Yu cooperates with NCHU to run GM rice field trials.
other species via pollen dispersal can be addressed through proper management techniques like planting GM crops in greenhouses or in specific areas surrounded by pollen barriers, Yu says. Ku adds that isolation distances, or spaces separating GM and conventional or organic crops, are used by several countries to prevent cross-fertilization.
Upstream Patents
Yu says given the increasing acceptance of such crops around the world, Taiwan’s ban on commercial production puts the nation’s biotechnology sector at a disadvantage. Instead of being able to sell her GM patents to local companies, for example, Yu had no choice but to offer them to foreign biotech firms, which are able to put them to use. “Patents play a vital role in biotechnology,” she says. “And genetic engineering has been a major part of agricultural biotechnology. The sooner we make inroads in the field, the better our chances of holding upstream patents will be. Taiwan can’t simply adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Otherwise, it’ll be too late to catch up.” Yu’s rural upbringing gave her an appreciation of the ephemeral beauty of rice paddies, which turn emerald green or golden yellow depending on the season. It also gives her a good feeling for the wider impact of a declining agricultural sector. “I can’t imagine how dull the world would become if all the picturesque rice fields are replaced by houses, factories and roads. I’m sad to say they’re already disappearing.” To prevent that trend from accelerating, Yu manages to find time in her busy research schedule to give public lectures explaining the qualities and
A research assistant at Academia Sinica displays genetically modified seeds. The Taiwan Rice Insertional Mutant database established by Yu and other researchers is a key repository of information on mutant rice lines.
advantages of GM crops. “Farmers are willing to cultivate any crop as long as it’s safe and sells well,” she says. “There’s a place for GM products because they can be mass-produced and are safe to eat and cheaper to buy. What’s needed is more dissemination of information about GM foods and more education, which will increase public acceptance.” “Biotechnology is the key to upgrading crop production and agriculture as a whole,” Yu says. “Taiwan needs to act more aggressively to integrate high technology into conventional breeding in order to boost its international competitiveness and contribute to global food supplies.” For his part, Ku sees GM crops as inevitable. “It’s the way to go and an international trend,” he says. “The acceptance of genetically modified organisms is just a matter of time.” n Taiwan Review May 2013 35
ECOLOGY Central News Agency
Snakes on a Plain Researchers are focused on finding ways to help humans and snakes coexist. BY TIMOTHY FERRY
36 Taiwan Review May 2013
P
Copyright © 2013 by Timothy Ferry Opposite: The hundred pacer snake takes its name from the legend that victims of its bite can walk only 100 steps before dropping dead.
lethal bites. Of those dangerous snakes, some of which can be found on land and others in the sea, six are considered clinically important due to the toxicity of their venom, aggressive behavior or relative abundance. Mao’s team will milk the habu’s venom and deliver the substance to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This innovative collaboration has been in place since 2009 and Mao’s team usually exceeds the CDC’s annual venom requirements,
Kurtis Pei (裴家騏), a professor of wildlife ecology and dean of the College of International Studies at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), says that Taiwan’s CDC had long kept captive populations of venomous snakes to create antivenin, but maintaining the animals proved costly and difficult. Pei, who taught Mao when the latter was an undergraduate at NPUST, says that the CDC lacked the expertise needed to keep snakes alive in captivity. “They couldn’t maintain a healthy population,” he observes. He says that the CDC also took in snakes captured by local firefighters, who are usually the first responders in humansnake conflicts, but these snakes “usually [had] a short life span of one to three months. [The CDC] was constantly needing to receive new snakes.” This put the government agency in the awkward position of being involved in the deaths of protected species, a category to which most of Taiwan’s venomous snakes belong. The CDC called in Mao and Pei as consultants as it endeavored to find a way to prevent the death of more snakes while ensuring sufficient supplies of antivenin. In 2009, the CDC decided to outsource parts of the antivenin production process. While CDC labs still produce the end product, county firefighters collect the wild snakes, Mao and NIU provide the milked venom and NPUST manages the horses and sheep. NIU is now the CDC’s primary supplier of venom from all six clinically important venomous snake species in Taiwan. Timothy Ferry
rofessor Jay Mao (毛俊傑), herpetologist and head of National Ilan University’s (NIU) Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, holds a newly captured snake gingerly in a mesh sack. The snake, a highly venomous pit viper known as a habu, glares balefully at its captor, a meter or more of coiled fury with glittering eyes in a triangular head. The snake has come to Mao’s laboratory by way of county firefighters, who were called in to remove the reptile from an area residence—a common enough occurrence in rural Yilan County, northern Taiwan. By standing agreement, the snake was then transferred to Mao’s lab at NIU. The habu certainly seems unhappy at this turn of events, but it is actually poised to make significant contributions to health and science. First, the snake will be measured, weighed and otherwise scrutinized, a process that will provide valuable data for researchers and students at the university. More importantly, the habu will also contribute venom for the creation of antivenin— the most effective treatment for poisonous snake bites. Taiwan has more than 50 different snake species ranging from massive Burmese pythons to tiny blind creatures just 18 centimeters long. Most are non-venomous and pose no threat to humans, but Taiwan is also home to at least 10 species that are capable of delivering
Professor Jay Mao displays a venomous Taiwan habu at his lab at National Ilan University. The snake will be inspected by Mao’s graduate students, milked for venom and released into the wild.
sometimes many times over. Obtaining a year’s supply of habu antivenin entails 400 venom milkings, Mao says. The CDC program makes Taiwan one of only a handful of countries to engage in antivenin production, a complex procedure in which horses or sheep are injected with tiny doses of a specific snake venom. The donor animals then create antibodies, which are extracted after a few months and become the basis for the antivenin used in the treatment of snake bites.
Taiwan Review May 2013 37
File Photo
much of rural Yilan County also provide a source of heat for these cold-blooded creatures, making such homes an irresistible resting place on chilly nights. “If you provide prey for them here [in rice paddies] and heat resources there [in concrete homes], then snakes will congregate in these areas,” Mao says.
Catch and Release
A technician milks snake venom. Producing a year’s supply of antivenin to treat habu bites, for example, can require 400 milkings.
38 Taiwan Review May 2013
A tiny dose of snake venom is injected into a horse, which will create antibodies used in antivenin production. Root Tang
After the venom is collected, Mao’s graduate students return the snakes to their natural habitat. “We are trying to reduce the number of snakes in captivity,” he says. Whether as a result of that effort or other factors, researchers have noted that some snake populations have risen in recent years. In fact, Mao’s research indicates that many of Taiwan’s most venomous snakes actually thrive in close proximity to human development. Rice paddies, with their large populations of fish and amphibians, provide excellent hunting terrain for manybanded kraits and Chinese cobras, while habu thrive on farmland and in low-density residential areas. Mao’s data indicates that areas with a population density of around 3,000 people per square kilometer are an ideal habitat for many snake species. Meanwhile, the freestanding concrete houses that characterize
It is no surprise, therefore, that snakes are often found in Yilan’s freestanding homes. Mao’s researchers work closely with county firefighters, training them how to more effectively and humanely remove the creatures from such residences. The result is that firefighters are now able to catch snakes without harm and house them safely at fire stations until NIU researchers can collect them. The big Taiwan habu in Mao’s mesh sack and two smaller members of the same species in Mao’s lab, for example, were captured in houses or buildings, then held at area firehouses until the NIU collectors could make their weekly rounds. “Three [habu] is a typical number,” Mao says, adding that his researchers retrieve more in some weeks. In 2012, Yilan firefighters captured 121 Taiwan habu, all of which ended up at Mao’s labs for examination. After that, the animals were either released into the wild or, if release was not possible for various reasons, retained in the lab. Not all of the snakes captured by county firefighters are dangerous, but of the total of 1,100 snakes captured in 2012, 90 were many-banded kraits, one of the world’s most venomous snakes, and 47 were Chinese cobras. The treatment venomous snakes now receive while being captured or
kept in local fire stations stands in stark contrast to past years, when snakecatching tools included long-handled scissors-like instruments with vicious serrated blades that often crushed a snake’s vertebrae or killed them outright. “Before our training, [firefighters] preferred to use fire to push the snakes out, or streams of water to wash them out,” Mao says. Problems for the snakes did not end with capture, either, as firefighters ignorant of snake biology or behavior would sometimes put different species together in the same holding bin, which generally resulted in dead snakes. Today, with imported equipment provided by the Yilan County Government and training from NIU, firefighters are far more adept at handling snakes safely and humanely. Mao says the response to the program has been good, particularly among younger firefighters. “We have a very good relationship with every fire station,” he says. The cooperative effort benefits all parties involved. Yilan’s firefighters gain the necessary training and equipment they need to do their jobs more effectively, allowing them to dispose of a prickly problem with little fuss. In turn, NIU gains access to vital research
Courtesy of Tu Ming-chung
Professor Tu Ming-chung displays a venomous sea krait.
Minimizing Conflicts
Surging development in rural counties such as Yilan means that more people are living in areas that were once the exclusive domain of Taiwan’s wildlife, including its venomous snakes, leading to more human-snake confrontations. Mao says one way to minimize conflicts
with snakes and other wildlife is to concentrate homes in smaller areas, while leaving larger surrounding areas undeveloped. The plains of Yilan, like the western plains of Taiwan, are characterized by a repeating pattern of homes surrounded by fields and rice paddies, resulting in a patchwork that provides ideal habitat for snakes—and human-snake confrontations. “We must rearrange our land development and push all of the houses together to keep the larger environment open,” Mao says. Also essential is raising awareness of the vital role venomous and nonvenomous snakes play as some of the top predators in local ecosystems. Mao’s research demonstrates, for example, that snakes are essential to keeping rat and other disease-carrying vermin populations in check. Many snake species consume 20 to 30 percent of their body mass each week in rats, with some individuals devouring The highly venomous Hatori’s coral snake is a protected species rarely encountered by humans. Courtesy of Taroko National Park
subjects and data, which, as Mao says, helps researchers “better understand our biological resources and monitor different locations.” For its part, the CDC obtains a regular supply of venom to treat snakebite victims. Snake venom is a potent cocktail of toxic proteins that work on the victim’s heart and bloodstream in the case of hemotoxins, or on the brain and nervous system in the case of neurotoxins. Some snakes produce both kinds of venom, which they generally store in their cheeks and inject into the victim through hollow, hypodermic-like fangs. Sometimes the potency of the venom can be mitigated by either the physiology or behavior of the snake. If a snake strikes to defend itself as opposed to hunting, for example, the bite may not release any venom at all. In the case of the many-banded krait, which has extremely dangerous neurotoxic venom, the animal is generally considered docile and has short fangs that actually inject very little venom into the victim. On the other hand, the hemotoxic venom of the Taiwan habu is less deadly, but the snake is
notoriously aggressive and has long fangs that inject up to 200 milligrams into a victim, causing great pain and damage to blood cells and organs. “The importance of milking snakes for venom and the resulting production of antivenin cannot be underestimated,” says Hans Breuer, a German translator and amateur herpetologist who formerly lived in Taiwan and, along with expatriate Bill Murphy of the United States, created the website Snakes of Taiwan. “As small as it is, Taiwan is one of the very few countries that actually produce their own antivenin. No mean feat,” he says, referring to the laboratories, livestock and snake venom required to make that substance.
Taiwan Review May 2013 39
as much as four times their body mass weekly, which means that a lot of rats get eaten. “If you catch too many snakes, you will increase the population of rats … and the trans-species disease problem,” Mao says. Because snakes
hile snake researchers are quick to defend their oftmaligned subjects as apex predators essential to keeping rat and other vermin populations in check, even they admit the danger posed by Taiwan’s six most venomous snake species. These are the “scary six,” the local venomous snakes that are considered clinically important by dint of the toxicity of their venom, potential for biting and relative abundance.
Gauss Shang
Chinese habu; Protobothrops mucrosquamatus) This snake is considered highly venomous and reaches a maximum length of 150 centimeters. It is fairly common throughout Taiwan. Hans Breuer, co-creator of the Snakes of Taiwan website, says, “The hemotoxic venom of the Taiwan habu is less deadly than others, but the snake is notoriously aggressive.” In rural Taiwan, he says, “even the smallest medical facility carries habu antivenin.” 40 Taiwan Review May 2013
q Hundred-pacer
Hsueh Chi-kuang
p Taiwan habu (aka
(aka Chinese moccasin and Chinese sharp-nosed viper; Deinagkistrodon acutus) The hundred-pacer is the poster child of venomous snakes in Taiwan. Worshiped by aboriginal tribes and hunted to near extinction for its flesh, this medium-sized (up to 150 centimeters), highly venomous snake gets its name from the legend that victims of its bite can walk only 100 steps before dropping dead. This is hyperbole, but only just. “This species is rightly considered dangerous, and fatalities are not unusual,” Breuer says. Hundred-pacers are now rare, occupying wild areas of central and southern Taiwan at altitudes of 500– 1,500 meters.
Tu Ming-chung (杜銘章), a herpetologist and professor in the Department of Life Science at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, backs Mao’s assessment, noting that rats are carriers of a number of potentially lethal diseases including hantavirus. Snakes provide an effective way to limit rat populations, he says.
Root Tang
The Scary Six W
are reptiles, and thus have a physiology that differs greatly from that of mammals, there is almost no chance that they will transfer diseases to humans. Rats, on the other hand, are strong vectors for diseases. “Snakes are a good service animal,” Mao says, adding that the data his team is gathering will “help people understand the role of snakes.”
p Chinese cobra (Naja atra)
Many people find it difficult to imagine that 2-meter-long, highly venomous cobras are actually fairly common in Taiwan. Farmers in southern and eastern Taiwan know otherwise, however, as they often must deal with the creatures, which thrive in farmland environments. Breuer notes these magnificent animals have both neurotoxic and hemotoxic venom, which means that untreated bites can be lethal. Fortunately, locally produced antivenin is widely available. krait (Bungarus multicinctus) According to Breuer, this highly venomous snake “produces the most powerful venom of any terrestrial snake outside Australia.” It is little surprise, then, that mortality rates for victims who do not receive antivenin
q Many-banded
says, adding that researchers are also looking into using venom in treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Despite the useful roles snakes play in the ecosystem and in treating disease, most older children and adults still fear snakes, especially venomous ones. Changing that reaction is
are as high as 85 percent. These snakes rarely bite, however, as their first impulse is to flee from confrontation. Many-banded kraits grow to a maximum length of 180 centimeters and are considered common throughout Taiwan below 1,000 meters.
bite can result in an ugly wound that can take months to heal. The bamboo viper is the only venomous snake not protected by law in Taiwan. While the snakes are fairly common on low-elevation hillsides in Taiwan, they are infrequent visitors in homes, as they prefer to avoid human habitation. To collect venom, Mao therefore traps bamboo vipers in NIU’s experimental forest rather than relies on receiving specimens captured by firefighters, as he does with all other venomous snakes.
Gauss Shang
Tu also underscores the utility of venom. “Snake venom is so complex—it has all kinds of functions,” he observes, as the substance is a key raw material used to produce a number of potent medications that treat everything from heart attacks to high blood pressure. “That’s why the snake is the medical symbol around the world,” he
Gauss Shang
q Bamboo viper (aka Chinese green
tree viper; Viridovipera stejnegeri) So many naturalists who do field research report being bitten by this common viper that it is almost a rite of passage in the profession. This small tree viper grows to a length of about 90 centimeters. While not lethal, if left untreated its venomous Hans Breuer
viper (Daboia russellii siamensis) This highly venomous snake has a maximum length of 128 centimeters and lives at elevations of up to 500 meters in a very small area of southern Taiwan. Because it is so rarely encountered, the Russell’s viper is often not included in lists of clinically important venomous snakes. —Timothy Ferry
p Russell’s
difficult, Tu concedes, as people seem to fear snakes in almost every culture worldwide. Tu’s research in Taiwan and the United States indicates, however, that children younger than 4 years old are not afraid of snakes, dispelling the notion that humans have an instinctual aversion to the animals. Instead, the fear is grounded in culture, he says, citing the Bible’s portrayal of the snake in the Garden of Eden as well as Chinese myths that cast snakes in a bad light. This year, for example, is the Year of the Snake according to the Chinese zodiac, and superstition holds that such years are more prone to bringing misfortune. When not busy with his university duties, Tu visits elementary schools around Taiwan to dispel students’ fear of snakes. During his visits, Tu talks about the need for conserving snakes and provides living examples for the children to touch. “Once they touch a snake, they can see it’s very different than they expect,” he says, as the reptiles are not slimy, as many assume. This is the first step in the process of persuading students that many snakes “are not so terrible and are actually quite docile.” The fear of snakes remains strong in Taiwan, however, despite the country’s great strides in environmental consciousness and conservation. “After 30 years, there’s been big progress, but not when it comes to snakes, especially venomous snakes,” Tu says. In fact, that sense of unfairness led him to make snakes the focus of his career. “Snakes are the only animals surrounded by so much misleading information,” he says. “Somebody needs to say something for them.” n Timothy Ferry is a writer based in Taipei. Taiwan Review May 2013 41
PAINTING
Representing the Enchantment of Taiwan Acclaimed artist Lin Hsin-yueh blends life lessons with images of natural beauty. BY KELLY HER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TAIPEI FINE ARTS MUSEUM
W
hen looking back on his life, 74-year-old Lin Hsinyueh (林惺嶽) has many stories to tell. His father, a sculptor, died before he was born and his mother passed away when he was 6 years old. Lin was first forced to live with relatives he describes as “uncaring” and then in an orphanage. Life was harsh, but the child found comfort in drawing. “As a boy, I was determined to become an artist as I had a keen interest in painting and regarded it as a spiritual sanctuary,” Lin says. “I felt even more motivated to pursue the goal when I found out that my father was an artist, and wanted to continue the life that my father had missed out on.” Lin gained admission to the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei in 1961, where he received professional arts training. Besides developing his painting skills, Lin read extensively in history, philosophy, 42 Taiwan Review May 2013
psychology and sociology, and was particularly fascinated with Sigmund Freud’s theory on dreams as representations of unconscious desires. In 1975, the painter went to Spain for advanced studies in Western art and while there got to witness the country’s transition to democracy, in contrast to the situation in Taiwan, which was under martial law at the time. In 1978, he planned an art exhibition to
showcase famous Spanish paintings in Taipei and made a trip back to Taiwan to begin arrangements for it. It happened that the airplane Lin took strayed into the airspace of the former Soviet Union and was attacked by fighter jets from that country, but fortunately was able to make an emergency landing on a frozen lake. Being thankful to have survived the terrifying incident, he began to meditate on the
Chang Su-ching Chang Su-ching
Lin Hsin-yueh is regarded as one of the most dynamic and influential figures in Taiwan’s art community (above). Two young visitors to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum sit before Exquisite Beauty (left), a large painting created by Lin.
unpredictability of life and social responsibility of an artist. All the difficulties Lin has gone through beginning from a very young age, together with his exploration of a wide range of subjects in the humanities, have influenced his painting as well as his writings on Taiwanese art, culture and society. In the process, he has
become one of the most authoritative and dynamic figures in the local art community over the years, not only as a painter and educator, but also as an art, social and cultural critic. In addition to artistic creations, Lin has published numerous articles, papers and books including The History of One Hundred Years of Chinese Oil Painting: The Great Epic of Art in the 20th Century, Art in Wars: Witnessing the History of Suffering and Portraits of Artists. In recognition of Lin’s multiple achievements and influence on modern Taiwanese art, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) has organized a major solo retrospective exhibition titled Lin Hsin-yueh: Enchanting Taiwan. The event, which began in early February and runs until May 5 this year, displays 137 artworks and many published works written by Lin from the mid-1960s to 2012. Taiwan Review May 2013 43
Among them, four large-sized paintings—Jhuoshuei River (1992), Blessed Hualien (2010), Formosan Landlocked Salmon (2011) and Glory of the God Tree Forest (2012)—have been publicly unveiled for the first time. Huang Hai-ming (黃海鳴), director of TFAM, says Lin’s artistic concepts, eloquence, enthusiasm and talent have enabled him to gain considerable attention and authority in Taiwan’s art circle. “Lin’s broad vision, confrontational realism and keen insights—both reflective and critical, and evidenced by his expressive paintings—have been constructed on the basis of historical awareness,” Huang says. “One could say his art and ideas are thoroughly imbued with the history of Taiwan.” After graduating from NTNU in the mid-1960s, Lin created works filled with a sense of mystery and solitude in a surrealist style. By the 1980s, however, his paintings had become more realistic, with the subject matter focusing on local landscapes, Huang says. These later works in particular convey Lin’s passion for his native land, the director says. Numerous works featuring the Zhuoshui River (also spelled “Jhuoshuei”), for example, reveal his nativism. The images of Taiwan’s longest river, which runs through the central part of the island along wide beds of rounded boulders, explore the inherent vitality of nature and deeper ideas about the spirit of the land. Liu Yung-jen (劉永仁), the curator of the TFAM exhibition, says planning the event was quite a challenge given that as an active and senior artist, Lin has built up a copious collection of Towards the Moon Oil on canvas, 1975 112 x 145 cm
44 Taiwan Review May 2013
paintings and publications in his body of work over time. The curator’s task was to present a selection of Lin’s artistic and other works that was at once comprehensive and coherent.
Depth of Career
To do so, the show has been structured into three parts: artworks best representing Lin’s various phases (including watercolors from 1964 and oils from 1969); papers by or about the artist including a biographical timeline; and a documentary film on Lin, The Boundless River, produced by Taiwan Public Television Service in 2010. The presentation of many of Lin’s epic paintings along with his written works
Lin paints Glory of the God Tree Forest, which stands more than 3 meters high, from an elevated work platform.
is intended to convey multiple dimensions of his artistic career. “Artists in general are adept at creating visually expressive forms, but few like Lin have good writing skills as well. Moreover, with his assiduous efforts, he has been one of the most prolific painters and writers of all time,” Liu says. “It is hoped that the exhibition can help members of the public appreciate Lin’s superb artwork and inspire young artists.” Tsai Chao-yi (蔡昭儀), a researcher at the National Taiwan Museum of
Fine Arts in Taichung, central Taiwan, says that the 20th century was the most turbulent period in Taiwan’s history, as it included the change from Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945) to the Nationalist government in 1945, and subsequently the beginning of 38 years of martial law in 1949. Lin, who was
born in 1939, experienced these historical transitions, with the changes shaping the unique qualities of his paintings. One of Lin’s most important works of art, the 1998 creation Returning Home, for example, depicts a school of salmon swimming up the Adams River in Canada to spawn
The Period of Martial Law Oil on canvas, 1996 182 x 259 cm
(where they will lay eggs and die). The artist, Tsai says, intends to make an analogy between the fish’s arduous journey from the sea and the return of Taiwanese dissidents from abroad after martial law ended in 1987, even though they still risked incarceration. “Lin’s portrayal of the salmon’s instinctive struggle against the currents suggests the tenacity of life and an unyielding spirit,” the researcher says. “It also implies people’s identification with the land, the tracing of history and an exploration of the cause and significance of returning to the motherland.” White Grove Oil on canvas, 1975 112 x 145.5 cm
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Creating images to illustrate issues such as authority, nationalism, the search for identity and historical memory is a difficult task. Nevertheless, Lin’s varied life experiences and penetrating vision into the real nature of things have enabled him to excel at such thematic expressions, Tsai says. In recent years, Lin has made a new attempt to use landscapes as a means of interpreting the spirit of Taiwan. “The uniqueness of Lin’s paintings lies in his dreamscapes that combine reality and imagination, promote spiritual belonging and present the beauty of nature,” Tsai says. “By painting landscapes in a representational style, Lin shows us his state of mind and perhaps unconsciously draws on his childhood memories of playing in nature.” TFAM curator Liu says Lin’s art in the 1970s was characterized by its emotional atmosphere. The acerbic, bleak, dreamlike, mysterious and Blessed Hualien Oil on canvas, 2010 218 x 654 cm
46 Taiwan Review May 2013
somber images of fish bones, ruins and withered trees along ocean shores, in forests or at abandoned sites that dominated Lin’s work at the time lend themselves to a surrealistic approach. The artist’s subject matter began to change in the 1980s, however, as brighter images that featured the natural environment started appearing on his canvases, Liu says. Since the mid1980s, the painter has been especially enamored with Taiwan’s high mountains, green plains and streams.
Nature and Imagination
“Lin goes out to observe nature and returns to his studio to work on the composition based on the elements he has gathered [outside] together with his own comprehension and interpretation, rather than copying nature exactly and passively,” Liu says. “That’s why his landscape paintings, a synthesis of objective reality and subjective understanding, appear unique and innovative.” In the meantime, it seems that Lin has become less critical, more modest and increasingly concerned about
the land of his native country as he grows older, Liu says, adding that these changes have consequently affected his artistic style. “Lin has endeavored to use a visual language to express Taiwanese identity. His interpretations of Taiwan’s natural scenery as the vehicle of national consciousness are vivid,” Liu says. “Plus, his attempts to create larger works of art to demonstrate the magnificence of Taiwan’s landscapes are admirable as such undertakings call for exceptional technique, physical strength and a strong will.” Lin’s paintings of forests, fruit and rivers are also images that the average person can relate to and enjoy. The expression of concrete subject matter, particularly that native to Taiwan, contributes to the popularity of his artwork, Liu says. In examining his own art practice, Lin admits that his life experiences have had a substantial impact on his perspective on life and art. An impoverished background, a near-fatal aircraft incident and the depressed times when Taiwan was under martial law, followed by the island’s
political and social transformations to democracy and openness since the late 1980s, each has left its mark. Yet painting has always allowed Lin an emotional release and the free rein of his imagination. Local artists, Lin opines, need to think independently and create pieces based on their own observations, feelings and experiences, rather than through others’ eyes or by following foreign trends. In addition, artists should play a bigger role in constructively criticizing the ills of society, while highlighting its good points. On his travels through several of Taiwan’s national parks, Lin says he has been touched by the majesty of lofty mountains and the serenity of secluded streams with an abundance of splendid fish. The dynamic force of nature instills in him a sense of reverence and inner peace, and serves as an important source of inspiration for his artistic creations.
Taiwan’s Beauty
Such scenes are illustrated in his works. These include images of rural Hualien in eastern Taiwan, the giant trees of Qilan Forest Recreation Area in Yilan, northeastern Taiwan, the Formosan landlocked salmon, an endangered species endemic to Taiwan, the Zhuoshui River and locally produced fruit including guavas and mangoes. “Moving from surrealist introspection and meditation back to [a
realistic] representation of nature liberates me from the distraction of artrelated theories and allows me a free hand to express the wonder of the natural world,” Lin says. “Plus, by featuring local landscapes and specialties, we can establish distinct characteristics in our art. I believe that localization is one of the means for gaining international attention.” In recent years, Lin says he has been drawn to capture images of Taiwan’s natural beauty and hopes his
Jhuoshuei River Oil on canvas, 1992 248.5 x 518 cm
work can highlight the importance of environmental conservation. “At this age, the eye of my soul is open and I have better ideas and techniques for creating art,” he adds. In 2008, however, life dealt the painter another hard blow. Lin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, an incurable condition which causes tremors and unsteadiness. “I was extremely shocked and distressed upon hearing the diagnosis. I thought to myself that I had two choices—retirement or making a last-ditch effort to create larger-scaled artwork, using my will to fight against fate,” he says.
Formosan Landlocked Salmon Oil on canvas, 2011 160 cm x 12 m
Lin has opted to continue his artistic creations, since then having completed several of the oversized paintings that appeared at the TFAM show. In 2011, for instance, he worked eight hours a day for about five months to complete Formosan Landlocked Salmon, a work that stands 1.6 meters high and measures more than 12 meters long. For Glory of the God Tree Forest, which is more than 3 meters high and 6 meters long, he painted from an elevated work platform. The artist says he takes medication to control symptoms of the disease such as muscle weakness, but still sometimes needs to use his left hand to support his right hand in order to draw on a canvas. “It’s indeed a strenuous process, but I obtain immense gratification when I complete a large work of art. I feel grateful to be able to produce big paintings and hold a largescale exhibition at my advanced age.” “My declining health does not snuff out my ambition and enthusiasm. Though I don’t know how much longer I can work on art, I’ll keep at it until my last breath as there are still plenty of local landscapes that I would like to paint,” Lin says. “Working toward a goal, or an ideal gives one a sense of happiness. That’s also where the meaning of life lies.” n Taiwan Review May 2013 47
CULTURE
In an Oyster Shell A craft group is bringing new life to the coastal community of Wanggong. BY JIM HWANG
PHOTOS BY HUANG CHUNG-HSIN
F
or 300 years, residents around Wanggong Fishing Port in Fangyuan Township, Chang hua County in central Taiwan have made a living by farming oysters. Each year, they produce approximately 35,000 metric tons of oysters from the 3,000 hectares of oyster beds in a tidal area where the county meets the Taiwan Strait. Since oysters in Taiwan are mainly sold for their flesh, the harvests 48 Taiwan Review May 2013
are taken to the village, where they are shucked, mostly by local women, before they are shipped to seafood markets around the island. Statistics from the Council of Agriculture show that Wanggong, with an annual production value of NT$400 million (US$13 million), is one of Taiwan’s largest oyster producers. While the oyster trade is the way most Wanggong residents earn their
The Lucky Chicken, which is covered with thousands of oyster shells representing feathers, catches tourists’ attention at the entrance of Wanggong Fishing Port.
living, the shells have been a major problem. A small part of the 20,000 metric tons of oyster shells produced in Wanggong every year is used to breed the next generation of oysters. Some of the shells are sold at dirt-cheap prices
Professional art training enables Yu Chi to create unique artworks, but such pieces are too complex for most untrained workers to duplicate.
to factories, where they are ground into powder and mixed with fertilizer or construction materials, but most are dumped in nearby open areas. In the past decade or so, however, visitors to Wanggong have found that local people are putting oyster shells to new use by crafting them into ornaments and other souvenirs. Local resident Yu Chi (余季) is credited with developing the craft. Born in Wanggong in 1952, Yu left his hometown after completing his junior high school education. The young man had a passion for art and entered the National Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) in New Taipei City, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Western painting. The pursuit of art gave way to the practicalities of earning a
living after his graduation, however. Yu worked as a magazine editor and a theater group manager before he entered the real-estate business as a land developer operating in Taiwan, mainland China and New York City. Business was good, but in 1997, Yu decided to return to Wanggong with his wife Liang Feng-rong (梁鳳蓉). “My father was elderly and suffering from diabetes, so I thought I could keep him company for a few years,” he says. The couple, while taking care of Yu’s father, also ran the family’s grocery store, which is just a fiveminute walk from the port. Life at Wanggong did not take much getting used to for Yu, but it was a problem for Liang, who had worked as an operating theater nurse at Taipei City’s Tri-Service General Hospital before following her husband to Wanggong. “Moving from a city that never sleeps to a small village where everything became quiet after sunset was a huge change,” Liang says. “For more than a year, before I finally adjusted to the environment, I wondered if I was suffering extreme depression.” As she saw it, Wanggong
was simply a remote fishing port that smelled bad and did not even have a public library. Liang’s observation was not far from the truth, as oyster farming is a tough, smelly job with an unstable income, and most young people leave the town for other jobs. The remaining population is composed mostly of elderly people and children. Of the working-age men who still live there, many are married to immigrant spouses, since few Taiwanese women want to live in the rural town.
Eye on Community
Yu’s father passed away five years after Yu returned to Wanggong, but instead of following their original plan to return to a big city, the couple decided to stay. “I guess after five years, we were quite used to the simple lifestyle here and started to appreciate it,” Liang says. Meanwhile, they started to put time into community development projects supported Yu Chi’s main goal in producing oyster shell artworks is to create more local jobs rather than high profits.
Taiwan Review May 2013 49
Human Figurine by Yu Chi. The work is made from paper clay, oyster shells and a piece of driftwood collected from the beach at Wanggong.
50 Taiwan Review May 2013
by various government schemes aimed at helping rural communities make the best use of local resources. With his experience in organizing commercial activities, Yu came up with the idea of promoting tourism to Wanggong based on oyster cuisine. The project did attract some tourists, but was helpful only to those who run restaurants on Wanggong’s main street. “Tourists came, ate and went,” Yu says. “Wanggong left little more of an impression than that of a place for some oyster dishes.” In fact, a large number of the residents were reluctant to promote Wanggong, and thought of the traffic and congestion brought by tourists on holidays and weekends as just interruptions to their daily routine. “A key element for any community empowerment project is to get the residents involved,” Yu says. “Obviously, we didn’t have enough support because people didn’t want to change the way they and their forebears had lived for the past several centuries.”
Oyster Culture
Disappointed but not discouraged, the couple decided to give local development another try from a cultural angle. Yu notes that Wanggong is all about oysters, so there is no doubt that it has an “oyster culture,” though even Wanggong residents see farming the creatures as a business rather than a way of life. The challenge was to find a way for visitors as well as locals to recognize Wanggong’s oyster farming as a unique aspect of local culture that should be valued as more than just a source of seafood. As an outsider, Liang says she was better able to think about the village outside the box. One of the
things she first considered was how to make use of the piles of oyster shells. “They may be of little value from a business viewpoint,” she says. “But if you see oyster farming as a culture, the shells are definitely part of it.” Thinking of the many souvenirs made of seashells she had seen, Liang asked Yu if he could turn oyster shells into some kind of handicraft. Yu’s answer, however, was not very encouraging. “The problem was that oyster shells are not beautiful shells,” he says. “If you ask me, they are probably among the ugliest of all seashells.” Still, Yu eventually bought some paper clay, or clay to which paper fibers have been added, and gave it a try, soon coming up with several models. Yu’s first works were figurines of some of the elderly people who would gather and chat in front of his father’s grocery store. He used the paper clay to shape the faces,
Lu Thúy Phân, right, and two other immigrants from Vietnam craft designs. Working for the Oyster Culture Association allows them to feel more integrated into the local community.
while cleaned and dried oyster shells were transformed into their robes or hats. After some more experimentation, Yu realized that the rough outer surface of oyster shells, though lacking the beautiful colors or shapes of most other seashells, could be made to resemble the look of bird feathers. Applying the shells onto bodies made
The rough outer surface of oyster shells is used to resemble bird feathers on these duck figures.
Taiwan Review May 2013 51
Liang Feng-rong came up with the idea of creating craft items from oyster shells as a way of promoting the community’s oyster culture.
of paper clay, he began to replicate some of the waterfowl seen around Wanggong such as egrets and blackwinged stilts. Initially, Yu created the figures as a hobby, but in 2002, a team of central government officials happened to see them when the group was visiting the town as part of an investigation of Taiwan’s coastal resources. The team members encouraged Yu to apply for funding from the Council for Cultural Affairs (now Ministry of Culture) to develop the craft into a unique cultural creative product for Wanggong, with the project receiving an initial grant of NT$400,000 (US$13,000). With the money, Yu renovated his father’s grocery store and set up the Oyster Culture Association in 2004 to exhibit his works and share the techniques of crafting them. Before the hobby could become a viable business, 52 Taiwan Review May 2013
however, there were a number of issues to be resolved. The first thing to be considered was the production cost. Oyster shells were free, but paper clay was too expensive. After some experimentation, Liang found an inexpensive replacement for it by mixing oyster shell powder into a type of clay. There were also technical problems, as what seemed to be easy for Yu to craft was difficult for others. Yu explains that the key to making an animal or human figurine lies in finding the correct proportions for each part of the subject. To make the process easier for the average person he designed several basic waterfowl shapes with wire. With a pre-shaped wire base, anyone could easily add clay to form its body and neck, and oyster shells for the wings. At the same time, the technique allows a degree of creativity in the way individual workers apply the clay and oyster shells. Yu says that establishing a simple, standard procedure to craft the oyster shell figurines was important as it allows him to recruit workers based on their economic circumstances rather than artistic ability. “The purpose here is not Yu’s earlier works reflect the elderly men who used to chat in front of the family’s grocery store.
to create as much profit as we can, but to provide as many jobs as we can,” he says. Since its establishment, the Oyster Culture Association has provided jobs not only to several new immigrants, but also senior citizens and a number of indigenous people who relocated to Wanggong after their homes were destroyed by the devastating earthquake that rocked Taiwan on September 21, 1999. In order to create more jobs for the community, Yu applied for ongoing employment subsidies from the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). Lu Thúy Phân, who has worked for the Oyster Culture Association since 2005, was one of the first recruited under the CLA project. Lu, who is from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, married a Taiwanese national and moved to Wanggong in 1999 at the age of 23. Like most other new immigrants to Wanggong, Lu divided her time among doing household chores, taking care of her children and
in-laws, and shucking oysters. The pay for shucking oysters is NT$20 (US$0.70) per bowl, or approximately 700 grams, of oyster flesh, which translates to perhaps NT$300 (US$10) per day. “The first thing I learned here was that the value of oysters is in the flesh and the shells were garbage,” she says. “I was amazed when I saw that they’d managed to turn garbage into artworks and wanted to give it a try.”
Becoming a Local
Currently, in addition to making handicrafts, Lu is responsible for tutoring new employees, teaching doit-yourself courses aimed at tourists and helping develop new designs. She makes about NT$20,000 (US$690) a month, but money is not the only reward. “The social circle for new immigrants like me was very small,” she says. “Working here allows us to meet people, to learn more about Wanggong’s culture and heritage, and really become ‘locals.’” The Oyster Culture Association recruits and trains its own employees, participates in shows to promote agricultural products and tourism, and offers lessons in the craft to community residents and students from local elementary and junior high schools as part of their extracurricular activities. “Making something with oyster shells was new to these people,” Yu says. “They weren’t sure if there would be much of a market for the handicraft.” Many of the doubts were erased with the market success of the association’s Lucky Chicken, which Yu designed in late 2004 to welcome 2005, the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese zodiac. To boost attention
for the oyster shell handicrafts, Yu invited Su Yong-liang (蘇永良), a sculptor from Wanggong’s neighboring township of Lugang, to create a giant Lucky Chicken at the entrance of the port. The installation, made of a bamboo skeleton, polystyrene filling and some 3,000 oyster shells as the feathers, seems to have been lucky enough to ensure good sales of the oyster shell handicrafts. According to Yu, selling the creations now generates between 20 and 25 percent of the association’s income. With funds from various government projects, fees for guided tours and tuition for DIY courses, the association is able to provide 16 jobs to local residents. Along with handicrafts made of oyster shells, Yu and Liang have organized several special events to promote Wanggong’s oyster culture. The annual Wanggong Fish and Fire Festival, for example, has become a very popular summer event since it was first held in 2005. Over two days, visitors to the festival are treated to pop music performances, fireworks shows, seafood meals and oyster art. The Oyster Culture Association has also designed day-trip programs to help tourists gain a more in-depth experience of the area. In addition to the famous oyster cuisine, visitors can learn about Wanggong’s oyster farming history and the rich ecosystem of the tidal area. At low tide, tourists can ride oyster carts to the oyster beds and harvest the shellfish themselves. Since 2004, Yu and Liang have recruited several oyster farmers as interpreters for the ecological and oyster bed tours. “There’s no better guide than these oyster farmers who have worked for four or even five decades here and
Red-crowned cranes visit Wanggong every winter. By using lead wire to provide the basic shape, making the finished figures has become an easy task for untrained people interested in trying the craft.
know oyster farming, the ecosystem of the tidal area and everything else about Wanggong,” Liang says. The increasing number of tourists, market success of oyster shell handicrafts and popularity of the festival have translated into more support for the Oyster Culture Association’s attempt to breathe new life into the community. Interestingly, it all started from a “useless” and lifeless n oyster shell. Taiwan Review May 2013 53
PHOTOGRAPHY
Capturing the Essence A trio of photographers has devoted years to documenting the intricacies of Taiwan’s performing arts. BY CINDY CHANG
A
54 Taiwan Review May 2013
Hsu Ping
wide variety of performing arts groups has emerged in Taiwan since the 1980s, a decade that saw rapid economic growth and the lifting of martial law. Today, the country’s culturally diverse society supports a captivating mixture of dance, drama and music genres with lineages that can be traced back to sources as disparate as majestic palaces and ordinary temple grounds, while form and performance styles vary from highly sophisticated to down-to-earth. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, often referred to as the country’s premier dance troupe, is famed for its fusion of traditional themes with modern sensibility, for example, while the Contemporary Legend Theatre’s operatic adaptations of Western classics have been enthusiastically received by audiences worldwide. Meanwhile, modern theater groups have emerged to push the boundaries of the art form. Body Phase Studio, for example, explores differences between the body movements of people in different cultures, while The Puppet and Its Double Theater mixes genres by bringing puppets and live actors together on the stage. Liu Chen-hsiang (劉振祥), Lin Jing-yuan (林敬原) and Hsu Ping (許 斌) are three photographers who have chronicled Taiwan’s dance and opera productions over the years and have gained renown for their ability to adapt photographic techniques to the broad range of performers’ movements, stage design and lighting found in local productions. In Liu’s view, a photographer should look for and capture scenes that condense the essence of a particular dance or drama. Lin compares stage photography to photojournalism, in which there is frequently only one opportunity to capture images of a breaking news event. Hsu, in contrast, prefers to emphasize rehearsals more than public performances as he endeavors to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how productions are created. Through the lenses of such photographers, viewers gain a glimpse of some of Taiwan’s most distinctive and fascinating n performing arts.
Lin Jing-yuan
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan performs Wind Shadow in 2006. Hsu Ping
Opposite: Body Phase Studio’s 2011 performance of Black Hole III Left: Members of drum troupe U-Theatre rehearse Beyond Time backstage in 2011.
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56 Taiwan Review May 2013
Liu Chen-hsiang
Liu Chen-hsiang
Left: A 2012 performance of Deathless Beauty by the Tang Mei-yun Taiwanese Opera Company Above: The Puppet and Its Double Theater performs La Reminiscence d’un Fantome in 2012.
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Lin Jing-yuan
Contemporary Legend Theatre’s 2004 performance of The Tempest
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Hsu Ping
Hsu Ping
Above: A 2010 performance of Turn Left, Turn Right by Mr. Wing Theatre Company Left: Golden Bough Theatre performs Sayonara My Love in 2010.
Taiwan Review May 2013 59
PERFORMING ARTS
Diva with a Difference A leading Taiwanese opera star continues to develop and promote a native art form. BY PAT GAO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TANG MEI-YUN TAIWANESE OPERA COMPANY
winners of that year’s National Award for Arts, the most prestigious honor for artistic achievement in Taiwan, for her dedication to performing and promoting the locally developed genre of Taiwanese opera at home and abroad. According to comments by the selection committee of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, the organization behind the National Award for Arts, “Tang has gone from performing on outdoor stages in local communities to plying her trade in modern theaters and, after honing her ability in different forms and styles of opera, ... emerged as a prolific, mature performer.” In addition to Tang’s rare talent and the innovations she and her troupe have introduced to Taiwanese opera, the selection committee recognized her for the numerous roles she has played in other genres, which include modern theatrical works, movies and television dramas. She was shortlisted for a Golden Horse Award for film in 1997 and received the Golden Bell Award for best actress in a television drama series in 2001. The two awards are Taiwan’s top honors in their respective categories. Tang also received the best actor award at the annual national drama competition organized by the now defunct Taiwan Provincial Government in 1991 and 1992, a title that had never previously gone to the same person in two consecutive years. Tang’s career transcends awards, however, as her work in the Opposite: Tang Mei-yun performs in Who Is My Bride?, a 2006 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.
tradition of Taiwanese opera has helped the venerable art form remain relevant in modern Taiwan. Taiwanese opera, or kua á hì as it is known in Holo, or Taiwanese, emerged in the Yilan region of the country’s northeast in the 19th century. The genre’s combination of Holo singing and acting soon made it a staple of local entertainment and folk religious festivities. As kua á hì continued to gain popularity, performances began to take place on proper outdoor stages rather than at ground level, as was initially the case. During the era of Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945), kua á hì troupes began moving from open-air stages to indoor playhouses, a reflection of the increasingly urban nature of Taiwanese society.
Emerging Genre
According to Shih Ru-fang (施如 芳), a playwright and art critic who composed a brief biography of Tang for the National Award for Arts selection committee, Tang’s father Jiang Wu-tong (蔣武童) became a professional kua á hì performer in the late 1920s. At that time, the genre was emerging as a major entertainment option in its own right, as more performances were taking place in commercial theaters for local audiences, which put kua á hì in direct competition with imported forms of drama such as Beijing opera from mainland China. “Back then, Taiwanese opera was increasingly performed as a fulllength dramatic piece,” Shih says. “At commercial theaters in Taiwan, it was capable of rivaling Beijing opera in terms of box office success.” In the mid-20th century, kua á hì performers were frequently invited
Chang Su-ching
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n June 2012, Tang Mei-yun (唐 美雲) was selected as one of the
In her offstage endeavors, Tang has worked to provide a nurturing environment for budding Taiwanese opera performers.
to participate in radio dramatizations, a major entertainment medium before the advent of television in Taiwan. After the first television station went live in 1962, kua á hì continued to be popular on the small screen in local households. Tang was born in 1965 and seemed destined to find her calling Tang in The Phantom of the Cabaret, a 1999 piece also based on The Phantom of the Opera
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in kua á hì, as her mother was also a performer and troupe operator. In 1980, Tang launched her career as a professional performer in various television and stage productions. The following year, she was part of a group of performers selected from several of Taiwan’s kua á hì troupes for a tour of Southeast Asian countries. During the tour, she remembers being quite impressed by the diversity of set designs and the group members’ acting ability, which brought enthusiastic applause from audiences. Tang’s father was among those who contributed to shifting kua á hì from a type of casual, improvised performance delivered on outdoor stages to a refined, elaborate art form presented indoors. Tang learned many of the intricacies of kua á hì from her father, as well as received training from masters in gymnastics and music. In 1991, Tang joined the Ho Lo Taiwanese Opera Troupe and carried on her father’s efforts when the troupe staged The Wrong Verdict, its debut work, indoors at the stately National Theater in Taipei. Over the following six years, Tang continued playing leading roles in Ho Lo’s annual productions while also appearing in movies and plays. Tang says the troupe remains one of the biggest influences on her career. “I really appreciate the years of experience I gained at Ho Lo,” she says. Ho Lo was established by Liu Zhong-yuan (劉鐘元) in 1985 as a way to bring about a renaissance in indoor live kua á hì performances, 62 Taiwan Review May 2013
which had given way to televised versions and other forms of entertainment like movies over the years. “Liu and his troupe have played a crucial part in bringing kua á hì back to indoor stages,” Tang says. Liu had worked at a radio station that was one of the first to put kua á hì on the air in the 1950s, and by the 1970s he had become a leading figure in the production of televised kua á hì shows. His efforts to give the old art form a new lease on life
Tang and Taiwanese opera legend Liao Chiung-chih, right, in The Virtuous Mother of General Tao Kan from 2009
in modern Taiwan soon extended to developing local motifs and story lines for the shows. Surprisingly, such local elements had been relatively rare in traditional kua á hì up to that point. Instead of dramatizing stories about the lives and history of people in Taiwan, the genre had often presented themes from classical Chinese novels and folklore. “I want Taiwanese people to learn about their own history in their own dramatic tradition,” Liu says.
In 1998, Tang established the eponymous Tang Mei-yun Taiwanese Opera Company, which is now based in New Taipei City. “I thought kua á hì had many possibilities and a lot of room for development,” she says of her desire to start her own troupe. “I wanted to create my own style and produce different works [with greater use of modern theatrical elements].” Her new company’s opening work, The Phantom of the Cabaret, premiered in 1999 and was an adaptation of the internationally acclaimed musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2006, Tang’s troupe produced Who Is My Bride?, a revision of The Phantom of the Cabaret. Who Is My Bride? was written by Shih and garnered the award for best traditional drama at the 2007 Golden Bell Award. “The phantom in our later work seemed to win more sympathy from audiences than his Western counterpart,” Tang says. “I think that’s due to the additional time the piece devoted to showing how the phantom’s character took shape.” Meanwhile, Liu’s work with Ho Lo kept evolving, and the troupe’s 2000 production of Taiwan, Our Mother became known for establishing a dramatic tradition that relates Taiwan’s history and stories. The work is based on a novel by Lee Chiao (李喬), winner of the 2006 National Award for Arts for literary achievement. Taiwan, Our Mother depicts the hard life of early immigrants in Taiwan and touches on the founding of the Formosan Republic, which declared independence in
In a scene reminiscent of Taiwanese opera’s past, audience members wait for the curtain to rise at an outdoor performance by Tang’s troupe at a temple in Yilan County.
May 1895 shortly after the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) agreed to cede Taiwan to Japan. The republic lasted just a few months, however, as the scattered Formosan resistance eventually proved little match for Japanese troops. In June 2008, Tang’s performance in The Seal of 1895 at the National Theater drew high critical acclaim. Like Taiwan, Our Mother, The Seal of 1895 is set during the rise and fall of the Formosan Republic, but Tang’s troupe presented the subject in a more modern, unconventional style. The Seal of 1895 is based on a novel of the same name written by Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), a former legislator and president of the Examination Yuan, and was revised
for opera by Shih. Tang directed the opera as well as performed the role of the protagonist, a Taiwanese soldier defending the republic. The Seal of 1895 was unusual in two aspects. First, the opera presents a local event from Taiwan’s history, which has not been so common for kua á hì. Second, the work “combines a traditional art form with modern Huang Chung-hsin
theatrical components,” Tang says, referring to the incorporation of Western string music and contemporary plots, among other things. “We developed this style to carry on and extend the appeal of the tradition to younger generations and beyond national boundaries. Our works have the traditional basic tune forms and rules, but they can also be presented like a regular operatic piece for local and foreign audiences.” Tang has worked with another influential figure in her career, Liao Chiung-chih (廖瓊枝), who was 63 when she became the first kua á hì artist to win the National Award for Arts in 1998. Widely hailed as Taiwan’s No. 1 “tragic female diva,” Liao developed that mournful role to previously unseen artistic heights by combining the emotional intensity of crying with singing. In 2009, Tang helped produce an opera named The Virtuous Mother of General Tao Kan and acted with Liao in that work, which was to be the latter’s last major A performance by the Ho Lo Taiwanese Opera Troupe. Tang played leading roles in Ho Lo productions from 1991 to 1997.
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Tang teaches a class on Taiwanese opera at her troupe’s headquarters in New Taipei City.
performance before retirement. “It’s impressive that she, at close to 80 years old, still keeps busy with kua á hì,” Tang says. “She’s truly a representative figure in the genre’s development due to her ability as a performer and her efforts in helping cultivate young talent.” Tang, rear left, performs in 2010’s Unfading Love, which marked the first extensive cross-strait collaborative kua á hì performance.
Both Liao and Tang have devoted themselves to preserving the kua á hì tradition in the mainstream education system by teaching in the Department of Taiwanese Folk Opera at National Taiwan College of Performing Arts in Taipei. As an extension of that department’s mission, Tang and Liao hope to see the school establish its own kua á hì troupe, which would provide a stable, nurturing environment for budding performers to continue their
artistic development before choosing to pursue a career in professional troupes like Tang’s. “A school troupe would be like a cradle,” Tang says. “By offering financial sponsorship of the troupe, the education, private and public sectors could cooperate more effectively for the long-term continuation of a Taiwanese performing art.” Similar sponsorship of kua á hì troupes has been taking place for some time in Fujian province, southeastern mainland China. Many inhabitants of the Minnan region in the province’s south began immigrating to Taiwan in the 17th century. In Taiwan, their dialect is called Holo, while in mainland China it is known as Minnanese, but regardless of the name, the language is mutually intelligible to a great extent. In 2010, Tang’s company and the Xiamen Gezai Opera Troupe, which operates Central News Agency
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Tang chants poems in Taiwanese at a poetry festival in Taipei. “Taiwanese is a beautiful language,” she says.
under the auspices of the municipal government of Xiamen, a major Fujian city, jointly produced an opera named Unfading Love, a piece about the genre itself. Tang played the male protagonist, who lives in Taiwan and endures separation from his fiancée, another kua á hì performer in Xiamen, for more than three decades until transportation links across the Taiwan Strait are re-established in the late 1980s. Although there had been previous cross-strait kua á hì exchanges such as forums and mutual visits among troupe members, Unfading Love marked the first extensive collaborative performance between Taiwanese and Minnanese opera groups. According to comments by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Unfading Love successfully juxtaposed the quite different kua á hì singing styles found in Taiwan and Fujian. “In contrast to their more ornamental bel canto style, we sing more plainly using our original voice,” Tang says of one difference between the two styles. To date, Unfading Love has been staged in Taipei and Beijing.
Tang has also been praised for her performance in modern theatrical works such as 1433: The Grand Voyage by Robert Wilson, an avant-garde stage director and playwright from the United States. Wilson received a commission for that work from the National Theater and employed interpreters to produce the play in Taiwanese in Taipei in 2010. In 1433:
Tang in costume for The Seal of 1895, a critically acclaimed piece from 2008
The Grand Voyage, Tang excelled at using Taiwanese as a theatrical language to narrate the life of Zheng He (鄭和, 1371–1433), a Chinese explorer and fleet admiral known for commanding voyages from Southeast Asia to the east coast of Africa. “Her Taiwanese singing and speaking were clear and poised, while her longer and shorter chanting were very rhythmic and dramatic,” Shih says of Tang’s performance in 1433: The Grand Voyage.
Beautiful Language
For Tang, any modern development of kua á hì must take pains to remain true to its essential elements. “The language is the root of it,” she says, “because Taiwanese is a beautiful language that can express subtle meanings and classical grace.” In the past, local languages were suppressed by various regimes in Taiwan in order to promote a “national language.” “My mother was forced to sing kua á hì in Japanese,” Tang recalls. “In my case it was Mandarin.” Fortunately, language pluralism has been a mainstream social trend in Taiwan for several decades, and Tang is glad to help more Taiwanese people learn about their own culture and language in kua á hì shows. In a time of renewed interest in local cultures, Tang has emerged as one of Taiwan’s most admired kua á hì performers. In the future, she says she will continue working to produce more and better pieces to prove that Taiwanese opera is not only a precious part of folk culture, but also a n genuine art form. Taiwan Review May 2013 65
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