Erlin Wanggong Summer Farming Rural Grassroots Field Survey Series 2 of 2
Text by Lin Le-xin, Chen Ning, Huang Yu-ying, Ji Xin-yun, Yang Xiang-lin, Lin Ming-hua, Chen Yi-jun, Wu Jia-ling, Lu Guan-ming, Zheng Bi-wei
Introduction The "Xiayun Erlin/Fangyuan Interview Survey Group" is one of the teams of the Xiayun rural interview survey. The survey scope of this group is not limited to the traditional "rural area"; beyond the famous Taiwanese farming township of Erlin in Changhua, it also follows concern for Taiwan's primary industry and moves onward to the southwestern coast of Changhua to visit the inshore aquaculture fisheries of Fangyuan and Wanggong.
Economic chain of the oyster industry, part one: an introduction to oysters and oyster farmers
How do oysters (also called mu-li) grow up? Through this visit to Ah-Shui, a local worker in Fangyuan, we only then learned: at the beginning, oyster farmers place oyster shells on the intertidal zone, letting oyster spat attach to the oyster shells; the oysters, which live on plankton in the sea, slowly grow up and become the fresh oysters we eat.
Ah-Shui said that July and August in summer and January and February in winter are good seasons for putting out oyster spat. The Fangyuan oyster industry uses the flat-hanging method, and the oysters need to be cultivated for one year before harvest. But from the time the oyster spat attaches to the fresh oysters on the dining table, what do the oyster farmers have to do? Oyster farming is actually just like farmers working the fields; there are process after process in it. Let us count them off one by one:
1. Selecting oyster shells and drilling holes in them: only good oyster shells let oyster spat attach well, and drilling holes allows the shell spat to attach.
2. Tying the oyster shells onto the oyster racks and placing the oyster spat: after drilling the holes on land, a long string of oyster shells must be placed into
the oyster shed so the oyster spat can attach.
3. Separating the oyster racks: when the oysters have grown big enough, the oyster farmers must separate the oyster strings a bit so the oysters can fully obtain plank
ton.
4. Picking out oyster drills: the oyster drill is a natural enemy that specializes in eating oysters, secreting an acidic substance to penetrate the oyster shell and suck out the oyster meat.
So oyster farmers must go to the oyster fields to pick out oyster drills to prevent the oysters from being eaten up completely. By the way, the oyster drills picked out
can be eaten, so they can also be sold for money!
5. Opening oysters: anyone who has been to Wanggong Street has surely seen groups of elders opening oyster shells to sell fresh oysters
An oyster farmer moving oyster shells
Image from:
Fanwa No. 61 Culture-History-Nature Action Warehouse blog
The oyster's natural enemy - the oyster drill
Image from: Mosquito Bite blog
These jobs alone have already supported the tens of thousands of oyster farmers in the Fangyuan oyster industry, and in places with no work, residents who carefully shuck oyster shells can still earn a decent income in a day! What we described above is only the work of the oyster farmers, but the middle processing and sales parts have not yet been mentioned. Please continue reading the next piece: Economic chain of the oyster industry, part two: oyster processing.
[Economic chain of the oyster industry, part two: oyster processing]
The oyster movers
We visited Mr. Chen, a middleman who works in oyster processing. His main work is buying grown oysters (with shells not yet shucked) from oyster farmers, hiring people to help shuck the oyster shells, and then taking the shucked oysters to the market to sell. This looks very much like an ordinary middleman channel in the oyster shipping business, but there is great knowledge in it.
It turns out that the shucked oysters are taken to market stalls to sell, and each of these stalls is Mr. Chen's customer. These households all have to be found by himself, and many are old customers handed down from Mr. Chen's father. The price of oysters is not fixed and fluctuates with the seasons; usually the price is a bit higher in winter, and the price is mainly determined by the market in Dongshi, Chiayi. Mr. Chen smiled proudly and said that as this oyster mover, he has supported a family of 17.
The oyster shell powder factory
Walking into the oyster shell factory, everywhere you look are mountains of oyster shells piled up. This is the place that produces oyster shell powder. According to differences in temperature during the production process, oyster shell powder can be divided into three uses: agricultural fertilization, lime powder, and livestock raising. Because oyster shells contain a high amount of calcium and calcium carbonate, they can be used as agricultural fertilizer and reduce soil acidity. In addition, after a high temperature of 6000 degrees, they can be used as lime powder. Because they are relatively rich in nutrients, for the livestock industry oyster shell powder can be said to be quite nutritious!
The owner of the oyster shell factory, Mr. Lin, introduced everything one by one, from picking out debris from the oyster shells at the start to the oyster shell powder processing process entering the 6000-degree furnace. Mr. Lin said proudly that all these devices were designed by him, and that there are five oyster shell powder factories across Taiwan, and one is in Fangyuan Township! According to him, there are five trucks carrying oyster shells each month alone, and each person earns fifty or sixty thousand in salary. This shows that the profits of oyster shell powder are not small.
There was also a large manufacturer that offered Mr. Lin a large order, but Mr. Lin refused it. Mr. Lin: "For me, stable business is the most important. Ordering so much at once is very unstable. If they then say they do not want it, we are finished."
Wanggong Oyster Art Culture Center: how can ordinary oyster shells become art with high economic value?
Oyster shell art began research and development in year 90 of the Republic of China; the Wanggong Oyster Art Culture Association was formally established in January of year 93 of the Republic of China. The works in the hall cover portraits, migratory birds, poultry, seaside creatures, and more, combining materials such as clay, painted pigments, driftwood, sea sand, and lead wire, and combining techniques such as painting, carving, pottery making, silk-screen printing, and weaving. The collection has several hundred works.
With the support of the Council for Cultural Affairs of the Executive Yuan in years 92 and 93 of the Republic of China, the Wanggong Oyster Art Culture Association has gradually taken root and sprouted locally. Internally it won an enthusiastic response from community residents, and externally it was also widely praised. More and more art lovers, travelers, and returnees ask to visit.1
In year 94, with the support of the Council of Labor Affairs, it began implementing the Multi-Employment Development Program. Villagers often enthusiastically and proactively provide oyster shells, jointly appreciating the beauty of oyster art, and the emotion of community interaction flows among the oyster shells. More importantly, with the development of oyster art, it attempts to drive business opportunities in the fishing village, create employment opportunities, and integrate exchanges and interaction among diverse groups such as indigenous people, foreign brides, and senior residents.
Summary: we only went to interview for two days, and we learned that the seemingly plain fresh oysters are not, as outsiders imagine, an industry with no economic value. In fact, behind them is a huge economic chain supporting oyster farmers, middlemen like Mr. X, oyster shell factories, and oyster art centers, letting these people live ample lives. When oyster farmers mention the Eighth Naphtha Cracker plant being built, they all frown and express great worry: "We are living fine and living quite prosperously. Does the government really want to drive us onto a dead end?"
[Entering day three of the Xiayun interview survey ]
Entering day three of the Xiayun second-stage interview survey, today we came to Fangyuan Putian Temple. As we prepared to go out to sea according to the tide time, everyone entered the vast temple to worship, praying for today's trip to go smoothly and also for the demise of Kuokuang Petrochemical, and after getting ready, we followed Brother Ah-Shui and got on the iron ox carts heading toward the oyster fields.
Whether the two iron ox carts were driving through the alleys of the village or across the boundless intertidal zone, wherever there were crowds, the companions sitting in front were just like candidates campaigning for votes, waving and greeting people with all their might, only short of singing songs like "Happy Voyage." Their excitement was no less than winning the lottery!
After a short two-hour experience of feeling for clams, catching fish, and opening oysters, it verified one saying of Brother Ah-Shui: "Ecology needs no too much explanation; personal experience is most important." Watching everyone's manner of opening oysters reminded me of myself as a child. At first I curiously ran over to watch Grandma open oysters, casually asked whether she could let me try, and afterward it could be said to be the beginning of a nightmare. Putting on gloves, picking up the "oyster knife," filling the oysters in the bowl into a pointed tower shape, and also being careful not to puncture their bellies, made my bottom go numb from sitting and my hands wrinkled. Sometimes when playmates invited me I still could not go play with them, and my mood was really gloomy. All this resentment completely disappeared without a trace when the wages appeared before my eyes; with a face full of smiles, holding the fishy-smelling twenty yuan, I skipped home.
Everyone, hungry and famished, left this intertidal zone, like uncut jade, with surprise and covered in seawater. After a satisfying meal, we then followed in Brother Ah-Shui's footsteps, letting me further understand the current situation of the local industry. I had thought that the drilling, stringing, and tying of oyster shells were all handled single-handedly by the oyster farmers, but unexpectedly in the oyster industry there is also outsourcing! The entire production process must be done by manpower and cannot be fully mechanized. Taking the oyster production chain alone, it provides many local job opportunities. "As long as you are willing to work, you need not fear having no food to eat" is fully presented before our eyes here, without any falseness or affectation.
Everything this intertidal zone possesses still requires you to come and carefully experience it! Let it tell you personally how great an impact the arrival of the Eighth Naphtha Cracker plant and Kuokuang Petrochemical will cause, and why this sea is so important to the people born here for generations. Please come bend down and touch it, listen clearly to the feelings in your heart, and only in the end will you understand what the key is to the choice of the "sea people." <To be continued>
1 Text excerpted from the oyster art center website