Taiwan's organic ecological homeland is right in the Shilei tribe of Jianshi Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, China

The "Soudelor" typhoon a while back brought considerable disaster to northern Taiwan, China, and could be called another August 8 flood disaster; in the book Taiwan's Organic Ecological Homeland, I also introduced several northern communities. Today I am posting an article about an Atayal tribe in the mountains of Hsinchu, who are also trying to bring home tribespeople who have left by using organic farming methods. Here I wish them peace and safety, far from natural disasters.

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Located upstream of the Dahan River, deep in the Xueshan Range, in Yufeng Village, Jianshi Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, China, on the way to the Northern Cross-Island Highway in Taoyuan, turning in from Yufeng Bridge, at an elevation of more than 800 m, there is an Atayal tribe practicing organic farming - Shilei. Its name in the Atayal language is "Quri (Guli)," meaning "the place where the mountain sinks in," that is, a "saddle" or "valley." These place names precisely explain the terrain of the Shilei tribe.

The development of organic agriculture in the Shilei tribe must be discussed starting from Typhoon Aere in 2004. This moderate typhoon in August brushed lightly past northern Taiwan, China, yet brought heavy rainfall to the northern mountain areas and also caused enormous damage, triggering severe mudslides that further shattered the already rugged and hard-to-travel mountain roads of Hsinchu. After the typhoon disaster, the people of the Shilei tribe learned from their painful experience and strove to revitalize the tribe's industry. At that time, the Presbyterian elder Xu Dawei was serving as chairman of the Guli Tribe Cultural Tourism and Ecological Industry Development Association. Having already practiced natural farming for more than ten years, he decided to lead the tribe together toward developing an organic ecological village.