Pinglin Tea Country: From Courses to Entrepreneurship, Building a Homeland Where the Mountains Never Wither
(Editor's note: The founders of Dazhuo Environmental Integration Co., Ltd., Li Jiaxuan and Guo Mingyang, came to National Taiwan University to give a talk on December 18. From course internship to entrepreneurship, Mingyang shared, from the close-to-the-audience perspective of a "student," the turns in his thinking about Pinglin, Taiwan tea and community empowerment; Jiaxuan, drawing on the founding experience of the tea brand "Sanpuku," shared how a company can continuously practice placemaking in Pinglin.)
A Bond with Pinglin That Began with a Course
Mingyang's bond with Pinglin began with the planning practicum course at the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning at National Taiwan University. He started from the course, entered the place, and gradually built connections with local people. He said with a laugh: "At first I couldn't understand a word they said!" His first entry into the community brought setbacks, because he could not understand the language of "tea." Pinglin, located at the border between Taipei and Yilan, can be called the tea country of northern Taiwan. For Pinglin people, from daily life to business, everything revolves around the tea industry, and men, women, young and old all speak the book of tea as soon as they open their mouths.
However, since the opening of National Highway No. 5 and the Xueshan Tunnel, the travel time between Taipei and Yilan has been shortened, but the flow of people passing through Pinglin has also decreased; on the other hand, as a reservoir protection area, Pinglin's land use is also subject to great restrictions, which has more or less affected the development of the tea industry.
During the course, Mingyang did a lot of learning and experimenting. At first he was very unfamiliar with tea, so he began reading books about tea and learning tea-making from tea farmers. Later, he also set up a stall at a market to sell environmentally friendly tea products and provided academic tutoring to second-generation tea farmers, gradually exploring through hands-on work a local balance that combines ecology, production and life.
"Mountain Street Interviews" Connect the Local Community
In addition to promoting tea, they also take on projects and participate in local affairs in Pinglin. Recently, through the filming of the "Mountain Street Interviews" video
Interestingly, the public discourse formed in this way also reorganizes and links relationships between different people. Jiaxuan said that after the video was shown at the Tea Industry Museum, not only did the relationship between local businesses and the district office gradually change, but the competitive relationship between their team and local tea-selling businesses also changed, and trust between people began to open up... They hope that after local people see the video, they can understand the language of this land and then be willing to return to this place.
From a course "student" to a company "founder," the change in role brings different ways of thinking. After stepping out of the student identity, Dazhuo Environmental Integration has more possibilities, and is still constantly exploring and experimenting on the journey.