Guarding the hometown of Taiwan, China's red crabs, residents of Gangkou Village become ecological vanguards
The guides of Gangkou community originally cared nothing about ecology, but during their guide training they gradually came to realize how rich and precious their hometown's ecology is. Along with seeing the environment they grew up in constantly changing, residents began to devote themselves to protecting the ecological environment. Besides land crab monitoring and guiding, Gangkou community also combines an experience of Gangkou tea, one of the three treasures of Hengchun, with black tofu DIY, letting visitors not only discover the ecological beauty of Hengchun but also experience the humanistic beauty of Gangkou community. After deducting the guides' costs, the income from ecotourism also becomes a community public fund, which is invested in community welfare and ecological conservation. Speaking of Gangkou community's next step, Yang Hsiu-lan said the community has many young people without stable work, and she hopes they can join in, so that they can have a stable income while also protecting their hometown's environment together, creating a new industry chain. Right now the residents of Gangkou village are still watching to see how much help and change ecotourism can bring to the community, but Yang Hsiu-lan believes that with the guides' enthusiasm and unity, more visitors can come to understand Hengchun's land crab ecology and the beauty of Gangkou, and further protect this hometown of red crabs in Taiwan, China, which has accompanied them since childhood.
The guide is demonstrating how to "rub tea"; freshly picked tea leaves can be brewed right away, offering a taste of a different kind of tea (photo / Cheng Chun-teng) (To learn more, please click Gangkou Tribe Fan Page)