Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above Page #4

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Is it?

This is Houlong Township in Miaoli County.

Ms. Hung Hsiang together with

her fellow villagers

had resisted

the temptation and pressure from the outside.

They refused to turn their land into

an industrial park.

They insist on organic farming.

In her fields,

weeds, insects and crops live in harmony.

She says,

"We should have what is left by the insects".

"What we need isn't much.

We just want too much."

In recent years,

the number of people

who share her thoughts has been increasing.

They insist on organic

and environmentally friendly farming methods.

The proportion of their effort to their gain

may seem laughable to people

who are used to high returns and efficiency.

But they firmly believe that

only when we treat our land friendly

will it treat our offspring friendly in return.

Here comes another example.

His name is Lai Ching-song.

He had studied in Japan and witnessed

the Japanese's attitude to their environment.

Therefore when he returned to Taiwan,

he gave up the comfortable life

and high-earning job in the city.

He went back to the village in Yilan

to learn farming from scratch,

to grow rice organically.

Like Ms. Hung Hsiang, to grow rice in this way,

your gain is often not in proportion to your effort.

Sometimes, you get even less than you put in.

As a result, he came up with an idea.

He set up a cooperative like a club.

He invites people

who share his idea to join the cooperative.

Lai is responsible for the work in the fields.

He and his partners share

the risks of natural disasters and others.

In return, they share the harvest.

What Hung Hsiang and Lai Ching-song

has done is an attempt.

But it is the beginning of something important.

Their action demonstrates a simple idea -

for the sake of our future generations,

we have no rights

to indulge ourselves with our endless desire.

Because

we live here only temporarily.

We're just migrants on the Earth.

Close your eyes

Breathe in deep

Can you see

what I see?

Keeping us in constant awe

This feeling captured in time

Isn't there more to this?

More than what we're told

Isn't there hope in this?

More than this world gives

If we only realize the pain we've caused

Know that there is still tomorrow

Discover the light in this land

How long more

can we breathe?

Can you see

what I see?

Fills us up

Leaves us void

Look into it and tell me

Isn't there more to this?

More than what we're told

Isn't there hope in this?

More than this world gives

If we only realize the pain we've caused

Know that there is still tomorrow

Discover the light in this land

Let us work together

to make home a better place.

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