Farewell to that Golden Age - Kaohsiung: Qishan & Meinong - Slow Travel Adventures in Taiwan | 浩克慢遊

00:37 Skip Intro | Kaohsiung #高雄, Qishan #旗山, Meinong #美濃
Back in the era when Taiwan was known as the “Banana Kingdom”, all of Qishan was rolling in money, and the biggest pride of banana farmers was the unremovable banana juice stains on their clothes. Qishan’s wealthy residents built Baroque-style houses, and the district even had the most magnificent farmers’ association building in all of Taiwan.
Different from the banana houses of Qishan, the affluence of Meinong residents was reflected in their tobacco barns that burned in late winter to early spring. As an old tobacco farmer said: “In Meinong, bachelors who owned more than two tobacco barns would have matchmakers lining up to offer marriage proposals!” Smoking tobacco leaves before Chinese New Year, overflowing the air with the tear-inducing scent of tobacco - these were unforgettably fruitful years for the people of Meinong.
Situated at the very tail end of the Yushan Range, Qishan and Meinong are two neighboring small towns that each enjoyed a hundred years of prosperity because of their respective banana and tobacco industry. As one was a Minnan migration and the other a Hakka settlement, the two towns have different ideas and attitudes toward life and have also responded to the decline of their golden industries with different expressions.
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The casual manner and often irreverent humor of the two guides combine with deep historical knowledge and palpable love for Taiwan to produce a cultural documentary that is frequently both enlightening and engaging, instructive and poignant.
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