"Liu Huang Tzong-te, 74, is a pioneer in the export of Taiwan's... butterfly orchids. ... at 22, ... in Chiayi County... began helping his father with his orchid plants...
In those days, Japan was the most advanced nation in orchid culture, and Liu purchased many Japanese books and magazines on orchids. He took what he learned and often spread the information around in the most important domestic orchid publication of the day, "Taiwan Orchids". In those early days, very few people contributed to the magazine in Chinese, and most of the content was translated from the Japanese. Liu's insightful analysis of issues related to orchid growing immediately attracted the attention of those in the industry in Taiwan. ... At 35, he was invited to serve as the chief judge for the Orchid Producer and Sellers Association, a post which he held for seven years. When he gave it up at age 42, he devoted himself to traveling the world to learn about orchids, and to promoting orchid exports in Taiwan. For over 20 years, the domestic market for butterfly orchids had been oversaturated, and the development of exports had reached a bottleneck... butterfly orchids were selling at 3 for NT$100 little more than US$1 a piece. Farmers were simply getting no return for their labor. At that time, there was a huge demand in Japan for young plants... Liu developed a reputation as a supplier, convincing the Japanese to purchase plants from Taiwan. Exports topped 200,000 plants and many farmers were saved from bankruptcy, divorce or the loss of their livelihood." URL : http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=83084&ctNode=7 ************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
