Yanchao-Placemaking: the departure for modern agriculture

Lai is the founder of HJ Cultural Industries, she was born in Keelung City, he moved to Kaohsiung due to family factors. Although she is not a native of Qiaotou, she is particularly fond of the chimneys of Qiaotou Sugar Factory. From a young girl to a woman, she would go back to Qiaotou to take pictures every year, thus witnessing the growth and changes of this place. Three years ago, the concept of local creation begins to sprout, she returned to the sugar factory and decided to rent the infirmary in the old dormitory area from the sugar factory, hoping to refurbish it as a budding place for local placemaking in the Qiaotou area.

In the beginning, she was ignorant and she only had a rough understanding of what is meant by placemaking. Without resources, she could only rely on her passion to create “the HJ Cultural Industries” as a base. She dreams that it can be used as an incubation base for creativity, promotion of food, agriculture, and fishery, cultural and ecological trips, and circular economy. In order to realize her dream, she kept on visiting local chiefs, residents, and small farmers, and actively communicated with Taiwan Sugar Company, MRT Company, and other local units, hoping to share her idea, turning over the original impression of the Qiaotou area.

However, ideals are always different from reality. She fought alone and did not achieve the desired results. She gradually discovered that no matter how much enthusiasm and ambition is in any business, if there is no partner who truly agrees with the core values and is willing to share the results, it will only end with exhaustion of enthusiasm. 

Early last year, under the impact of local trauma and the epidemic, she decided to shut down HJ Cultural Industries for two months, thinking about the positioning of the HJ Cultural Industries, and then starting again after regaining the core value. After two months of precipitation, her enthusiasm still cannot be erased, and she can't easily give up the HJ Cultural Industries like her own child. Therefore, she decided to hold a window market activity, hoping to find new opportunities for cooperation from the event. And the new agricultural team of NKUST met with her at that event.

After hearing the story of Lai, the new agricultural project team of the University of NKUST shared with her of experience in supporting local units and found that both parties have the same value concept. The new agricultural project team has always advocated that education is not only to cultivate students but also to cultivate the local community. Only the participation of local residents can shape the community, and then make the community sustainable. Lai agrees with the idea of the team, and also more clearly recognizes the core value of the HJ Cultural Industries. 

 In September 2021, the new agricultural project team and HJ Cultural Industries cooperated to organize the "CHO BO~ Activity" and officially launched the "Creation Training Hall-Qiaotou". The overall venue is divided into two major functions. In addition to serving as an education training base, it also builds a sales platform to provide channels for small and exquisite cultural and creative products, food, agriculture, fishery, and circular economy products.

With the support of the resources of the project team, the HJ Cultural Industries began to be seen by the public. So far, partners such as the Kaohsiung City Agriculture Bureau, MRT Corporation, Shute University of Science and Technology, North Kaohsiung Community-University have successively established cooperation with the HJ Cultural Industries. Under the support of NKUST, the operation of the HJ Cultural Industries has gradually improved, and there are more agricultural and fishery product brands that want to cooperate with this place. In order to promote Kaohsiung's local agricultural products and promote the concept of supporting friendly and non-toxic farming, under the cultivation of NKUST, Lai established the "Da Go Selection" brand to provide a unique small agricultural product sales platform. She said: “I am very grateful for the assistance of the USR program of NKUST. No matter what difficulties she encounters, the planning team is willing to face her together, allowing her to realize her dream for many years. I hope that I can also be a good teacher to help partners who have encountered difficulties on the path of creation in the future.”