《RHYTHMS MONTHLY》vol. 147 Contents

【Special Report】 – Nature
Ode to Summer
Black-faced Spoonbill’s breeding place at Xingrentuo Island, China
Text – Wu Peihsiang
Photography – Wang Jengjyi

A pair of Black-faced Spoonbills are enjoying the summertime full of hope and delight. Xingrentuo Island located in Liaoning, China, has been their wonderland. These birds mate and breed here from one generation to another. After a short stay in this tiny friendly place, they will fly for thousands of miles away in search of a location in the South to spend the winter there.

【Special Report】– Nature
Winter’s Melody
Black-faced Spoonbill’s nature reserve in Chigu, Taiwan
Text – Wu Peihsiang
Photography – Wang Jengjyi

The flock of Black-faced Spoonbills is wandering on Chigu wetland in Tainan, Taiwan. This place hosts a sizeable community of Black-faced Spoonbills, and is regarded as the largest wintering site for these birds. Up to the present, Black-faced Spoonbills are still categorized as an endangered species. Chigu wetland provides them with an appropriate environment to rest and revive.

【Culture】
Jeju Island
From Land of Exile to International City
Text – Juillia Kuo
Photography – Chen Hongtai

Situated Southwest of the Korea Peninsula, Jeju is the only Special Self-Governing Province of South Korea. This small volcanic island, only 1,848 square kilometers wide, is a strategic island of Northeast Asia with unlimited business potential and beautiful natural World Heritage sites. Despite being on the news spotlight for its beauty, the island has a long dark history and the Koreans knew it as “The land of Exile”. The conflict between the government and islanders in the late 1940s, known as the 3rd of April incident that protracted for 7 years and 7 months marked the darkest page of the island’s history. Putting past sorrow aside, Jeju today is transforming into a free international city to the level of Singapore.

【Taiwan Mountains】
Mountains and Flowers
Text – Jerome Tien

The endemic species Adenophora uehatae Yamamoto blooms at an altitude of 3,880 meters above the sea level on the Snow Mountain (Xueshan) of Taiwan. Owing to the temperature differences at high, medium, and low elevations, Taiwan gathers together the plants which belong to the tropical, temperate and frigid zones. The myriads of plants growing in this land make Taiwan a sort of “kingdom of flowers”.

【Taiwan’s Fruit】
Papaya
Ordinary, yet Tasty
Text – Julia Tsai
Photography – Liu Tzucheng

Papaya is an ordinary fruit that can be found year round in Taiwan. Since last 1960s, Taiwan started to import and hybridizing papayas of different origins to improve its quality. While the farmers succeeded in hybridization, they faced the challenge of fatal diseases and natural disasters. Insisting not to employ genetically modified products as an alternative, over the years, the farmers have developed unique techniques to resolve the problems.

【Volunteers at Work】
Three Thousand Kilometers of Dreams
A Self-taught Student’s Cycling Trip to the Silk Road
Text – Chang Muhsuan
Photography – Chang Jungan

Until he entered high school, Chang Muhsuan was a self-taught student. Last summer, before attending high school, for Chang Muhsung was a memorable one. Along his family he went on a cycling trip to the great Silk Road on a humanitarian mission. He rode to raise money which all went to charity in Hualien, on the eastern coast of Taiwan, to support poor aboriginal children. This was not only a trip that challenged his physical and mental strength but it was also an eye opening experience that widened Chang Muhsuan’s world.