Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above Page #2

---

What replaced them were the betel saplings

that grow money on them.

Now from above,

we see the excavator working on the ground.

It's making more space for another crop.

Tea. High mountain tea.

The trees here were mercilessly felled as well.

Oh, no, you can't say "mercilessly".

In a time like this, we should say,

they were felled "effectively".

It's the same with the cabbage fields.

Cabbage has always been grown in the plains.

Just because some gourmet said,

"The higher it's grown, the better it tastes."

People began to grow cabbage on hills

and turn forests into farmland.

What we can see is a process of

how beautiful mountains turned ugly.

But what we cannot see is even more terrifying.

When the trees

whose deep roots held soil and water

were pulled out of the ground

and replaced by crops with shallow roots,

it was,

in fact, the beginning of a tragedy.

Roads are built higher and higher

up in the mountains.

Our footprints go deeper and deeper

into the forests.

Bungalows with corrugated iron roofs

are built in the woods.

Baths made of cement are added

next to the valleys.

Wires and water pipes not only

cut across the rivers

but divide the sky in an arrogant manner.

Tall buildings rise up in conservation areas.

Hot spring hotels stop the flow of rivers.

What is left in the valley is a narrow stream.

When it pours down with rain,

the water has nowhere to flow.

But when our lives and properties

are threatened,

we always blame Nature

instead of ourselves.

We keep building fancy castles on the hills.

We refuse to admit

the pseudo European architecture

doesn't go well with the surroundings.

Furthermore, we refuse to admit

the land cannot bear

the strong impact brought upon

by a development on such a large scale.

But until disaster strikes

luxurious B&Bs continue to be built.

All due to the unstoppable flows of tourists

as vacationing, eating vegetable

and drinking tea grown in the mountains

have become trendy things to do.

No one realizes that he himself

is an accomplice in causing disasters.

The forests and mountains are hurt.

Again and again, heavy rain washes

the flesh and blood from their bodies.

In the end, they dropped into the valley.

When the river flows through the valley,

the mud is deposited and becomes sediment.

Therefore,

a reservoir becomes

a deposit of mud and stones.

Wanda Reservoir was also known as

Green Lake for its beautiful bluish green water.

Today the deposit of mud and rocks

in the reservoir is up to 80 million tons

which takes up almost 70% of

the capacity of the reservoir.

The beautiful bluish green water

is no longer seen.

What we see now is a pool of muddy water.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes