Taipei Flora Expo

A Trip to Taipei International Flower Expo

Hau-hsuen Zhong

　　To be helpful to our Cyberfair project, my family and I went to Taipei with a mood of joy and expectation, visiting Taipei International Flower Expo. In the exhibition venue, I spotted anthuriums of different species and colors, all of which made me greatly amazed. I also learned something about labor division of packaging technology, seedling cultivation, and export channels of anthuriums.　　

　　This trip was really an eye-opener for me. I also learned a lot from it, especially the ones behind the anthurium promotion. Their R & D and innovation not only push anthurium industry into joining the ranks of exquisite agriculture, making it a rising star in Taiwan flower markets, but occupy a position in the global flower markets, leading to the development of export industry and the labor division of the packaging industry. Their efforts have profited both the florists and job seekers. I personally expect that anthurium industry can be anther glory of Taiwan, offering the whole an opportunity to appreciate the beauty of MIT flowers.

　　The trip to Taipei International Flower Expo offered me a starting direction of my Cyberfair assignment. It also showed me how to compose the on-the-site questionnaire investigation items when revisiting the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative after the Chinese New Year.

The Flora and Auction Markets in Neimen

Chen Chi-lin and Peng YU-cheng

　　To enrich the information about anthuriums and broaden our views, we paid a visit to Mr. Lin Ching-shan of the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative. On arriving at the destination, Mr. Lin escorted us the cultivation greenhouse of anthuriums, giving us an introduction to the species, breeding, the main place of origin, sales seasons, and how to pick anthuriums. Through personal experience, I strongly appreciated the intentions, efforts and rigorous approach the florists showed when planting the anthuriums. For example, before entering the flower planting area, they had to dip their shoes in disinfectant. To save costs and increase profits, they bought coconut shells from coconut water vendors and made them into fertilizer. They also used medium made of coconut shells, helped pollination with brushes, and self-designed Styrofoam planting containers. After stepping out of the greenhouse, Mr Lin demonstrated to us how to bag and pack anthuriums, which was really a great learning. On the way back to school, we went to a nearby Taoist temple in Neimen, named Shun-hsien Temple, to pray for us to get the biggest prize for the project.　　

　　In the afternoon, we went to Kaohsiung International Flower Market. Manager Chao did the briefing for us, introducing to us the codes of flower species and flower production and marketing staff, the history of the flower market, and the business practices of purchasing, tallying, inspection, op, auction, and sub-grouping, and delivery control. After the briefing, I knew that what we called the flower auction market was OT-managed through Kaohsiung International Flower Market, playing as a medium outlet of flower products and a role of logistics. We further went to the site of flower auction, a place not open to common people. How lucky we were!

　　Today’s trip to the Cooperative really broadened our views, seeing a never appeared in textbooks. We also knew of several people sticking to and striving for MIT flower industry. Their prospective of pushing the MIT flower industry into the global market is admirable.

Liu Yiou-jun

　　On the way to Neimen, I clearly experienced the differences between a city and the country. In a city, the air is polluted and tall buildings are towering up. On our drive in the mountains, the temperature was dropping gradually, saying goodbye to the city heat. Occasionally, local flavor of the country came in from the bus windows. Living in the city for such a long time, we should sometimes breathe fresh air in the country. Because of the tense of doing the Cyberfair project, it was really very relaxing for me to do the interview in Neimen.

　　On arriving at our destination, the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative, the cultivation site of MIT anthuriums, the Cooperative director, Mr. Lin Ching-shan, warmly welcomed us. He took us to the cultivation room of anthuriums, which was not easily open to visitors. Afterwards, I realized that the flower of an anthurium is sprouting out from small dots of the spike. Mr. Lin told us that he started his business with only NT$ 20,000. Such a meager amount of money forced him to create infinite possibility from limited sources most of the time. What a remarkable man! Some of the flowers in the room were not for sale, so it was lucky for us to have this opportunity to see them.

　　Before we left, we suddenly saw an old granny of about seventy years old weaving among the flowers. Seeing our wonder, Mr. Lin said that in harvest seasons, she would show up willingly, helping take care of chores, which meant much to the Cooperative members. Whenever she appeared, all the members worked particular hard. The granny shyly told us that since she was actively enough to do the work, she would like to help, easing the youngsters’ burden. Her doing was really touching.

　　Paying an actual visit to the Cooperative made me realize the smallness of myself. Originally what I thought to be easy is not really that easy. I also understood that behind every successful story were countless people’s persevering efforts, which helped me form a little wish in my mind: I wanted to nicely complete this project. I also hoped that through the far-reaching characteristics of the Internet, I could help these taciturn florists promote their quality anthuriums to the whole world, offering the global villagers a chance to purchase their carefully cultivated anthuriums and an opportunity for the MIT brand created in Neimen, Kaohsiung to glow in the global market.

Chen Guan-ling

　　Led by the instructors, we Cyberfair team members went to Neimen to pay a visit to the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative. The director of the Cooperative, Mr. Lin Ching-shan, gave us detailed introduction while showing us how he was different from other florists. For example, for the sake of environmental protection, he developed the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of polystyrene pots. Besides, he designed different pots for different anthurium species. And because of the price, he devised a way to use ground coconut shells as fertilizer. He also taught us how to pick anthuriums. Grasping this rare opportunity, we took as many pictures with anthuriums of different color shades as possible. Afterwards, we went to the room used for the cleaning, packaging, and delivery of picked flowers. Though the room was not spacious, it was equipped with all the facilities it needed. Mr. Lin himself showed us the detailed procedures from folding the boxes to packing the flowers, really an eye-opener.

　　In the afternoon, we went to Hsiaokang to personally experience the procedures of flower auction. Manager Chao of the flower market showed us the history of the market, auction procedures, jargons used, and the differences of this flower market from other markets through briefing. On the site are three lanes respectively for the sale of three different flower species. When bidding for the target flowers, you have to be really quick. The delay of one or two seconds means bid failure. The flowers were sold out in a matter of seconds. This was really an exciting scene.

　　I’ve perceived and learned a lot from today’s visit. Personally picking flowers and packing them really made my eyes wide-opened. The best part of it was the interview with Mr. Lin. Because of his creativity and diligence, the Cooperative changed an originally pig raising Neimen into a place of origin of anthuriums with hint of fragrance, making Neimen a place with a locally potential industry. Hopefully, through this project we can promote anthuriums from Neimen to the global market. The publicity can manifest to the whole world that this small town in Taiwan can produce such gorgeously beautiful anthuriums through its florists’ and business’s innovation and diligence.

　Revisiting the Director

Lin Chen-hsing

　　I am in charge of the website installation in 2012 Cyberfair project. Frankly speaking, we’ve learned something about website installation at school, the problem of which is that what we learned is far less than enough that what is used in the industry. Luckily, Jun-hung, one of the instructors responsible for the Cyberfair project affairs, helped me out. Besides, I kept on searching free and useful information on the Internet, or borrowing relevant books from the library, or buying books from bookstores, all of which made me aware of the fact that designing web pages deserves a lot of knowledge. Since I am a student of Data-processing Department of Hsiungshang, I particularly value the intellectual copy rights. Thus, I won’t download pictures from the Internet; instead, I forced myself to be familiar with two useful tools, photoshop and PhotoImpact. Furthermore, to be able to design buttons on the upper menu used in the project, I have had a deeper understanding in the application of FLASH.　　

　　In an interview with Mr. Lin Ching-shan, I had better understanding about some manufacturing processes, the concept of marketing cooperation and cooperation, and some business strategies of the flower industry. From dialogues with him, I learned how to deal with people and realized the gap of information knowledge between urban and rural areas. Moreover, the viewpoints from the instructors on designing and presentation of our web pages make me gain a lot.

.　　Taking part in the Cyberfair project really makes me grow a lot. I’ve learned much from doing it; for example, assisted by Ms. Chang and Ms. Li, I learned the formats of composing projects from a large amount of data which made me totally in a loss, how to speed up data processing, and how to completely present the correct information. During the process of doing the project, I experienced the importance of team spirit and learned how to establish a relationship of mutual trust with others. I really hope that I can have the opportunity to participate in similar activities like this one.

Sung Yi

.　　Six team members and two instructors went to the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative at three p.m. today for a visit there. When we arrived there, we saw a worker of the Cooperative was cleaning some flowers. Grasping the chance, we asked the worker (a female worker) something about the cleaning job. The aunt offered us the chance of flower cleaning while we were asking her one question after another. Seeing that it was a rare occasion, we took turns doing the flower cleaning job. It seemed easy when we first watched her do the job. But when we did it ourselves, it always went against our will; either the water flow was too big or too small. Finally I realized that it took experience to do the job well.

　　Later, we started interviewing Mr. Lin about issues on the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative and himself. He shared with us some of his own personally experience and ideas from one of his professors in Shih Chien University Kaohsiung Campus. In the professor’s opinion, nowadays students were too shy to express themselves. A student, taking marketing course, he thought, should be much more ambitious in conducting interviews and maneuvering conversational skills, especially in Q & A skills because they were seniors in college. Through this incident, Mr. Lin expressed his expectations towards this modern society. He praised us high school juniors for doing better interviewing job than the said college seniors.

　　Finally, he gave us each several anthuriums as souvenirs. We were really grateful that he led us to this enlightening understanding, which was truly a beautiful and memorable experience.

Li jiang-fu

　　In the afternoon, Mr. Hsie drove us to Neimen to pay a visit to Mr. Lin again. Though the second visit, we still had many questions for him to answer. He asked an auntie responsible forr flower cleaning job to demonstrate to us how to clean anthuriums. Because of being unable to have a control on water pressure, the unsteady water flow made me feel it difficult. Mr. Lin told us that the Green Flower Marketing Cooperative is aimed to help the farmers, making them lead a better life and charging them no extra fee for selling the flowers, which is beneficial to them. He also informed us his mental progress when he held a part time job in We- Chuan Company and the hardship he experienced when he started hid business, making us k now that innovation needs endless efforts for us to research.

　　After this interview, I learned more about business skills. Among them, the most important one is to build solid interpersonal relationships, which can help us extend and expand our business. Here I want t thank Mr. Lin for his precious time. I also want to show my instructors for their taking us to interview Mr. Lin and teaching us how to do the project well.