A-Ji-Shi Plays Tour Guide for a Pilgrimage to the “Rice Homeland” Fuyuan Community in Chishang, Taitung County - Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation, MOA

To promote rural regeneration in the Taichung area, today (22nd) the Celebrities Tour Guide activity was held at the Fuyuan Community, Chishang Township. At 13:50, a visit to the community was organized, for which the renowned chefs Zheng Yan-chi (widely known as A-Ji-Shi) and Wu Bing-cheng (nicknamed Electric Cooker Little Prince) were invited to take those involved to tour the rice-producing Fuyuan Community. Soil and Water Conservation Bureau Taichung Branch chief Zheng Tai-shan invited the national banquet chef A-Ji-Shi and Electric Cooker Little Prince Wu Bing-cheng to the community, in hopes that this would constitute part of his efforts in village industry rejuvenation and that the knowledge of rice products could be imparted and shared for the prosperity of village industries and the sustainable development of the village.

The theme of the Fuyuan Community rural regeneration in Chishang Township is “The Village of Farming and Artistic Cultures Comes Back” as Fuyuan is widely known as the “Homeland of Champion Rice.” This time the Celebrities Tour Guide activity was a tour through the community by bike. The journey began with Chishang’s first water well at the Chishang Train Station, followed by the nostalgic Chishang Lunch Box Cultural History Museum rebuilt from old-style railroad cars and the Do Re Mi Story Museum, which is a renovated time-honored rice milling factory combined with the local rice milling factory in Fuyuan. These have sparked a comeback through a young and vibrant image. The musuem houses a 50-year-old but still well-preserved wooden rice milling machine that is three floors high and can produce 1.5 tons of unpolished rice per hour, in addition to a rice milling area and story zone. Finally, they visited the Zheng Ming-sheng Blacksmithing Workshop, where traditional blacksmithing skills are integrated with farming village cultures. This not only sucessfully passes on the precious skills and but also displays the new dimensions of village culture. In addition, there is also the Puffed Rice Bakery. The mothers in the community used the Chishang rice to develop the one-of-a-kind rice pizza and set up an oven exclusively for pizza making.

Ji-Shi and Wu Bing-cheng exchanged ideas with the particiants and introduced new concepts for the rice cuisine culture of Fuyuan Community. People were welcome to experience the simple, passionate and unique rice fragrance that characterizes Fuyuan Community of Chishang Township.