72-year-old Zhang Choumei, mother of Hakka singer Chen Yongtao, had settled in Sanzhi, Taipei County over ten years ago. Her husband and son often went fishing by the seaside. Having nothing to do, she started to pick seashells. “My family said I was strange. There were so many stones and I had to pick seashells. I didn’t know why either. It just occurred to me that there had to be something I could do with seashells. Once, I lined up some seashells to look and thought they were quite pretty. That’s how I began shell painting.”

Appreciation of works

Text and images are provided by Council for Hakka Affairs, Executive Yuan