Can you recall Uncle Kunbin’s image in the movie “Let It Be: The Last Rice Farmers”? The movie records how Taiwan’s geographical characteristics, an island of many mountains yet few plains, have impacted the agricultural condition and captures the farmer’s diligent and laborious faces. By watching the movie either in a cinema or on DVD, the audience can understand the simple life philosophy of this land. Nowadays, however, animal power is replaced with machine power; the ubiquitous scenes of buffalo plowing are now but dissolving memory of the past. Back in the Japanese colonial period, the Office of the Governor-General’s highest policy was “industrial Japan and agricultural Taiwan,” which laid the foundation for Taiwan’s agricultural development. In an era when image technology was yet budding, research data from fields such as soil science, vegetation science, and agricultural economy were preserved through old-time methods. Such research data restore the distinctive styles in different eras, and await for discovery and appreciation. 

Syaman Rapongan listens attentively to a familiar voice pouring from the speakers — a piece of memory that his father has left behind. The melodious singing unfolds like the steady ocean tide, enchanting listeners with its clarity. Each wave seems to reflect the lives of Lanyu islanders, and the foam brought in by the tide remains on the shore like the memories of days gone by. The song is carried away by the ocean breeze, leaving behind lingering regrets and remembrance.