At 4 p.m., Lin Kexiao, General Manager of Taishin Financial Holdings, in his crisp suit, hurriedly left his busy office and rushed to a publishing house on the other side of the city. Two hours later, he left again in the twilight, hurrying back to his hectic office to continue battling the aftermath of the financial crisis until late at night.
On this ordinary workday, why did a stressed-out financial CEO rush to the publishing house to meet an editor and the reporters waiting to interview him? This time, it wasn’t about national economic issues but something deeply personal—49-year-old Lin Kexiao was set to publish his first book, *Finding the Path* (published by Yuan-Liou Publishing), at the end of December. Of course, the new book isn’t about finance but about the soul-stirring seven-year journey he undertook into the deep mountains of Nan’ao in search of the “Shayun Trail.”
Attracted by the legend of the girl Shayun
The story began in 2002 when Lin Kexiao discovered from a book about exploring the mountains that his favorite piece, *Nocturne in the Night*, was actually adapted from a Japanese song called *The Bell of Shayun*. Behind it lay a sad true story: In 1938, 17-year-old Atayal girl Shayun (Sayion) helped a Japanese teacher carry luggage from her mountain hometown, Liuxing She, to Nan’ao. Near the end of the journey, on a rickety bridge, she slipped and fell into the raging waters during a heavy rainstorm and was never seen again.
“A dramatic and compelling legend has always particularly drawn me in, just like how I love searching for ancient trails in the mountains and seeking out historical remnants.” To find the Japanese patrol road that Shayun once walked, Lin Kexiao said he “shouldered a backpack, carried old maps surveyed during the Japanese era, picked up a machete, and hacked my way into this jungle filled with many former Atayal villages.”
Unexpectedly, on every weekend trip lasting two or three days, he would encounter new paths at every fork. The mountains weren’t high, but they were deep, and his exploration of the Nan’ao mountain area gradually shifted from linear routes to a network of trails. Asking around, coupled with several close calls being stranded in the mountains and rescued by kind-hearted people, this outsider who ventured into the territory of the Atayal Nan’ao group (Klesan) became good friends with the warm-hearted indigenous people. Through their family networks, one connection led to another, and he even got to know Shayun’s sister’s family and descendants. Of course, the “Shayun Trail,” hidden in overgrown grass and taking about four days for a round trip, was also step by step revealed by him.
Becoming Close Friends with the Atayal Indigenous People
Now, Lin Kexiao’s home is filled with decorations, machetes, and bows and arrows handmade by his Atayal friends. “Shayun is no longer the focus—it’s that I’ve made friends with this group of people who feel like family!” He went hunting with them in the mountains and invited them to Taipei for wild drinking sessions. Even more heartwarming is that during this time, he met a life partner willing to explore the mountains with him, and now he’s the father of two children.
Reflecting on his bond with the “mountains,” Lin Kexiao said his father loved climbing. As a child, when the family traveled to Alishan and strolled along the railway, they eventually reached the restricted mountainous area where they could go no further. “That was the first time I felt a strong, envious desire—I wanted to become someone capable of entering the deep mountains!”
Thus, from middle school, he began writing letters to authors of the magazine *Wilderness* to discuss mountaineering issues. In high school at Cheng Kung Senior High School, he and his seniors founded a “Mountaineering Club.” While studying economics at National Taiwan University, he even delved into technical rock climbing, organized Taiwan’s first rock climbing competition, and met the renowned mountaineer Gao Minghe, who later published *The Courage of a Mountain* (published by Aqua). “In that era when mountaineering wasn’t popular and accidents were frequent, I’m especially grateful for my father, who fully supported me.”
Finding the True Meaning of Mountaineering After 40
However, after undertaking several crazy multi-day treks and rushing between mountain peaks, one day he suddenly realized: “This speed-focused climbing is nothing but fleeting footprints. What have I really gained? I never want to climb like this again.”
It took until after he turned 40, and after undertaking this slow and steady journey along the Shayun Trail, for him to find the right way to connect with the mountains. “The intensity and depth of this kind of climbing had never been there before.” Lin Kexiao used a clever metaphor: previously, when entering the mountains, he still felt like an outsider, a “prey” surrounded by constant danger. But now, because of familiarity and the open acceptance of his Atayal friends, “my relationship with nature changed. The fear I used to feel in the dark depths of the mountains truly disappeared.”
During this year’s Lunar New Year, Lin Kexiao decided to put pen to paper and transform his emotions about the “Shayun Trail” into words. “At first, I didn’t know where to start, but then I decided not to follow chronology or characters but instead to structure it by location. Once I started writing, it took just a few months to finish.” Lin Kexiao speaks gently, thoughtfully, but his writing is “free-flowing,” with a lively, humorous, and approachable tone.
Applying a Mountaineering Mindset to Finance
Although it was his first time writing a book, Lin Kexiao has a romantic poetic side. In college, he joined a poetry club and wrote many poems about the mountains, especially admiring poet Zheng Chouyu “because when he wrote about mountains, you could tell he understood mountaineering.” Scholar Yang Nanjun, who traveled all over Taiwan’s high mountains, is also a writer he sincerely admires.
Yet, when the conversation shifts from the mountains back to his finance career, Lin Kexiao puts on a pained smile and says, “Who genuinely loves their job? Choosing this industry was accidental, but my love for the mountains is innate!” He also revealed that when he feels overwhelmed by work pressure, he uses the “zombie method” from when he’s climbing to the point of exhaustion. “At that moment, don’t think: Why am I climbing? Why am I working overtime? You just have to face the problem head-on and push through.” This mindset has carried him all the way to where he is today.