Is the yellow duck in Taoyuan peeling? Landscape art and ecological beauty outshine commercial flair

By Brandon Chang

The venue for the yellow duck in Taoyuan has been widely criticized. Yes, you heard that right—The pond area has nothing much around it, because these ponds are meant for irrigating rice paddies, not serving as performance venues.Ponds are a major feature of Taoyuan County, and the reason the area doesn’t often flood is also thanks to the numerous large and small ponds scattered throughout, which at their peak numbered as many as 8,846 (both public and private).

These features of Taoyuan, leftovers from the agricultural era, are also the unsung heroes protecting the region from flooding. People might find the power poles an eyesore, but unlike Taipei or Kaohsiung, Taoyuan hasn’t yet undergrounded its cables.Taoyuan ranks second nationwide in tax revenue generation (only behind Taipei City) and second-to-last in local government debt (only ahead of Chiayi County, excluding Kinmen and Lienchiang). Yet, the county receives the second-lowest amount of central government funding among all regions.

▲ With power poles lined up along the roadside, the yellow duck on display in Taoyuan always looks a bit off. (Photo / Reporter You..., file photo)

So, sorry if the power poles across Taoyuan block your view of the duck. Our tax money goes to other counties and cities, leaving us without the budget to underground the cables. While everyone’s complaining about how the airport MRT line direct to Taipei’s city center still isn’t open, sorry again—but the airport is in our county, and we actually have a harder time getting in than people from Taipei.There were three possible ponds for placing the duck, and its creator, Florentijn Hofman, chose the most remote one because he said it was “a place without commercial flavor.”

The Taoyuan Land Art Festival aims to highlight the region’s “landscape” characteristics. The three large floating “installation artworks” on display are just one part of the event. Among them, Yayoi Kusama’s piece “Footprints of Life” has never been loaned out in its entirety before, but she agreed to the full set being showcased only after learning about Taoyuan’s pond features and the event’s environmental and ecological focus. Choi Jeong Hwa’s work “Breathing Flower” also echoes the lotus flowers that bloom every summer in Taoyuan.

▲ The Taoyuan Land Art Festival also features Yayoi Kusama, the “dot master,” with her work “Footprints of Life” (left), and a large installation artwork “Breathing Flower” by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa (right). (Photo / Reporter You..., file photo)

While everyone criticizes people on the other side of the strait for lacking cultural refinement, maybe take a moment to reflect on yourself. You may have traveled to many places, visited Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, or Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center, and seen plenty of exhibitions—but did you really understand their meanings, or were you just skimming the surface?If you’re looking for a yellow duck dripping with commercialism, you might want to wait another half month—it’s headed to Keelung next.

But if you’d like to see a different kind of duck, after your visit, you can head to Yong’an Fishing Port for seafood and sunset views, bike along the Green Corridor, check out Taiwan’s westernmost and second-tallest white lighthouse at Guanyin Beach, soak in the “beauty spring hot springs” at Dongsen Villa with its forest skywalk and tree bridge, and explore Daxi Old Street, Cihu Lake, Shimen Reservoir, Little Wulai Skywalk, Dayuan Miracle Coffee... From mountains to sea to even airplanes, plus Hakka stir-fries and goose meat dishes—we’ve got it all. Welcome to Taoyuan!

● The author of this article is Brandon Chang. The views expressed do not represent those of this publication.
Source:Brandon Chang’s Facebook