Nantou Snow-Treading & Plum-Blossom Festival Kicks Off with a Thousand-Person Plum-Sushi Relay

Xinxian Elementary School performs the Bunun tribe’s eight-part harmony and battle reports. (Photo by Liao Zhihuang)

Chen Zhengf [character missing], Deputy Magistrate of Nantou County (3rd from left), presents the Special Prize plaque for the Winter Tea Competition to tea farmer Huang Jiadong. (Photo by Liao Zhihuang)

The Snow-Treading & Plum-Blossom Festival kicks off, with a thousand-person relay making plum sushi. (Photo by Liao Zhihuang)

The Nantou Flower Carnival "Snow-Treading & Plum-Blossom" commenced on the 23rd at the Mei-zhi Dream Factory of the Xinyi Township Farmers' Association, with a thousand-person plum-sushi relay as the opening act, along with awards for tea competition winners. The festival’s highlights — husband-and-wife back-carrying and oak-barrel rolling competitions — will take place on January 7, 2018, at Liujia Plum Garden in Niuchongkeng.

Chen Zhengf [character missing], Deputy Magistrate of Nantou County, former COA Minister Chen Zhiching, County Councilor Xiao Zhiquan, and Xinyi Township Chief Shi Qiang, among others, kicked off the event and participated in the “Plum-Sushi Relay,” experiencing sushi-making firsthand.

The opening ceremony featured performances of the eight-part harmony and battle reports by Xinxian Elementary School, as well as drum performances by Hualong Elementary School. 3,000 garden tickets were given out on-site and were all claimed by the public in less than an hour.

Chen Zhengf [character missing] stated that the “Flowers Blooming Across Nantou” event has already begun, with plum blossoms in Xinyi Township expected to be in full bloom in January. He welcomed everyone to visit Nantou for flower viewing. He also commended the Xinyi Township Farmers' Association for continuous innovation, cross-industry collaboration, and creating industrial advantages. In addition, the tea quality in Nantou County has improved, with pesticide inspection pass rates exceeding 90%, and relevant certification labels are available. Everyone is welcome to visit Nantou for flower appreciation, tea tasting, and hot spring bathing.

Huang Zhihui, General Manager of Xinyi Township Farmers' Association, and Li Chongqing, General Manager of Jiji Township Farmers' Association, launched the “Plum-Sushi Relay” experience for the first time. Using crisp plums from Xinyi Township, paired with the fruit hailed as a “treasure of fruits” — red pitayas from Jiji Township — they created fruity sushi rice, along with ingredients like the Jiji Mountain Banana, served to the Japanese Emperor, to conduct a “Make Plum Sushi Yourself, A Thousand People Create a Delicious Feast.” The atmosphere on-site was lively.

Awards were given for the Yushan High-Altitude Winter Premium Tea Evaluation Competition, with Huang Jiadong winning the Special Prize and his son Huang Mingjiang taking the First-Class First Prize. Awards were also given for the National Winter Shoot Tea Processing Workshop Evaluation Competition, the Semi-Fermented Tea Processing Technology Competition, and the Tea Baking Technology Training and Competition.

The Snow-Treading & Plum-Blossom husband-and-wife back-carrying and oak-barrel rolling competitions offer rich prizes. Huang Zhihui, General Manager of Xinyi Township Farmers' Association, said that the top three winners of the husband-and-wife back-carrying competition will receive the “Mala Sang Dark Plum Wine,” which won the gold award in the 2017 Executive Yuan Council of Agriculture Rural Winery Wine Evaluation. The first-place winner can receive a number of wine bottles equivalent to their wife’s weight in kilograms, the second-place winner gets half that amount, and the third-place winner receives one-third. If the wife carries the husband and wins, the prize is doubled. (Excessive drinking is harmful to health)