Budai Salt Field (Budai Salt Mountain) Introduction
Boudai started developing salt fields during the Qing Dynasty under Emperor Qianlong. By the third year of the Daoguang era, the wealthy salt merchant Wu Shangxin opened the Yancheng Bajia, laying the foundation for Boudai's salt-drying industry. During the Japanese colonial period, Boudai's salt fields became more mature, making Boudai Port a significant port for salt transportation, exporting salt to China and Japan. The pristine white salt fields once had a "platinum" level industrial status. Like salt fields in other regions, the manual labor of salt workers has mostly been replaced by mechanized salt drying, leading to a decline in Boudai's salt industry. The expansive salt fields no longer exhibit scenes of salt drying or harvesting, and the small trains that used to traverse them have long retired. The entrance monument to the Salt Mountain in Boudai, "Millennium Boudai," was designed over two months by internationally renowned sculptor Li Liangren, who returned to his hometown multiple times to infuse creativity into the inspiration drawn from the past and memories. Standing nearly seven meters high with a base width of five meters, the entire piece is composed of copper plate segments arranged in wave-like patterns, hand shapes, and streamlined wings, symbolizing the ocean, sunshine, passion, and life. The copper sculpture also features abstract representations of Boudai's specialties, such as fish, salt, oysters, and crabs, as well as the sun that crystallizes seawater into salt. The light and shadow variations created by the sculpture's cutouts infinitely extend the viewer's imagination and perspective. (Source: New Idea, No. 190, by Wu Deliang) Taiwan Salt Biotech Plant No. 3
