Budai Salt Field Introduction
Buddha began developing salt fields during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. By the third year of the Daoguang era, salt merchant Wu Shangxin further expanded the salt fields to form the Baijia Salt Field, laying the foundation for the salt production industry in Buddha. During the Japanese occupation, the salt fields in Buddha became more mature, turning the then-Buddha Port into an important salt transportation hub, exporting Buddha's salt to China and Japan. The bright white salt fields once held a "platinum" level of industrial status. Like salt fields in other regions, the manual salt harvesting has mostly been replaced by mechanized salt drying, leading to a decline in the salt industry in Buddha. The vast salt fields no longer showcase scenes of salt drying or harvesting, and the small trains that used to traverse the salt fields have long since retired. The entrance sign to the Buddha Salt Mountain, titled "Millennium Buddha," is a work by internationally renowned sculptor Li Liangren, who spent two months designing it and returned to his hometown several times to immerse the creativity into the inspirations drawn from the passage of time and memories. The nearly seven-meter high piece, with a five-meter wide base, is composed of copper plates arranged in wavy lines, a sail-like hand shape, and a streamlined top wing, symbolizing the ocean, sunshine, passion, and life. The copper sculpture also features abstract representations of local specialties such as fish, salt, oysters, and crabs, as well as the sun that crystallizes seawater into salt. Through the play of light and shadow created by the sculpture’s hollow design, it infinitely extends the viewer's imagination and perspective. (Source: Newidea Issue 190, Article by Wu Deliang) Taiwan Salt Biotech Plant No. 3
