It was in the mid-1990s that Sanyi became more than simply a point on a map and became the center of the nation's woodcarving industry, attracting art lovers and collectors from around the world. By the time the Sanyi Museum of Wood Sculpture (三義木雕博物館) opened its doors in 1995, the town had come to the attention of well-known artists including Ju Ming (朱銘). The artist has since donated several of the wood sculptures he created while working in Sanyi to the museum.
Of course, while the town has prospered, the local camphor tree population has dwindled. Which is why local woodcarvers are now required to purchase their wood from registered dealers located in Alishan (阿里山) and Ilan (宜蘭), where camphor trees are protected and strict records are kept of logging. According to Hsiao, illegal logging does take place, but he says the scale of such logging is still relatively small.
Purchasing a work carved out of illegally felled wood is the least of the quandaries facing any tourist to Sanyi at present, however. In recent years the number of stores packing their shelves with cheaper camphor carvings made in China and selling them to unsuspecting tourists rather than the more expensive local products has increased dramatically. Sanyi wood carvers, however, don't feel their livelihood is under any immediate threat.
"It's not a big problem at the moment. People still come here to buy locally made products even though the imported sculptures are cheaper. When people come here they want to take home a piece of Sanyi, not Fujian Province, where most of the cheap carvings you see here come from," Hsiao said.
"Sanyi has been the center of woodcarving for hundreds of years and it's not simply going to disappear because of this. [Sanyi] will always attract people who are after unique and well-crafted wood carvings. The town is growing and the festival gets bigger every year. What more proof do you need?"
While the museum is the focal point of the festival, other activities spill out onto the streets of Sanyi. The plaza adjacent to the museum will play host to a series of special wood sculpture exhibitions and performances. And in addition to the numerous woodcarving stores that litter the town, local carvers and collectors can be found in the parking lot of the West Lake Resortopia (西湖渡假村) and both selling carvings and giving demonstrations of carving techniques.
What: Sanyi Wood Carving Festival (
Where: Sanyi, Miaoli County (
When: Until Wednesday, June 3
Contact the Tourism Bureau at tel: (02) 2349-1700 for more information about the event.
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