The honorary chairman of Taoyuan County’s Society of Natural Life Education, Chen Yang-sheng (陳仰聖), has spent nearly NT$300,000 purchasing the photography equipment needed to photograph 100 flowers endemic to Taiwan and surrounding areas to woo back his ex-girlfriend.
Chen and his ex-girlfriend, “Kai Xin Mei Mei” (開心妹妹), knew each other for about a year when they started a relationship, but Kai Xin Mei Mei decided to end it.
In an attempt to persuade her to reconsider, Chen — who originally only took pictures of birds and insects — began taking pictures of flowers which he then posted onto her Facebook page.
Photo: Lo Cheng-ming, Taipei Times
In March Chen began his botanic endeavors seeking to show Kai Xin that he still loved her.
In one example he wrote on the caption of the photo: “I give you a large flower, the glossyshower senna, today; hopefully we can see them together sometime.”
“People might not understand what I mean, but she knows,” Chen said.
On Aug. 23, Chen posted a video clip on YouTube which showed photos of 100 kinds of flowers, a picture of Kai Xin Mei Mei and music in an attempt to show her that he was still serious.
However, the woman simply said “thanks” and seemed unmoved by Chen’s efforts.
Despite the setback and the certainty that the relationship was finally over, Chen said he still loved natural life and its many wonders.
There are more than 5,000 flowers which are endemic to Taiwan and that number continues to grow as new species are discovered, Chen said, adding that he hoped that one day he would have taken the pictures of 5,000 flowers.
Chen acknowledges the difficulty of the project, pointing out that flowers, such as the common aspidistra, are becoming increasingly rare to find, adding that, for example, the Lycoris aurea herb can only be found on Keelung Island, which is only accessible by boat.
“At least I still have the goal of taking the pictures of 1,000 flowers over three years and I will try my best to achieve that,” Chen said.
As of Sunday, Chen had already taken photos of 126 flowers and is continuing to take pictures of the flowers despite his unsuccessful attempt to win back the woman’s heart.
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