Chen Wen-yu (陳文郁), supplier of nearly 25 percent of the world’s watermelon seeds, died on Dec. 7 at the age of 88.
A funeral service for Chen, who developed the world’s first seedless watermelon in 1962, is scheduled to be held tomorrow in Greater Kaohsiung.
Chen earned the name the “Watermelon King” because he produced more than 200 varieties of watermelons during his 44-plus years in the business.
Photo: Hsieh Wen-hua, Taipei Times
“My goal is to create the world’s most delicious watermelon,” he once said. “If you taste such a watermelon, you will not seek other watermelons.”
Born and raised in a rural village in Tainan’s Yongkang District (永康), Chen was very aware of the hardship farmers experienced and decided when he was 14 that he would study agricultural technology to help improve farmers’ lives.
With funding from the US Agency for International Development, he pursued advanced studies in horticulture at Chiba University in Japan. He later returned to Taiwan and founded the Kaohsiung-based Known-You Seed Co with his friends in 1968.
The name “Known-You” can be transliterated as “friends of farmers” in Mandarin.
Chen’s company focuses on developing new varieties of watermelon seeds, but has also created more than 500 new vegetable and flower varieties.
“It takes good seedlings to produce good varieties. We provide farmers with good seeds to help them reap better harvests,” he said.
These seeds “are provided to farmers in Taiwan and around the world,” the company said in a statement after Chen’s death.
The company has a seedling farm in the US and branch offices in China, India and several Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand.
Chen also set up a foundation to help improve local farmers’ welfare and funded the establishment of a hospital in Myanmar to provide free medical services for farmers there.
In recognition of Chen’s contributions to agriculture and farmers’ welfare, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last year conferred on him the Order of Brilliant Star with Violet Grand Cordon.
Chen was also featured on the Discovery Channel in 2006 as one of six most influential Taiwanese.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS