Eighty-five-year-old Tseng Shui-lung’s (曾水龍) neighbors say he holds a doctorate in wood, despite being illiterate.
Historian Lin Sheng-tung (林勝童) said that the area around Houjin in Greater Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓) where Tseng lives was rich with phoebe zhennan wood, as well as longan trees, 50 years ago, which provided many in the area a meager living from collecting it for firewood.
Tseng said firewood picking and selling helped him sustain his family when he was young and later on, his own family, as well.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
It was tough living because a whole ox-cart of firewood would sell for only enough money to keep the family for a few days, but if no one did the work, the family went hungry, Tseng said.
Although he stopped selling firewood after the use of gas as a source of fuel became widespread, Tseng said he nonetheless kept up the habit of splitting firewood to boil his water.
“Poking around for firewood is a pastime for me now,” Tseng said.
Tseng is very familiar with all types of firewood and knows what kind of wood is best for each kind of fire.
Zhongzhi stores favored longan wood to fuel the fires for their steamers Tseng said, adding that that was also the favored firewood type for chicken roasting and clay oven roasting, which have regained public favor in past years.
The best type of wood to burn to make charcoal is the Formosa acacia, while teak and wood from mango trees were considered great for chopping blocks, Tseng said, adding that camphor was considered the best source material for sculpting.
Having relied on wood to sustain his family and his entire life, Tseng said trees held a special place in his heart.
Even though his job was to fell trees and sell them, he said that he held the highest respect for trees and believed that they had spirits of their own.
Due to his beliefs, he did not fell trees unless they were already sick and withering and would hold special ceremonies before trimming their branches.
“It is sad that the [CPC Corp, Taiwan] Fifth Naphtha Cracker has caused many of the trees to be cut down in its wake, depriving the younger generation in Houjin of the pleasing sight of nature and forestry,” Tseng said.
Saying that industrial pollution over the past half-century had deprived younger generations growing up in Houjin of experiencing the beautiful forests of his childhood, he added that he hoped the township would help restore the forests.
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