A great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) said he decided to build the headquarters of his business’ Chinese operations in his ancestral hometown in Zhejiang Province in a bid to trace his roots.
Speaking on Friday at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Chinese headquarters of Dem Inc in the city of Fenghua — the birthplace of Chiang Kai-shek — Demos Chiang (蔣友柏) said he plans to investigate the roots of his family over the next 15 years.
“What I did in the past 15 years in Taiwan was to create a story on the identity, use the story to build a brand and establish appeal through the brand,” said Demos Chiang, who founded the design studio in 2003.
The studio has designed products for the FamilyMart convenience store chain in Taiwan, the Chiang Family Culture Park in Taoyuan and several other companies.
The firm also operates a brand consulting firm in Shanghai set up in 2008 and has worked with several large clients, such as China UnionPay and Shanghai Jahwa Group.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held as part of Taiwan-Zhejiang Cooperation Week that started on Wednesday last week.
This is the fourth year the Chinese province has hosted the event, which targets Taiwanese businesses.
The ceremony also marked the launch of a new industrial park planned by Dem Inc for the Chinese city, called Chance Creative Center, which seeks to attract Taiwanese businesses in the design, television, film and animation sectors.
Fenghua Mayor Gao Haomeng (高浩孟) said he was happy to see Dem introduce innovation to the industrial park, which the city sees as an engine to drive the development of cultural and creative industries.
Set to open in 2018, the industrial park covers 8.19 hectares, while Dem’s Chinese headquarters is to cover 5,000m2, according to local authorities.
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