Snow has fallen on Nantou County’s 1000m-high mountain region during the recent extreme cold snap. Even the Songboling tea plantation area in Mingjian Township — approximately 500m above sea level — was blanketed in an unprecedented amount of sleet, which caused frost damage to the tea leaves.
For this reason, when tea growers last Monday saw the sun come out and the temperature rise, they one after the other headed to their tea gardens and rushed to pick the tea leaves, then immediately after started daylight withering and other tea processing work.
Due to limited space at the tea drying area, aside from the public square in front of Shoutian Temple, the slow-lanes for motorcycles on Mingsong Road — Songboling’s connection to the outside word — and other important roads, were reduced to becoming spaces for drying tea leaves, turning them into “tea leaf roads.” Motorcycle riders were forced to vie for road space with car traffic, surrounded by danger on all sides.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者謝介裕
Nantou County Police Bureau’s traffic section says tea growers had no choice but to quickly pick tea leaves due to the cold weather and made use of roads to dry leaves during an emergency situation in order to reduce their losses. However, there can be no temporary exclusion from enforcement of the law and according to the regulations of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act, roads cannot be used as a place of work, say the police. Offenders may be fined between NT$1,200 and NT$2,400, and the police reminded members of the public to take heed.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY EDWARD JONES)
日前超級寒流在南投縣一千公尺以上山區下雪，連海拔高度約五百公尺的名間鄉松柏嶺茶區，也飄降前所未見的冰霰，造成茶葉嚴重寒害。
因此上周一茶農一見太陽露臉，氣溫回升，便紛紛前往茶園搶收茶葉，隨即展開日光萎凋等製茶工作。
惟因曬茶場有限，除受天宮廣場出現許多茶農曬茶奇景外，松柏嶺對外的名松路等要道，供機車行駛的慢車道也淪為曬茶場，使得道路彷彿變成「茶葉大道」，機車騎士被迫與汽車爭道，險象環生。
縣警局交通隊表示，雖然茶農因寒害才不得不搶收，在非常時期占用道路曬茶，降低損失，但執法並無過渡期，依道路交通管理處罰條例規定，道路不能作為工作場所，違者可處一千二百元至二千四百元不等，提醒民眾注意。
(自由時報記者謝介裕、陳鳳麗)
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