Shuang Tan Agri-tourism Area

Ceramic pinching, wood carving, blue dye, dainty Hakka cuisine, to encounter arts and culture in mountain hamlet; play with hands-on crafts, appreciate arts with ease, you will have to slow down the pace when visiting Sanyi Shuangtan.

The toponym of “Shuangtan (double pond)” should signify the existence of two ponds in the region. However, as time brings great changes to the world, the interconnected “Wang Ye Pond” and “Bo Gong Pond” which situated in Shuangtan Village of Sanyi Township in ancient times have long disappeared. There leaves only the place name to commemorate the stretch of water. Although the breathtaking waterscape is no longer there, Shuangtan has become a pleasant, serene and elegant mountain village where local craftsmen and artists assemble and refine the feature of nature, the characteristics of the living culture of Hakka people and crop production through art creations.

Ceramic art experience program launched by Chun Tian Yao (Spring Kiln) is suitable for both young and old. Even children are having lots of fun.

Chun Tian Yao (Spring Kiln), Sanyi’s native traditional kiln factory is built out of red bricks. The houses and kiln reproduce the lifestyle and features of villagers’ simplicity and spiritual contentment in ancient times.
The father-in-law of Tu, Chen-Yi, the landlady of Chun Tian Yao (Spring Kiln), is fascinated by the living environment of the countryside. He wishes that the visitors can be as comfortable and relaxed just like returning home in the country when they visit Chun Tian Yao. Hence they map out ecological trail and paddy fields where their favorite non-toxic rice is grown to allow visitors to eat confidently at the back of the red brick building. To popularize ceramic industry, Chun Tian Yao (Spring Kiln) initiates beginner’s ceramic experience program through which visitors are invited to try out pottery wheel-throwing. Under the guidance of kiln staff, the participants can begin to make the potter’s clay into their preferred bowl or cup shape after sitting down properly in front of the potter's wheel. Then the instructors will help with the fettling, glazing and kiln firing. The affordable fees allow both adults and children to make their own pottery cup and bowl. Moreover, one should never miss the Hakka prix fixe menu that is exclusively served on holidays when paying a visit to Chun Tian Yao (Spring Kiln). Among all the dishes, there is one called the “wood-fired urn chicken”. This urn roasted chicken is freshly-roasted by firewood to produce the authentic, enticing flavor. You cannot be late but have to be early if you wish to enjoy this dish or else the lip-smacking taste will be lost upon cooling down. Many tourists from the city enjoy the tranquil pastoral life at Chun Tian Yao (Spring Kiln). Though one has to live on bread and water, their restless mind is soothed by living free from worldly care.

“Sanyi Painted Wood Duck” is a woodcarving factory that everyone is likely to linger away the whole day once walking in. The entire shop is teemed with various kinds of cute and adorable woodcarving painted animal figures that every visitor cannot help but to exclaim, “This is just lovable.” The comprehensive collection of woodcarving figures whose sizes can be as small as a palm of one's hand and as big as a woodcarving for decoration inside the house comprises up to 1000 types. Woodcarving is the most representative and typical local artistic industry of Sanyi. Sanyi Painted Wood Duck was originally a shop which devoted exclusively to making large-scale wood sculptures and wooden hunting ducks for export sales to America and European countries in the past. Along with the recession of fad in the 1980s, the stockpile of wood ducks was left behind. It was not until Li Man, the sixth daughter-in-law who took charge of the family later on, tried to transform and develop the business into a tourism factory that the factory was given the opportunity to start afresh. Sanyi Painted Wood Duck attracts the visitors by launching color-painted animal biscuits DIY experience program. The visitors are encouraged to learn more about Sanyi’s woodcarving industry and invited to paint out the ideal look of the adorable animals in their mind before bringing the wooden sculptures home. Li Man hopes that the woodcarving industry of Sanyi can be continually passed on to future generations so that this craft will never disappear.

Grab a paint brush and paint out wooden animal biscuits at Sanyi Painted Wood Duck; everybody can be a design master.

Speaking of Sanyi’s blue dye, Zhuo Ye Cottage is known far and wide. The owner Zhuo, Ming-Pang plants bluegrass in the mountains and develops products related to food, clothing and housing based on cloth dyeing before building up ultimately the new business model of agricultural recreation. Revolving around blue dyeing, Zhuo Ye Cottage offers lodgings, blue dye experience program and vegetarian dining services. Zhuo, Ming-Pang created Zhuo Ye Cottage based on the idea of a village in the first place. The guesthouse rooms are in different styles: there are barns and green buildings, the ideas of which are deliberated and incubated by Zhuo, Ming-Pang before the plan is carried out. Upon believing that everything is born of water as every household in the hamlet had a pool to feed fish and ducks or taken for fire control and water treatment in former times, he particularly makes a room and put up a pond is put up for raising ducks in the restaurant. The purpose is to reproduce the reminiscent atmosphere of rural area. Apart from regular blue dye experiences, Zhuo Ye Cottage also provides “Shuangtan dyeing tour – a one-day food and agriculture education experience tour”, which introduces all kinds of fascinating hues of Taiwan and takes visitors into the colorful world of foods and plants to recognize the natural colors that can be used for cloth dyeing.

Visitors who participate in Zhuo Ye Cottage’s experience program will be led to the natural dye plant garden to explore the dyeing secrets of bluegrass.

Lin, Wen-Yuan and Peng, Fei-Yu couple, the leader of “Shan Ban Ciao Mask Cultural Village” had been engaged in woodcarving works before throwing themselves into leisure industry and starting guesthouse and farm business as they returned home for taking over the management of family’s farmland and became farmers. Owing to their passion for and deep understanding of Beijing opera facial masks, Lin, Wen-Yuan and Peng, Fei-Yu converted the basic carving skills, which should be learnt and possessed by wood sculpture beginners, into improvised painting experience suitable for the general population and parent-child.
Confronted by the invasion of SARS afterwards, the business of the farm bogged down because of the sharp decline in visitors. The Lin, Wen Yuan couple, feeling quite helpless, started to paint Beijing opera facial masks every day until the entire wall was filled with their facial designs without knowing. They hung up the masks inside the house, which unexpectedly turned into one of the major spatial features of Shan Ban Ciao. In addition to offering guesthouse accommodations and facial design painting programs, Shan Ban Ciao Mask Cultural Village also welcomes visitors to come for experiencing the life in the country. Peng, Fei-Yu’s son has joined young farmers’ returning to their hometown for startup in recent years. Having devoted himself to natural grazing, Peng, Fei-Yu’s son introduces the brand of “Qi’s native eggs”: all eggs are delivered directly from the farm. It is expected that through the integration of farm tour and small farmer production, a distinctive rural trip can be offered to the visitors.