Wood Decoration

Wood Carving

　The Vietnam War occurred in 1960 symbolized a turning point for wood carving industry in Sanyi. At that time, wood carving workers became more skilled in using engraving tools. Some even designed their own specialized tools according to different features of the wood and usage and asked ironworks to make the tools for them. Craftsmen attempted to carve different animals and totems according to their own idea and these works were quite similar to wood carving works created by aborigines around the world as they are original, simple, straight-forward and totemic. American soldiers stationed in Taiwan were fond of these art pieces and frequently visited Sanyi for these wood carvings. Liu, the owner of Baiji Store was a clever businessman and he made a deal with taxi drivers near the military base. Taxi drivers would be rewarded every time they took American soldiers to Baiji Store. Consequently, whenever the American soldiers were off-duty, they would visit Sanyi and purchased wood carvings in Sanyi as gifts to take home for their families and friends in the US. Words of mouth was the best marketing for wood carving industry in Sanyi. Within ten years, Sanyi became a well-known tourist attraction for find great wood carvings as gifts.

　Meanwhile, the economy of Japan became to recover after the War and people had high purchasing power. As Taiwan was once a colony of Japan, the Japanese people frequently visited Sanyi to buy wood carvings. With their own business network, the wood carving products were sold to other countries. From 1966 to 1973, wood carving industry in Sanyi reached its peak when 70% of the population were involved in wood carving industry. In fact, one could even find three villages where the entire population was involved in wood carving and the street of wood carving shops was about 1km long. At that time, clerks of these shops were required to speak simple English to receive foreign guests and all studios were established in suburban area.