The last silkworm farmer in Taiwan, Tu Chuan-ming guards traditional industries

In Taiwan, silkworms are a part of our earliest childhood memories. However, after growing up, the image of fat, white silkworms seemed to gradually fade from our memory. In Miaoli, Tu Chuan-ming is a sericulture expert with more than 40 years of experience. The inventor of a unique hand-made silk quilt, today, Mr. Tu is the only sericulture farmer left in Taiwan.

Taiwan's silk industry reached its peak in the 1980s. In the 1990s, when cheap silk began to flood Taiwan from mainland China, a combination of competition and threats saw the surface area of Taiwan's mulberry fields decline year by year. Despite the government's decision to abolish mulberry production in Taiwan, Mr. Tu Chuan-ming has overcame countless difficulties and in recent years has successfully transformed his business into an eco-educational sericulture farm, helping to education the public about silkworm ecology and farming processes. Mr. Tu Chuan-ming insists on preserving this long-standing cultural industry and hopes that by passing on his skills to the next generation, he can create a new golden era of silk production in Taiwan.

以下為中文對照

台灣僅存蠶農 涂泉明守護手工產業

蠶寶寶是許多人小時候的回憶，而當童年過去後，蠶寶寶的白胖身形逐漸在記憶裡變得模糊。苗栗有一位養蠶達人，透過四十多年的堅持，手工製作出獨一無二的蠶絲被，成為台灣碩果僅存的蠶農。

台灣蠶絲產業於民國七O年代達到高峰。民國八O年代，大陸廉價蠶絲興起，面臨競爭與威脅，使桑園面積逐年下降，政府因而決定廢耕桑樹，涂泉明克服了政策上的困境，近年來更成功轉型為生態教育養蠶農場，以教育出發，讓大眾可以認識蠶寶寶的生態，以及育蠶取絲的過程，堅持保留這悠久的文化產業，期望透過傳承，再創台灣蠶絲產業的新榮景。