The Rolling Muddy River

Documentary︱53’40”︱2014︱Taiwan︱HD︱Color︱English Narration & Subtitles

2014, Official Selection, 8th GREEN SCREEN: International Wildlife Film Festival, Eckernförde, Germany

2014, Finalist, Best Cinematography, Golden Bell Awards, Taiwan

2014, Nomination for Best Natural History or Wildlife Programme/Best Cinematography, Asian Television Awards, Singapore

   She is the Zhuoshui – Taiwan’s Mother River.   

The Zhuoshui River has many faces. She can be an arid desert as well as a writhing torrent. She is Taiwan’s longest river, covering some 187 kilometers and spanning nearly half of the island.

People have lived along her banks for far longer than history records. They have profited from bountiful harvests nourished by her waters and fertile soils. Although many people have sought to make their mark on her, the impact she has made on them has been far more significant and enduring.

Sediments carried by the Zhuoshui from deep within the island’s interior is responsible for creating Taiwan’s largest alluvial plain, today the nation’s breadbasket, and its expansive western mudflats. Further, the Zhuoshui sediments built Taiwan’s largest shoreline sandbar landscape – the Waisanding Sand Bar. The Zhuoshui’s riverine silt has enriched all it has touched. Today, farmers grow a cornucopian variety of crops in the Zhuoshui’s alluvial soils, raise sweet watermelons where her piled silt meets the Taiwan Strait waters, and harvest oysters in her wide estuary. These are just some of her myriad gifts.

Today, however, industry has drained the life from the Zhuoshui and massive weirs now loom like grey behemoths, choking off the natural flow of her waters. Although her great spirit now gasps for breath, people continue to exploit what little remains to sustain their needs and their way of life.

Share on Google Plus

About Public Television Service Foundation

Founded in 1998, Public Television Service (PTS) is the leading public service broadcaster in Taiwan. Operated as an independent public organization, PTS aims to provide value-added quality programming services covering a wide range of categories to present the diversity and creativity in Taiwan without the intervention of commercial and political power.