The Flowering World in the Bottle—Zai Zhong-liang

(by Shieh Pei-jun, Editing Department)

Huatan is the homeland of brick kilns and jasmines. Recently, a magical new flower species known as the bottled flower emerged in Huatan of Changhua. This plant costs about a thousand dollars a bottle and drew immediate global attention. Though orders from the Middle East to Scandinavia are endless, Americans, Russians, Australians and Dutch are very curious about this newfangled gadget and want to have a look of its wonders. Mr. Zai Zhong-liang, winning the Shen Nong Award (Magic Farmer Award) at 24, is the person who behind this magical flower.

What makes a man enter the world of flowers? Zai showed a special interest in flowers when he was a kid. As a third grader, he worked part-time at a physician’s home to learn about growing orchids. The physician used to give him less perfect orchids for free. With his skillful hands, Zai could turn the throwaways into something wonderful. He said proudly, “I grew those less perfect orchids better than they had been, and even the physician wanted to buy them back from me.” It was how little Zai made his pocket money.

Zai who graduated from the Changhua Vocational High School never gave up his passion to grow flowers. He used to buy flower seeds with his pocket money until his yard was packed with flowers. With three strong fundamentals (capital, experience and know-how), he believed that knowledge was power. Therefore, he kept improving his gardening knowledge and successfully enrolled in the Department of Agronomy at National Taiwan University. After graduating from the NTU, Zai decided to further his study in Japan by following in the footsteps of a Japanese professor at NTU. Now, he has already earned his master’s degree in agronomy from the University of Tokyo and is pursuing a doctorate in the area.

In the nursery filled with the fruit of Zai’s painstaking labor, thousands of small port plants were dwarfed by Zai, said, “Dwarfing, accelerated ripening, accelerated flowering, and disinfecting are the 4 major processes for culturing bottled flowers. There are 4 steps in the disinfection process before flowers are transplanted into the valuable high-density crystal bottle. Then it takes 5 more days to observe the growth of flowers transplanted inside the bottle. If fungi grow inside, everything is in vain. Therefore, I am working on how to contain the defective rate at 5-10%; otherwise, I will lose all my investment.”

A person who likes creating a sense of conflict, Zai puts 2 adverse types of plants inside the same bottle. One is the cactus which grows only in the arid dessert region. Another one is the pine and cypress which grows on humid and cold mountains. Both species grow perfectly inside the same bottle. That is the creativity and outstanding achievement of Zai. In fact, beauty out of conflict is commonly found in the flowers bottled by Zai.

Though export is Zai’s primary focus, many people from Taiwan have made enquiries. Dwarfed flowers are lovingly and fancily placed inside a bottle. They need neither care nor watering, but the culture solution inside to keep them blossoming. Therefore, many florists Contact Zai to ask for dealership rights. Today, bottles of flowers are seen in many department stores and boutiques in Taipei, as well as stores in Jia and Kending of Tainan.

Committed to seeking benefits for the lazy gardener, Zai understands fairly well that agriculture in Taiwan needs a transformation, and continual innovation is the only way to survive. Therefore, he has developed, one after another, many unrivaled achievements, such as the seedless litchi and bottled orchid and rose; fluorescent plant, wasabi spicy sauce, and wasabi royal jelly skincare technologies. He said, “I slept 3 hours a day for these achievements.” Zai who believes in no pain, no gain has displayed the quality and set out an example of success