“I have always wanted to do one thing, let Taiwanese people know about Taiwan and let the world know about Taiwan.” Director Chi Po-ling said.
Chi Po-ling, the aerial photographer who shocked the people of the whole country because of a documentary “Seeing Taiwan”, evoked many actions to repair the scars on the land and protect the homeland.
Seeing Taiwan with the perspective closest to God
Speaking of the name “Chi Po-ling”, you may know that he is the most famous aerial photographer in Taiwan. But you may not know that he was originally just an ordinary civil servant, but three years before his retirement, he resolutely decided to resign, gave up the pension that he was about to receive, and invested in a Taiwanese documentary project that everyone thought was impossible.
He loves photography, but he has a fear of heights, and he doesn’t even dare to ride a roller coaster. Due to fate, he began to take charge of aerial photography records of major projects such as National Highway No. 3. Since then, Chi Po-ling has been engaged in aerial photography. He once said with a smile: “Actually, I am a person who works on the cloud.” Starting from Taiwan, he only photographed Taiwan, and he insisted on shooting for more than 20 years.
Over the past 20 years, Chi Po-ling has followed a helicopter into the sky and photographed all corners of Taiwan. There are mountains, rivers, seas, and cities. Seeing the land where he lives from the sky is a fascinating job. And most of them were done by him out of his own pocket while he was not working. The initial thought of taking these photos was just to record everything, and didn’t think much about it.
Seeing the beauty and pain of Taiwanese soil – Tribute to Chi Po-ling
“Seeing Taiwan” from the beautiful scenery of Taiwan, accompanied by melodious music, from the height of the clouds, leads us to see Dabajian Mountain, the undulating mountains and mountains of Dajian Mountain, the lake and the mysterious lake of the rippling forest, and the volcano of Yangmingshan Dayukeng. Geology, the angel tears of Jiaming Lake, and the natural beauty of Qingshui Cliff, Kenting Nanwan, Guanyin Algae Reef and Wushibi, Maobitou, Sanxiantai and other places. Through Zeppelin’s lens, we can see that Taiwan is so beautiful, it is so beautiful that it makes people exclaim again and again!
When Chi Po-ling was interviewed as early as 2003 and 2004, he expressed his concern for the land of Taiwan. At that time, he said: “The original green scene of Taiwan is no longer green, and many high mountains have been dug pits and holes, and the city has become ugly because of the dense buildings, and there is no landscape.” He said that many mountains and rivers will collapse and earth will flow when it rains, and the construction of mountains will have bad results step by step. He once sarcastically sighed that the most beautiful natural beauty in Taiwan is in a place with few people. Standing on a high place, you can have a bird’s-eye view of the incredible beauty of Taiwan, but you can also see the sorrow caused by natural and man-made disasters.
Behind the economic prosperity and over-development are the natural scars of mountains and rivers that have been neglected by people. Chi Po-ling ‘s lens directly takes us to see Taiwan’s grief-stricken scenes of environmental pollution, waste water pollution, shrinking coastlines, illegal excavation of soil and rocks, over-extraction of groundwater, and indiscriminate deforestation in the mountains. one side.
With absolute passion and devotion to life
“Seeing Taiwan” was released in 2013 and is Taiwan’s first high-altitude documentary. The conditions for aerial photography are arduous and arduous, costing a lot of money and time; Chi Po-ling has never cried out for suffering for more than 20 years and never backed down, just because of his love for the land of Taiwan and his desire to cherish Taiwan. It is hoped that the Taiwan government and its people will be conscious of cherishing and attaching importance to environmental protection.
Chi Po-ling leads you and me to re-understand Taiwan with a bird’s-eye view, and see Taiwan as we have never seen before. When Chi Po-ling was on an aerial photography mission in 2017, he was unfortunately killed in an air crash. At the last moment of his life, he was still doing aerial photography, which he loved most, and dedicated himself to Taiwan professionally. I hope that through Chi Po-ling’s story of firmly guarding Taiwan, you and I will have more reflection and continue to take good care of the environment with practical actions.
