A few days ago, we were talking about Lishan farmland. Generally speaking, there are two types of farmland in Lishan: first, indigenous reserved land; and second, land granted to retired servicemen (veterans). A lot of farmland around Fushoushan Farm and the Central Cross-Island Highway falls into this second category.
Years ago, the Taiwan government brought veterans to Lishan to cultivate the land, and later granted the cleared Lishan land to them. Because Lishan vegetables and fruits yield great profits, the value of these lands has soared accordingly. Today, it’s common for an jia (approx. 0.97 hectares) of land to rent for NT$1 million to NT$2 million a year, and many second-generation veterans can live comfortably off the rental income alone.
However, Lishan farmland was once completely ignored by buyers. During the #921 Earthquake in 1999, the Central Cross-Island Highway became impassable. Fearing that Lishan might “become completely inaccessible for good,” many landowners sold their property at rock-bottom prices. Back then, an jia of land could be bought for just over NT$1 million—an epic market crash by any measure. As everyone knows how things turned out later, the roads weren’t completely cut off, and land values eventually skyrocketed to over NT$10 million per jia.
The shop manager knows a few tea and vegetable farmers who bought in at those low prices back then, and now they are all multi-millionaires—truly something to be envied. Still, you really have to admire anyone courageous enough to buy the dip during an earthquake crisis.
Two days ago (Feb 6), two powerful earthquakes struck eastern Turkey, bringing back painful memories for many in Taiwan. Turkey immediately sent a rescue team to Taiwan during the 921 Earthquake, and we sincerely wish our good friends strength to get through this difficult time. Hopefully, the disaster in Turkey and Syria won’t escalate any further.
