While visiting the tea region recently, our store manager had another eye-opening experience—this time regarding land rental prices in Lishan. How much do you think an agricultural plot of about 0.6 hectares goes for annually, given that it’s a 30-minute walk from the main road deep in the mountains, accessible only by dirt paths and cable cars?
The answer is an annual rent of NT$450,000! Just to add some context, this plot is on a very steep slope and definitely wouldn’t be considered prime farmland by most standards, yet the yearly rent is NT$450,000! Furthermore, the rent is renegotiated and increased every year. The manager has no idea how such a lease even exists, but either way, it completely defies imagination.
The manager was shocked upon hearing the NT$450,000 price tag, but the tea farmer just laughed and called the manager a clueless city slicker, explaining that this is actually considered cheap—there are plots of a jia (about 0.97 hectares) going for over a million. Over a million! The annual rent alone could buy three cars! We’ve heard that quite a few second-generation veterans and indigenous residents make a comfortable living entirely off land rentals, which honestly makes us more than a little envious.
Tea lovers, the next time you meet someone who owns farmland in Lishan—no matter how remote it is, as long as it can be legally cleared for farming or tea cultivation—consider that person wealthy. If you’re looking for a son-in-law, definitely prioritize one of them!
