My hometown, Niutoushan, Chiayi, used to abound with lotus roots. in the 1980s, able to bulk export to Japan and Hong Kong. For the villagers, digging for lotus roots equaled digging for gold.

But the prosperous era has lost to history, the population has plunged from more than 100 households to only 27.

The very few who are unwilling to break their connection to land insist on growing lotus roots and self-worth thereof. For the elders, their value is carried in their “eagle hands,” a mark of their lifelong hard work. As for the youth who choose to stay even though most of their peers turn to seek work in the city, they discover their merit along this journey features ups and downs, and the inevitable stagnation of traditional industry, the farmers persevere and continue to dig out their long-lost cultural values with their “eagle hands”.