What motivates Wu Feng-chiao to continue harvesting seaweed despite the physical demands?

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Wu Feng-chiao continues harvesting seaweed out of a personal passion and a wish to keep the sea women tradition alive
Wu Feng-chiao, 72, says her motivation is driven by a long-standing passion for gathering “stone flowers” and a desire to ensure the marine harvest tradition does not disappear. She links learning and participating to something she believes runs in the blood, saying, “If it’s in your blood, you’ll naturally want to learn, right?” Even when she does not plan to go out, she finds it hard to resist harvesting when sea conditions are calm.
A connection to the tradition she learned from her father
Wu describes a deep connection to the marine harvest tradition and says she learned it from her father as a teenager. She frames even simple actions—coming to the coast to gather something from the sea and eat it—as part of being a “hainu” or “sea woman”. This sense of identity is central to why she keeps doing the work despite the physical strain.
A strong desire to prevent the tradition from vanishing
Wu fears the tradition could end when her generation of sea women is no longer able to continue. She says there are no more than four women in Magang village who still regularly collect “stone flowers,” and all are in their 70s or older. She hopes younger people will return so the tradition “will not disappear,” and she wants it carried on beyond her own lifetime.
A practical pull when conditions make harvesting possible
She also explains that favourable sea conditions can override any intention to stay home. She said, “Sometimes I just can’t resist. Like yesterday, I didn’t plan to go, but when I saw how calm the water was, I couldn’t help it.” Her account reflects how the work’s difficulty and danger—such as needing to move aside quickly when waves are high—makes her harvesting more dependent on when the sea is calm.
Enduring despite the physical demands of hauling and processing
Wu’s motivation is sustained even though the work is physically demanding and risky. She harvests gelidium algae from rocks along the northeastern coast of Taiwan in Magang fishing village, and she can haul a single sack weighing 40-50 jin (about 20-25 kilograms) over slippery, uneven rocks. She also describes the hardest part as carrying the seaweed back, saying it is very heavy and her shoulders ache afterwards.

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What motivates Wu Feng-chiao to continue harvesting seaweed despite the physical demands?

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