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Factory Chief Director: As the tobacco factory has gradually automated and increased its production capacity, the processing finished tobacco leaves are usually kept in warehouses for two to three years for fermentation, thus increasing the need for warehouses. New warehouses have to be built in various corners of the factory in the future. The row in front of us is warehouse number 8 and 9, and behind it is warehouse number 10. These earlier warehouses are mostly for lower grade tobacco leaves or tobacco ribs. Other warehouses with numbers greater than 10 were built later, often with newer construction techniques and better storage features and were used mainly for higher grade tobacco.
Material Section Manager: We in the Materials Section are primarily responsible for the management of the warehouse. We have to keep an eye on the tobacco from after preliminary smoking after it enters the factory. Usually, the first floor of the warehouse is used to store tobacco after preliminary smoking or tobacco ready for export. Starting from the second floor, we store tobacco in different locations according to its grade, thickness, and year. We inspect the warehouse every day to record the temperature and humidity and to observe the number of eggs on the insect trap paper. When the temperature rises, the number of tobacco beetles usually soars and must be dealt with quickly. We also need to remove the lids regularly to check if the tobacco leaves are moldy and rotten. Tobacco leaves are barrels of gold to us, so of course, we must take good care of them.
Factory Chief Director: As the tobacco factory has gradually automated and increased its production capacity, the processing finished tobacco leaves are usually kept in warehouses for two to three years for fermentation, thus increasing the need for warehouses. New warehouses have to be built in various corners of the factory in the future. The row in front of us is warehouse number 8 and 9, and behind it is warehouse number 10. These earlier warehouses are mostly for lower grade tobacco leaves or tobacco ribs. Other warehouses with numbers greater than 10 were built later, often with newer construction techniques and better storage features and were used mainly for higher grade tobacco.
Material Section Manager: We in the Materials Section are primarily responsible for the management of the warehouse. We have to keep an eye on the tobacco from after preliminary smoking after it enters the factory. Usually, the first floor of the warehouse is used to store tobacco after preliminary smoking or tobacco ready for export. Starting from the second floor, we store tobacco in different locations according to its grade, thickness, and year. We inspect the warehouse every day to record the temperature and humidity and to observe the number of eggs on the insect trap paper. When the temperature rises, the number of tobacco beetles usually soars and must be dealt with quickly. We also need to remove the lids regularly to check if the tobacco leaves are moldy and rotten. Tobacco leaves are barrels of gold to us, so of course, we must take good care of them.
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Factory Chief Director: The boiler room is like the heart of the tobacco factory. It supplies heat to the entire plant and sends steam to the leaf de-ribbing area and re-drying processing area and is used by the vacuum moisturizing machine, leaf threshing machine and re-drying machine.
Worker: There is a lunchbox steaming place in the boiler room. I remember people bringing rice dumplings and red bean soup to cook there. Sometimes, I would bring rice directly to the steamer, put it in when I got to work and the rice would be cooked when I was ready to get off work. Back home, I would just stir-fry a dish and we were ready to eat.
Factory Chief Director: The boiler room is a place full of memories for us all! Almost every day before getting off work, I would stop by the lavatory in the boiler room and wash off all the dust before going home.
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Factory Chief Director: As the tobacco factory has gradually automated and increased its production capacity, the processing finished tobacco leaves are usually kept in warehouses for two to three years for fermentation, thus increasing the need for warehouses. New warehouses have to be built in various corners of the factory in the future. The row in front of us is warehouse number 8 and 9, and behind it is warehouse number 10. These earlier warehouses are mostly for lower grade tobacco leaves or tobacco ribs. Other warehouses with numbers greater than 10 were built later, often with newer construction techniques and better storage features and were used mainly for higher grade tobacco.
Material Section Manager: We in the Materials Section are primarily responsible for the management of the warehouse. We have to keep an eye on the tobacco from after preliminary smoking after it enters the factory. Usually, the first floor of the warehouse is used to store tobacco after preliminary smoking or tobacco ready for export. Starting from the second floor, we store tobacco in different locations according to its grade, thickness, and year. We inspect the warehouse every day to record the temperature and humidity and to observe the number of eggs on the insect trap paper. When the temperature rises, the number of tobacco beetles usually soars and must be dealt with quickly. We also need to remove the lids regularly to check if the tobacco leaves are moldy and rotten. Tobacco leaves are barrels of gold to us, so of course, we must take good care of them.
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Factory Chief Director: The fumigation room was built in 1961. Before that, if barrels of tobacco needed to be fumigated, they had to be shipped to the Songshan Tobacco Factory in Taipei at great cost. After the fumigation room was built, it worked so well that even the barrels for export from the Taichung Tobacco Factory were shipped to us for fumigation and then shipped directly to the Kaohsiung terminal for loading.
Xiao Ye: Why is fumigation needed?
Factory Chief Director: Have you ever seen a tobacco beetle? In the warehouse, there are trap sheets placed on the pillars, so we can monitor and record the number of tobacco beetle eggs. This type of tobacco beetle is very small, but it eats tobacco leaves very quickly, so the Materials Section regularly spot checks the leaves. If we find tobacco beetles, we need to fumigate.
Xiao Ye: The door of this fumigation room is very solid.
Factory Chief Director: Because the insecticide used for fumigation is very strong, it is necessary to wear a gas mask when entering the fumigation room. To prevent the leakage of poisonous gases, this airtight cast iron door was specially installed. By the way, the fifth room from the end of the fumigation room is the “specimen room”. As I said before, there are grades of tobacco leaves. The graded tobacco specimens collected every year are stored in that room.
Xiao Ye: Like a refrigerator?
Factory Chief Director: Ha ha ha ha… That’ s right! It’s a refrigerator where the specimens are stored!
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Xiao Ye: This looks like an air raid trench。
Factory Chief Director: Yes, it was built in 1958 at the initiative of the employees of our tobacco factory. At that time, the cross-strait situation was tense and there was concern about air attacks, so we dug this S-shaped air defense trench when we had time from work.
Xiao Ye: Chief, have you ever been inside?
Factory Chief Director: Yes, there is a quadrangular space inside that can accommodate about 85 people. It has two entrances.
Xiao Ye: I can almost feel the tension from those years!
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Machinery Section Manager: The Machinery Repair and Maintenance Plant is where we maintain our machinery. It used to be a tobacco processing area, but later it became a repair shop. In addition to repairing machines, we also do woodworking repair work here.
Xiao Ye: With so many machines in the factory, it is probably very busy.
Machinery Section Manager: Yes, when the machine in the factory breaks down, the whole process has to stop. With so many temporary workers sitting around with nothing to do while we fix the machines, there can be a lot of pressure. So our machines are regularly inspected and maintained several times a week, month and year.
Xiao Ye: The window of the repair shop is rather unusual.
Machinery Section Manager: This is a mechanical curtain window, which is opened by a hand-cranked mechanical control system. These are usually found in factories.
Factory Chief Director: Xiao Ye, Having walked through the factory, you can feel that it is a place with warmth, right? Behind the machines in the factory, there are the warmth of a tobacco farmer’s families, the memories of the tobacco factory employees, and the warm smiles of countless people. Thank you for listening to the tobacco factory’s story. We welcome you to come back and create a new scene here.
Factory Chief Director: Hello, welcome to Pingtung 1936 Tobacco Culture Base, I am the Chief Director of the Pingtung Tobacco Factory! During the period of Japanese rule, the tobacco monopoly system was implemented. This factory was built in 1936. We were responsible for buying raw tobacco leaves from the production areas, performing preliminary processing, and selling them to many overseas tobacco factories, as well as shipping them to the Shongshan Tobacco Factory in Taipei, which was responsible for producing American-style cigarettes. For the next 67 years, the tobacco factory supported the livelihoods of tobacco farmers’ families through instruction in farming techniques and the purchase of tobacco leaves. The surrounding residents came to work at the factory, bringing together the people of the area!
Under Japanese rule, Taiwan had five major tobacco production areas, namely Yilan, Taichung, Chiayi, Pingtung, and Hualien. In the 1970s, the number of tobacco fields in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung production area, known as the “Pingtung Tobacco Area,” increased to become the largest tobacco production area in Taiwan. However, since Taiwan opened up the import of foreign tobacco in 1987 and joined the World Trade Organization in 2002, the domestic tobacco industry gradually lost competitiveness when facing the low price competition from foreign tobacco industry. In addition, it is considered that smoking is harmful to health and the government’s anti-smoking policy led to a gradual decline in cigarette sales. The Pingtung Tobacco Factory also ceased operations in 2002 and entered history. In 2017, some important buildings in the factory were registered as historical buildings. After you hear the beep, I’ll take you back to the golden years of the Pingtung Tobacco Factory.
Material Section Manager: Chief, bad news. A batch of tobacco has disappeared from the warehouse!
Factory Chief Director: What! Let me think what we should do. By the way, I heard that you have a new employee, Xiao Ye who loves reading mystery novels and solving puzzles.
Material Section Manager: Yeah, he’s really good.
Factory Chief Director: Ask him to come to the tobacco lab and help, please.
