Today’s visit to Hong Jann Printing Co., located near Dihua Street, gave us a look into Taiwan’s continued investment in both industrial precision and cultural continuity. Professor Chens brother in laws factory specializes in high-volume paper printing and everything from advertising materials to mass-market manga, which is one of its most profitable outputs. The printing line follows a cyan–magenta–yellow sequence, which is choice that reflects standard CMYK offset printing practices. There is an almost choreographed rhythm to the process: sheets pass through multiple presses before being folded and trimmed, with attention to margin alignment essential in manga, where even slight distortions can disrupt visual flow. Then the product is double and triple checked for accuracy before being completed. Hong Jann’s primary clients are located in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where demand for printed manga has not lessened despite the global shift toward digital media which suggests that in certain cultural contexts, the tactile and visual qualities of printed material still carry value, maybe tied to patterns of leisure, nostalgia, or localized distribution economies.
Religious practice is integrated into the factory’s operation in subtle but significant ways. While many Taiwanese businesses observe rituals on the 1st and 15th days of the lunar calendar, Hong Jann conducts its offerings on the 2nd and 16th. On taaaq days, the workers burn spirit money and offer food and incense to the Tudigong (土地公), the Earth God traditionally associated with land, commerce, and protection. In December, the company prepares a larger, offering, signaling a year-end gesture of thanksgiving and hopeful renewal. These rituals seem to function as a form of moral economy within the workplace, connecting profit-making to spiritual responsibility. Also, employee bonuses around this time also reflect Taiwan’s broader workplace culture of linking compensation with the lunar year cycle.
The afternoon included a visit to Yongle Market, a historic commercial center still actively engaged in textile and herbal trade. Though modern pharmacology dominates healthcare, some local residents continue to purchase dried herbs and roots to prepare traditional medicinal broths at home. These practices, while not so common any more suggest a layered model of health that includes both empirical and ancestral systems of thought. The mix of industrial work and religious rituals at Hong Jann, along with the ongoing use of herbal medicine at Yongle Market, shows that modern life in Taiwan doesn’t replace tradition the two exist side by side. Sometimes they connect, and together they help keep both the old and the new alive which is part of what makes Taiwan so unique. I loved this trip the company had a really warm welcome banner for us too!