Fengming Suao Yangkan from Yilan County, which was selected as one of Taiwan’s Top 100 Souvenirs, has been passed down for 130 years. Due to health reasons and the fourth generation’s desire to seek other development, the 3rd generation head of the 100-year-old shop has closed its business. Fengming Suao Yangkan shop is located in the downtown area of Section 1, Zhongshan Road, Suao Town. It is made with the unique local calcium carbonate cold spring. It tastes better and was quite popular in the early years. Before the North-Circuit Railway was opened to traffic, some passengers going to Hualien took the train to Suao to stay overnight, bought yokan as a souvenir, and then took the Golden Horse Bus to go south along the Suhua Highway the next day. It is still talked regarding by everyone.
Tracing back to the origin of this store, the first generation was Japanese Nakamura Teiichi, who opened the store in 18 years before the Republic of China; the second generation was Weng Fengming who founded “Fengming Suao Yokan” following learning the craft from Nakamura Teichi; Weng Fengming passed it on to his son Weng Ruiyi.
Weng Ruiyi, who is nearly 80 years old, said today that he had a stable job in Taipei when he was young, but as the eldest son of his family, he was reluctant to let his father’s time-honored brand disappear. He quit his job more than 50 years ago and returned to his hometown to take over.
In addition, he also went to Japan to learn vacuum packaging technology, and changed the yokan that was originally packaged in cellophane into vacuum packaging to extend the shelf life. After continuous development, yokan has 5 flavors: red bean, oolong tea, chocolate, kumquat and green tea.
Weng Ruiyi said that in recent years, due to the variety of sweets and the popularity of the concept of health, many people do not eat sugary foods, and the sales of yokan have been greatly affected. In addition, he has undergone many cardiac catheterization operations, and he no longer has enough energy to open a store. Although his son Inherit the craft but want to seek another development. Weng Ruiyi had no choice but to reluctantly announce the closure of the business before the Lunar New Year, and the old store went into history.
Responsible editor: Yu Weining