start

1946

Seller

1947

Move

1949

Delivery Boy

1950

Shop

Apprenticeship

end

02

Career

1946 - 1956

Seller

After graduating from elementary school, Wan could not continue in the education system; his family needed all hands on deck, earning money. "When I was around 12 years old, I went to the coast to buy eggs, then brought it back to sell in Taipei."

Move

The entire family moved from its hometown to what is now Taipei. "You didn't really study, back then. It's okay - know how to write your own name and you were good. You had to go out and make money; that's what kids were for."

Delivery Boy

"At 15 years old, I delivered rice, collected money, odd jobs like that."

Shop

"At 16 years old, I first how to cut, then how to dry herbs. We still have the tool in the back - step on it and roll it back and forth to grind it to powder. We didn't have machines back then; we did it by hand, with manual labor, with our feet."

Apprenticeship

"He was very old - the hakka. He wasn't mean. Each herb has many names - like your watch, I can call it by many different names. So, I had to learn. He didn't write down the names - I had to look for the herbs. He was afraid of teaching me everything, the skills he possessed. He told me to go get the medicine, and when I got back, the herbs were packaged nicely and ready to go. I missed the in-between steps. He didn't tell you his secrets. He wasn't a bad person; he just didn't want you to know, to master his ways. A year later, he left and we hired another hakka to come help. He stayed for a long time."