WEBVTT 00:36.900 --> 00:38.907 My name is Hung Hsin-jie . 00:38.907 --> 00:41.270 Everyone calls me the Plant Hunter. 00:42.484 --> 00:44.680 Since I'm good at carrying heavy stuff, 00:44.680 --> 00:46.963 I can collect a lot of plants. 00:48.541 --> 00:50.289 I also can climb trees. 00:50.827 --> 00:52.518 There's something I can hold on to 00:52.518 --> 00:56.061 and if it can be climbed by humans, I will climb. 00:57.339 --> 00:59.702 When I was 17, 01:00.189 --> 01:02.222 I picked orchids to make money. 01:02.226 --> 01:05.203 At the time, I did it to make money. 01:05.234 --> 01:07.006 I didn't have any knowledge, 01:07.006 --> 01:11.524 so I read books to find out what I had picked. 01:12.084 --> 01:13.524 From then on, 01:13.524 --> 01:17.434 I started to be interested in plants. 01:19.402 --> 01:21.527 Reading books alone couldn't satisfy me. 01:21.527 --> 01:24.100 When I looked at the pictures in the books 01:24.116 --> 01:25.643 I wanted to take pictures myself. 01:25.665 --> 01:29.768 I ended up going out and looking for plants. 01:29.768 --> 01:32.434 I got to know plants and take pictures of them. 01:32.446 --> 01:36.273 It then became a hobby for me. 01:37.684 --> 01:39.112 This is an orchid. 01:39.132 --> 01:41.887 It's called cat's-tail orchid. 01:42.732 --> 01:44.160 This... 01:44.160 --> 01:46.694 This is Taiwan toadlily. 01:46.895 --> 01:49.630 This is called Adiantum lunulatum. 01:49.711 --> 01:51.219 This is the fern Colysis pothifolia. 01:51.219 --> 01:52.888 Sickle spleenwort. 01:52.888 --> 01:54.055 Creeping dayflower. 01:54.236 --> 01:56.529 There are over 5,000 plants in Taiwan. 01:57.318 --> 02:00.040 There are over 3,000 plants 02:00.040 --> 02:04.402 that I can identify in three seconds. 02:05.954 --> 02:10.741 Collecting plants requires experience and a good memory. 02:10.741 --> 02:13.202 Since I go to a lot of places, 02:13.202 --> 02:15.098 I get a lot of information 02:15.098 --> 02:19.333 when I see the terrain and environment of a place. 02:19.333 --> 02:21.768 I know what this environment is about. 02:21.768 --> 02:25.479 I know pretty much everything. 02:30.470 --> 02:34.876 I've gotten lost and suffered from cold 02:34.876 --> 02:36.733 and hunger in the mountains. 02:36.733 --> 02:40.293 I have been chased by hornets and boars. 02:40.313 --> 02:43.148 I've fallen from trees. 02:43.542 --> 02:47.322 In other words, this is a very dangerous occupation. 02:48.317 --> 02:52.420 I've never thought of giving it up. 02:52.420 --> 02:54.894 I just love it. 02:59.209 --> 03:03.059 This is Murdannia taiwanensis var. lilungensis. 03:03.059 --> 03:05.473 I picked one earlier. 03:05.493 --> 03:08.304 But one isn't enough 03:08.304 --> 03:14.129 because that one is for planting. 03:14.222 --> 03:18.455 This one I just found has flowers. 03:18.465 --> 03:20.100 It has two flowers. 03:20.100 --> 03:24.986 I'll dissect one flower, 03:24.986 --> 03:30.407 and make the other one a preserved specimen. 03:34.796 --> 03:35.540 Cut it off. 03:44.974 --> 03:47.908 My job at the Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center 03:47.908 --> 03:49.126 is collecting plants. 03:49.437 --> 03:54.092 I classify the plants I collect 03:54.092 --> 03:56.092 and make specimens. 03:56.092 --> 04:00.277 I have to record the follow-up observations and care of these plants. 04:00.599 --> 04:02.307 After I wake up every day, 04:02.307 --> 04:05.653 I start to work on those things. 04:05.653 --> 04:09.188 I work on plants until I go to sleep. 04:09.188 --> 04:12.949 They are a part of my life. 04:21.962 --> 04:25.337 I think I'm well suited for doing some things. 04:25.338 --> 04:27.993 Someone has to do them. 04:27.993 --> 04:29.514 For example, 04:29.514 --> 04:31.882 collecting plants is basic science. 04:31.882 --> 04:33.100 It's very basic science. 04:33.108 --> 04:36.732 However, something basic can be exhausting. 04:37.506 --> 04:41.077 It happens that I love doing this 04:41.077 --> 04:43.972 and am good at it. 04:44.448 --> 04:47.122 It's not everyone who can collect plants. 04:51.322 --> 04:54.118 I worry I can't collect certain plants. 04:54.321 --> 04:57.238 I worry that the plants I want to collect 04:57.585 --> 05:00.510 have become extinct or can't be found. 05:00.510 --> 05:01.684 That's what I worry about. 05:01.685 --> 05:03.536 Or some plant I once saw 05:03.536 --> 05:06.419 but didn't record it properly. 05:06.419 --> 05:08.531 I didn't collect it or take pictures, 05:08.717 --> 05:10.778 and it has disappeared 05:10.778 --> 05:12.396 after I returned to the place later. 05:14.351 --> 05:17.097 This is called Symplocos koshunensis. 05:17.307 --> 05:19.459 It's endemic to Taiwan. 05:19.459 --> 05:22.536 Its population is less than 30. 05:23.668 --> 05:25.932 The Red Data Book has classified them 05:25.932 --> 05:27.802 as an endangered species. 05:27.802 --> 05:30.055 In other words, they're close to extinction. 05:31.584 --> 05:36.026 It looks like it's doing well now. 05:36.026 --> 05:38.686 It'll grow bigger here. 05:39.511 --> 05:41.307 When I collect something like this, 05:41.307 --> 05:42.620 my attitude is that 05:42.620 --> 05:45.924 I'll work until I die to make sure it survives. 05:47.184 --> 05:48.455 Before I met him, 05:48.455 --> 05:50.366 I thought I was a very passionate person. 05:50.371 --> 05:51.437 But 05:51.437 --> 05:53.348 he has changed my view about myself. 05:53.501 --> 05:55.733 This is what real passion is about. 05:55.749 --> 06:01.462 He's very engaged in the things he loves. 06:01.462 --> 06:04.939 Moreover, he throws himself into learning. 06:04.974 --> 06:08.600 When I saw him processing the plants he had just collected for the first time, 06:08.600 --> 06:11.658 he was reading a English version of Flora of Taiwan. 06:11.658 --> 06:13.882 He only has a middle school diploma 06:13.882 --> 06:19.446 but he's doing something scholars would do. 06:20.017 --> 06:22.478 I admire him for that. 06:22.893 --> 06:25.025 I still remember something he said long time ago. 06:25.366 --> 06:26.271 He said, 06:26.271 --> 06:28.303 "An interest doesn't come naturally." 06:28.348 --> 06:30.180 You'll face lots of obstacles in the beginning, 06:30.180 --> 06:31.600 but you'll start to enjoy it 06:31.600 --> 06:34.842 after you slowly get familiar with it and gain knowledge. 06:38.767 --> 06:41.761 I think when I'm older, 06:42.354 --> 06:45.389 I won't be able to climb mountains anymore. 06:45.634 --> 06:49.189 Since I have accumulated tons of pictures, 06:49.378 --> 06:52.925 I'll use them to paint plants. 06:53.480 --> 06:54.721 I want to do things 06:54.721 --> 06:57.746 that are related to plants for the rest of my life. 07:05.369 --> 07:07.742 Find your interest. 07:07.742 --> 07:13.602 You'll reach your goal if you stick to it.