Puli’s Guangxing Paper Mill

Puli’s paper industry traces its origin to the period of Japanese occupation. Puli’s unique climate and exceptional water quality made it an ideal place for paper manufacturing. At its peak, Puli’s handmade paper industry had over fifty mills. Now, only six remain. Upon arriving at the Guangxing Paper Mill [廣興紙寮] we were given a tour of the facilities and a thorough explanation on paper-making. Once the tour was completed we took part in a small DIY-project.

Our guide shows us how to mix the pulp before placing it on a sifter:

After placing some pulp on the sifter, we had a small bag of flowers and leaves to arrange on the paper:

Everyone’s paper was placed in this vise to squeeze out all the excess water:

Once the excess water was all out our paper was paced here for drying:

Searching for the perfect template to print onto the paper:

Found it:

One final dry:

Cathy shows off the finished product:

My wife later conceded that mine was much better-looking, but given how bad-ass the print looks, I really should have omitted the flowers:

Guangxing Paper Mill website [Chinese]

8 thoughts on “Puli’s Guangxing Paper Mill”

Wow. This will definitely be on my list for the next time I’m in tw!

Great photos and fun opportunities there. How’d you get to the factory and how much was the tour and DYI?

Arex – It’s a fun place to visit for your industry-tourism fix. Be sure you go early, we went in right when they were opening and as we were wrapping up 3 tour buses came rolling in.

Michael – Take Freeway #6 or Provincial Highway #14 to Puli, at the spot where #14 meets with #21 hang a left to go over the bridge and stay on #14. Shortly after the bridge take a left on Tieshan Road [鐵山路]. Once on Tieshan Road it’s only a couple minutes away and there are plenty of signs to lead the way.

The address is: #310 Tieshan Road, Puli Township [南投縣埔里鎮鐵山路310號]

The tour was free (well included with the price of the DIY supplies you’re expected to buy once the tour is over). I can’t remember how much it was, but it wasn’t expensive (probably less than $200NT), there’s a variety of projects ranging from the one we did, paper fans, and handprints. The gift shop also has some very nice handmade items.

Here’s the location from Google Map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=%E5%BB%A3%E8%88%88%E7%B4%99%E5%AF%AE&sll=23.863582,120.807749&sspn=0.222292,0.435333&ie=UTF8&hq=%E5%BB%A3%E8%88%88%E7%B4%99%E5%AF%AE&hnear=&ll=23.975705,120.939002&spn=0.013881,0.027208&z=15

Sounds very cool. For those in the Taipei area wanting to make paper without a trip all the way to Puli, try the Su Ho Memorial Paper Museum.

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I , interested paper making process

Hi
can I find out from you how long is the whole experience?
Do you need to contact them before going down? I can’t find their contact number.
where did you stay that day? Any hotel to recommend?

Thanks

Todd Alperovitz

April 19, 2012 at 9:37 pm

The tour plus the DIY was about an hour and a half long. You can just show up during their operating hours from 8:30 to 5:00 and they will give you a tour. If you are bringing a large group you may want to give them a call at 049-2913037 and let them know ahead of time.

I’m not familiar with the area’s hotels, we live only about 40 minutes away so there was no need for us to find a place to stay. Try browsing through some of the area’s homestays: http://www.minsu.com.tw/nantou

Here’s the Chinese website: http://www.taiwanpaper.com.tw/experience.php

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