Taipei - Chimei Visit

So, Friday, our second day (first full day) in Taipei, Taiwan, we went to visit Chimei (Chee-may).

We are staying in Taipei which is at the north end of Taiwan, while Chimei is located at the south end of Taiwan in a town called Tainan. So we were all up and at the train station by 6:30am to catch our high speed train down to the south. Taiwan's high speed rail, or HSR, runs along the west coast for about 214 miles and reaches speeds of up to 186 mph. It was quite the journey.

The best way to describe Chimei is as a chemical and manufacturing plant (Chimei Company Overview). They produce a lot of the plastic that makes up many products we see and use everyday. You may have actually heard of them. They are a major supplier for Apple's iPad 2, manufacturing the display screens. They were also recently involved in a lawsuit for LCD pannel price fixing along with a few other manufacturers/suppliers (Price Fixing). Also, they are a manufacturer and supplier of frozen foods. I know, I made a face too when I thought of a chemical company handling food one might be currently eating. They really just have their hand in a little bit of everything.

Apart from being a manufacturer, they started to move into the product area with a line of TVs. They also have a vast art museum, containing a wide variety of Western (as opposed to Eastern) art. In fact, they are currently building a new museum and park to house the art they've purchased over the years as their current museum can only hold 30% of what they own. The rest is in storage. Below are some pictures of the new museum construction and what it is going to look like.

The main thing I took away from our visit to Chimei is that social corporate responsibility is hugely important to them. The museum and park they are building will be free to the public. Their goal is to provide the local people with an educational experience, and help them to understand and appreciate western art and western culture.

It was definitely an interesting company visit to say the least. After the introduction to the company, tour of their museum, and a visit to the site of their new museum, they treated us to a traditional meal with local favorites. Below are some additional pics I took on this day trip.

Forgot to mention they also make this little pineapple cakes.
They gave us all some as a free gift. It was pretty good.

The box the little pineapple cake came in (so cute)

Street outside of the restaurant we ate at for lunch

This is Robert, explaining the new museum and the purpose it will fill for the community

After the meal, we all hopped on the bus back to the HSR and caught a train back to Taipei. It was about 8pm by the time we got back to the hotel, so a few of us went to a famous dumpling restaurant for dinner and then called it a night. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were free days due to the Taiwan National Holiday, The Moon Festival.