Mrs. Song Qiongying, a Guangxi Yao ethnic new resident in Zhongyi Community, Qingquangang, Taichung City, plans to open a small shop combining Yao oil tea and modern horticultural therapy with the support of the Immigration Agency’s Dream-Building Project. Her project, “The Horticultural Therapist’s Oil Tea Appointment,” received an NT$80,000 subsidy from the 10th Dream-Building Project for New Residents and their Children under the Entrepreneurship and Marketing category.
Born in Guangxi Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County, Song had worked with her husband in Shanghai before returning to Zhongyi Community, Qingquangang, Daya, her husband’s hometown, to provide a happy childhood for her children. She fell in love with the old military village environment, where the greenery provided her comfort amidst the noise of airplanes. Song engaged in community building, transforming dilapidated houses into vibrant gathering places.
In August last year, Song’s mother visited Taiwan and prepared Yao oil tea and pumpkin rice cakes for breakfast. Oil tea, a staple drink in Yao culture made with green tea leaves, ginger, peanuts, and nuts, is rich in trace elements, enhancing appetite and providing warmth. This inspired Song to set up an oil tea shop that integrates Yao cuisine with horticultural therapy, creating a stress-relief space for residents.
Song Qiongying is a member of the Wilderness Conservation Association and loves nature. She uses the greenery in the courtyard to create a space for stress relief and physical and mental healing, which she shares with the public and new residents. Combining the concept of horticultural therapy with the Yao food culture, she proposed the "Horticultural Therapist's Camellia Oil Appointment", and received a grant from the Immigration Department's Dream Building Project to achieve her goal of opening an Camellia oleifera shop and add a new cultural and creative base to the military dependents' village.
Song Qiongying Transforms Courtyard Greenery into a Stress-Relief and Mind-Body Healing Space (Photo / Courtesy of Taichung Second Service Center, National Immigration Agency)
Since 109, the Taichung City Immigration Service Station No. 2 has proactively contacted Song Qiongying to provide information on New Resident Fund subsidies and various empowerment programs. She and two new resident friends have received Dream Building Program subsidies. She thanked the Immigration Department for its support and said she would help more new residents realize their dreams.
Zhou Youren, director of the Immigration Argency’s Taichung City Second Service Station, said that Qiongying’s community building achievements are obvious to all, and he is grateful to her for sharing her experience, which has benefited many new residents. The Immigration Department provides new residents and their children’s development, scholarships and bursary programs. For details, please refer to the “New Residents’ Development Information Network”. We hope that new residents and their second-generation children will actively join the ranks to realize their dreams.
