What looks like rock along this shoreline is not rock at all. It is a landform shaped over a long span of time by living creatures of the sea. An algal reef…
Multilingual AI audio guide exhibit on WOUDiO (PWA). WOUDiO pioneered the world’s first audio guide platform with built-in donation: listeners can support the cultural venue without leaving the listening experience. The text below is the localized description, details, and narration script for this audio guide stop.
What looks like rock along this shoreline is not rock at all. It is a landform shaped over a long span of time by living creatures of the sea.
An algal reef forms as crustose coralline algae—seaweed that builds a shell of limestone—accumulate, layer upon layer, over the ages. Along the coast of Taoyuan, this algal reef stretches on for a great distance.
At low tide, the shore reveals rough, uneven shapes in gray and pale crimson, resembling stone. Yet these formations grow at an almost imperceptible pace. What we see today took thousands of years to take shape.
In recent years, this coastline became the center of debate across all of Taiwan. Plans moved forward to build a natural gas receiving terminal nearby, and people concerned about the impact on the algal reef called for the plan to be reconsidered.
In 2021, the issue was put to a national referendum. The measure did not pass, and the project proceeded—though revised, with the facility's location shifted further offshore.
Securing energy. Protecting a coastline shaped over thousands of years. Both were urgent, heartfelt wishes for many people.
At low tide, small crabs and shellfish hide within the crevices of the algal reef.
Even now, the algal reef continues to grow, at a pace too slow for the eye to see.
