Although Ben Chen’s background is in technology, he has always had a soft spot for art. He followed his life plan and retired early, hoping to give something back to his hometown Hsinchu by launching cultural enterprises there.
Taiwan Panorama first interviewed Ben Chen in 2007. At that time, the smartly dressed CEO of Moxa Technologies was wielding a good deal of influence in the business world. More than ten years on, Chen has left his job as a top manager, established a foundation named after his parents, and gained a foothold in the cultural and creative industries. Crossing over from technology to the cultural field, Chen’s identity and mentality have undergone a sea change.
Ben Chen, like his former company Moxa Technologies, is a legend.
Born into a farming family, Chen was fortunate enough to benefit from Taiwan’s economic boom in the latter half of the last century. At the age of 34 he was already president of the Taiwan subsidiary of an international company, where he subsequently rose to the position of global vice president. When he was 41, he started to work at the Taiwanese company Moxa, eventually serving as its CEO. Under Chen’s direction, Moxa’s revenues grew tenfold to reach NT$10 billion, and the company achieved the scale of an international brand.
Moxa has long been identified by the media as a “gold ingot” company. As an idiosyncratic hidden champion that has never pursued a stock-market listing, Moxa not only doles out generous profit-sharing bonuses to its employees, but also sets great store by their health, family life, and personal development. The company sets aside part of every Monday morning for reading activities, during which computers, phones, and work are all banned. Moxa’s five major business partners even promised each other that they would resign at age 55 and hand over the reins to others. Ben Chen was one of those five.
A tech person with a sensitive soul
Chen, whose career path has been relatively smooth, has amassed substantial financial resources and formed close relationships with influential people. Grateful to his parents and to society as a whole, he established the Grand View Culture and Art Foundation even before he retired. The foundation’s double-barreled Chinese name, Hong-Mei, is taken from the names of Chen’s parents. Under the influence of his brother and sister-in-law, who were both schoolteachers, Chen at first devoted the foundation to the education of second-generation immigrants in Taiwan. Subsequently, the foundation was reinvented as an organization dedicated to culture and art, and the Grand View Emerging Artists Awards were launched to provide support to young artists.
It was by happenstance that Chen came to immerse himself in the cultural and creative industries and open his bookshop. In 2015 he and his wife brought the recipients of the Grand View awards to Japan to attend the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale in Niigata Prefecture. The group made a slight detour to visit Tokyo’s Tsutaya Books, whose Daikanyama store has been called one of the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world.
Under a blazing sun, they got lost and had to ask for help. They didn’t speak Japanese, but one simple English word—“bookstore”—was enough to communicate their plight to their local helper, who was happy to guide them all the way to the shop. This serendipitous experience moved Chen deeply, and sparked the idea of opening a bookshop in his hometown.
Creating a bookshop
Step out of the high-speed rail station in Hsinchu County’s Zhubei City and head over to the New Tile House Hakka Cultural District nearby. There you will see Or Bookstore in a two-story building that stands amid luxuriant lawns. This spick-and-span, light-suffused bookshop has been drawing admiration from tourists since 2017.
While many independent bookshops seem cluttered and cramped, Or prides itself on being spacious. Three originally separate old houses were opened up and joined together here, and an abundance of floor-to-ceiling glass windows were installed. Wooden furniture makes the space feel warm and comfortable. Here you can take your pick from nearly 10,000 books and read in one of the many thoughtfully provided snug reading corners. There’s also a lift to take elderly and disabled visitors to the vegetarian restaurant on the second floor.
Or Bookstore is shored up by substantial capital, but the books it stocks and the style it exhibits are nevertheless underpinned by the precision and distinctive charm that characterize small independent bookshops. Neither appealing to elitism, nor vaunting highflying ideas, Or seeks actively to engage in conversations with local residents. An informed understanding of local needs has enabled Or to source high-quality goods that are relevant to, and welcomed by, the local community.
Zhubei, where Or is situated, is home to many highly educated intellectuals and young families. Accordingly, Or selects books in the humanities which chime with its founding ideals, as well as books on the natural environment, agriculture, and sustainability which resonate with the vegetarian restaurant on its second floor. It also stocks many educational picture books suitable for parent‡child reading.
“To make locals proud, to touch and impress travelers”—this is Or’s motto. Sunlight filters through the green leaves and the windowpanes, dappling the bookshop’s wooden floor. Against the backdrop of a wall of books, children and parents are reading with smiles on their faces. This very characteristic scene tells us that Ben Chen’s dream has come true.
The old house where Or Craft Life is situated has been restored and renovated. While retaining its old-style elegance, the place is bursting with new energy.
A veritable business
With his experience at the helm of big commercial enterprises, and with ample financial resources at his disposal, not only was Chen ready to splash out on Or Bookstore from the very start, but he also came up with careful management plans. “An enterprise, even if it’s in the cultural and creative industries, cannot always rely solely on the enthusiasm of its chief manager, nor can it always be run in the spirit of self-sacrifice,” says Chen. Even though Or doesn’t set its sights primarily on profits, “we nonetheless hope to find a business model that helps us manage the bookshop efficiently and methodically and even enables us to cover our own costs while continuing to come up with unique creative ideas.”
Always grateful to his family and hometown, Chen has chosen to devote his efforts to Hsinchu. “If I were living overseas as I used to do, I would perhaps commit myself to donations or sponsorships only. But here in my hometown, I feel a greater attachment to the land. No matter how difficult, how frustrated, and how little supported the project is, I still feel motivated enough to carry on,” Chen, who lived in the US for ten years, says movingly.
By tapping into all aspects of life and offering rich sensory experiences, Chen wishes to use the “distributed museum” model to create a series of sites that cater to the public’s appetite for cultural consumption. His ultimate aim is to help enhance Hsinchu people’s appreciation of art and culture.
Cultivating Hsinchu
In order to achieve self-sufficiency, an enterprise has to attain a certain size. Open for four years now, Or Bookstore has seen the establishment of a series of associate businesses across Hsinchu City and County, including an art and craft shop, a B&B, and a restaurant. Ben Chen has also taken over the operation of the Image Museum of Hsinchu City and is planning a museum of culinary art, due to open in late 2021.
Not only do these beautifully crafted places harmonize with each other, but the things they display also offer glimpses of Chen’s life over the years. For example, the Or Craft Life shop in Hsinchu City boasts works by Paiwan artist Etan Pavavalung from Chen’s own collection. Chen has been fascinated by indigenous Taiwanese art ever since his undergraduate days, when a service-learning course brought him to the Rukai village of Kucapungane in Pingtung County. The Or Inn, barely 300 meters away from Or Craft Life, exhibits a djembe, a cajón, and vinyl records in its small living room—treasures acquired in the US by Chen himself, who wishes to share them with the B&B’s guests. These places encourage us to aspire to a good life; if we know the story of Or, we will also be touched by Chen’s generosity and enthusiasm. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If culture is indeed blooming in Hsinchu now, we owe the trend to this selfless disposition to share all that is good.
