About

Monsoon season.
The black sandy beaches of Zhuangwei.
A deserted eel-catching settlement.
The entangled branches of the lintou trees.
Hsiao Kang (Lee Kang-sheng) appears to walk in a barren wasteland. Is this the end of time or the beginning?
It all feels like a dream.
– Tsai Ming-liang

In 2018, Tsai Ming-Liang was invited by the Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area Administration to make a film honouring the opening of the Zhuangwei Sand-Dune Visitor Service Park. Unlike some prior films in the ‘Walker’ series, Lee Kang-sheng’s wandering monk makes his painstaking way not through the fast tempo of urban centres but through the timeless and abandoned coastal landscapes of Northeast Taiwan during monsoon season. The contrast between the monk’s journey and his surroundings is reframed in this context, with the changing light cast on Lee’s movement prompting reflection on human and cosmic timescales.