A Taiwanese city embraces a sluggish tempo of life via a snail race

Snail race highlights life-style

Simina Mistreanu And Taijing Wu, The Associated Press – May 5, 2026 / 6:25 am | Story: 612615

The Taiwanese city of Fenglin has grown a fame as a spot the place life strikes slowly and other people can catch their breath.

Rather than push towards this rhythm, the city of round 10,000 has chosen to embrace it and make it a part of its identification. Enter the snails.

Fenglin has been placing on snail races as a technique to have fun its concentrate on a slower, sustainable life-style that values healthcare, longevity and group connections whereas bringing in additional vacationers within the wake of a robust earthquake in 2024 that dampened journey in surrounding areas.

“The earthquake two years ago had a relatively big impact on tourism because people are worried an earthquake may happen again,” mentioned Hsu Lu, a 32-year-old resident. “Many people have left Hualien because of earthquakes,” Hsu mentioned, referring to the encompassing county and the location of frequent quakes.

Snails are one technique to carry vacationers again, even when slowly.

Focus on high quality of life

Fenglin has related itself with snails since 2014, when it joined the Cittaslow worldwide community of small cities targeted on high quality of life and domestically sourced meals. Cittaslow’s image is a snail carrying an assortment of buildings on its again.

The designation of a sluggish metropolis appeared to suit Fenglin, whose inhabitants has shrunk threefold over the previous few many years. Today, additionally it is an instance of Taiwan’s “super-aged” society, with greater than 20% of its residents older than 65.

To assist reinvigorate native tourism after the April 2024 earthquake, which killed 19 folks and injured greater than 1,100, Fenglin residents determined to host a snail race the next month, mentioned organizer Cheng Jen-shou.

“We thought that our event could attract people, and that would be a small help,” he mentioned.

This yr, the city held the third version of the race over the May Day vacation.

Several dozen enthusiastic residents and vacationers attended the occasion, which featured six snail races spaced out over two days. The winners from every race competed within the last, however not earlier than posing in entrance of their audiences whereas slowly being pulled on a chunk of plywood throughout a inexperienced carpet as their followers cheered them on.

Snail race attracts dozens from close to and much

Li Cheng-wen, a 70-year-old retiree from Fenglin, introduced a number of snails to the race. He caught them in his vegetable backyard snacking on his leafy greens, and as a substitute of killing them as some farmers do, he determined to lift them as pets, he mentioned. He feeds them slices of bananas, papaya and vegetable leaves and showers them day by day.

“As to the criteria for choosing snails for the race, I usually select those that are very active and pleasing to the eye,” Li mentioned.

Kevin Hong and Tiara Lin additionally introduced a sightly snail to the race. The couple traveled all the way in which from the southern metropolis of Kaohsiung, a couple of five-hour drive away, along with their 2-year-old daughter, Murphy, and their big African snail, Aquaman.

The couple had signed up Aquaman for a earlier race in 2024, however simply as they had been headed for Fenglin, Lin went into labor. Now the entire household returned to cheer on Aquaman.

Brother Snail, a recurring champion

Despite being bigger than most of its homegrown rivals — which had been picked out from native gardens or the facet of the highway — Aquaman was somewhat sluggish.

Once the race began, it and 9 different snails had been positioned close to the middle of a spherical desk coated with a skinny vinyl sheet. The first to succeed in the sting of the desk was topped the winner.

The absolute champion was Guage, or Brother Snail. Its proprietor, 39-year-old Tanya Lin from Hualien, had been elevating the snail since 2024, when it additionally received one race.

This yr, Brother Snail crossed the 33-centimeter (13-inch) tablecloth in 3 minutes and three seconds. That efficiency earned it the highest spot on a tiny stadium and a prize of natural candy potato leaves.

An different to a fast-paced life-style

Besides the snail race, the native authorities has been making an attempt to draw tourism by providing guided e-bike excursions with stops at historic tobacco barns, Japanese colonial-era buildings and a Hakka-minority museum.

The concept of a slower tempo of life was compelling sufficient to draw college college students Annette Lin and Tanya Liu, who rode the practice for about half-hour from Hualien on Saturday to take a look at the snail race and Fenglin’s sluggish vibes.

The mates discovered the competitors distinctive and loved Fenglin’s leisurely tempo — however solely as a respite from the busy metropolis life.

“I think for travel or a trip, it’s a great choice,” Liu mentioned. “But maybe living here would not really be my dream choice.”