the Editor says: "A Life Changed by the Ocean" is an ambitious special series. Through ongoing interviews, we hope to understand what drives each ocean enthusiast and to bring people closer to the sea. Chen Xin-Zhu of Dòngshǒu Ài Táiwān is a deeply down-to-earth older brother figure. What was the turning point that launched him on a journey of coastal scavenging that has now spanned three years and accumulated a total of 38,294 kg of marine debris (and counting)?
Chen Xin-Zhu, the Beach Scavenger
On New Year's Day 2016, a steady rain was falling and a cold northeast monsoon wind kept up its biting, persistent blow — yet more than 100 figures were moving along the beach. One man held a megaphone, directing the crowd up and down the shoreline. That peculiar scene was the Editor's first encounter with the man known as beach scavenger Chen Xin-Zhu.
Chen Xin-Zhu pictured with the "It's Always Sunny" beach
Chen Xin-Zhu is 52 years old, with sun-darkened skin and long hair — an approachable, easy-going talker who is the last person you'd expect to be organising beach cleanup events. Yet he has quietly dedicated three years of his life to doing exactly that.
- 24 beach cleanup events organised
- 3,097 participants mobilised in total
- 38,294 kg of marine debris collected
These impressive figures are all the more remarkable given that not a single corporate sponsorship or government grant has ever been involved. So why did Chen Xin-Zhu decide to pour himself into the thankless work of beach cleanups? The story begins three years back. Chen is an amateur photographer who used to travel around Taiwan with a small point-and-shoot camera in search of beautiful scenery. What puzzled him was this: Taiwan has stunning landscapes, so why are its coastlines and recreational areas always buried in rubbish? Then one day, he stumbled across a video on YouTube of a foreign friend who had spontaneously organised a beach cleanup. It was like a light switching on. Why couldn't he, as a Taiwanese person, do something for this land? And so his coastal scavenging journey began.
A successful beach cleanup requires thorough planning and the support of many volunteers
I Ask Nothing of This Land — Only to Give, Without Complaint or Regret
Many people ask whether he ever gets tired of organising so many events. Chen lets out a hearty laugh and replies: "I ask nothing of this land — only to give, without complaint or regret. Why would I ever feel tired?" If picking up a single plastic bag on the beach means one fewer whale swallows it, or pulling out one straw means one fewer sea turtle ingests it, that is a good deed done. No matter how exhausting each event may be, seeing the rubbish collected is all the satisfaction he needs.
Having run so many beach cleanups, he is also clear-eyed about their limitations: ocean cleanup is never the ultimate solution to marine debris. No matter how many people you mobilise to work the length of Taiwan's coastline, a single typhoon can undo it all. But for Chen, a beach cleanup is more than just picking up rubbish. It is an act of bending down and re-examining the relationship between people and the ocean — learning to show respect and to care for this beautiful land and sea.
A beach cleanup is more than just picking up rubbish. It is an act of bending down and re-examining the relationship between people and the ocean — learning to show respect and to care for this beautiful land and sea.
He recalls one occasion when an 80-year-old grandmother, over the objections of her family, bent her back right alongside everyone else to pick up rubbish. On another occasion, parents brought young children, and the whole family took part together. In her small, innocent voice, a little girl told her parents: "I want to help pick up the rubbish too, or the sea turtles' home will get dirty." Perhaps these events do more than redefine one's personal relationship with the ocean — they are also a practical lesson in environmental education for the whole family.
Instilling a love of the ocean from childhood is the true foundation of Taiwan's identity as an ocean nation
Back at Chen's home in Badouzi, Keelung, an entire room is stacked floor to ceiling with the "treasures" he has pulled from the sea over the years. Whenever the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology or other ocean cleanup groups need items to display, he is always ready to provide them — because every piece of marine debris carries a story capable of shocking people into environmental awareness.
All manner of marine debris — from the moment you toss something outside a bin, there is a real chance it will end up on a beach
A Japanese visitor who saw this photo later apologised to Chen
Marine debris, of course, knows no borders. Keelung sits on Taiwan's Northeast Coast, where the China Coastal Current meets the Kuroshio, making it a convergence point for flotsam from around the world. Every cleanup yields "treasures" from far-flung places — gas masks from the United States, beer bottles from the Middle East, life jackets from the China Coast Guard, and assorted drink cans from Japan and South Korea. On one memorable occasion, Chen fished out a plastic bottle that, once translated, turned out to contain a letter from an Indonesian fisherman pouring his heart out to his girlfriend back home.
Sea-drifted rubbish from South Korea, 1,458 km from Taiwan
Organising events in Taiwan means dealing not only with supporters but also with online trolls who try to tear you down. Chen takes it all in stride. He reckons there is already more than enough to do, and what he needs are like-minded companions — the petty noise he simply has no time for.
Now 52, Chen looks back and reflects that his involvement in beach cleanups began purely out of love for this land. He hopes to step back from the frontline in another eight years. Planning a cleanup is exhausting work — from choosing a site and coordinating with waste removal services to scheduling the day's activities and documenting everything afterwards. His hope is that, over these years of organising, he can gradually nurture a community of kindred spirits to carry the mission forward.
The spirit of Dòngshǒu Ài Táiwān needs to live on and spread its influence ever further
As for the future, the Dòngshǒu Ài Táiwān community — which has always refused corporate or government funding — intends to keep walking its own path. From just 4 participants at that very first cleanup to an average of 200–300 per event today, with a recent event projected to exceed 800 attendees, Chen refuses to be complacent about the surge in numbers. What he truly wants is for everyone who shows up to take the idea of reducing plastic waste home and weave it into their daily lives. He also hopes for more opportunities to visit schools, sharing years of beach cleanup experience and the importance of plastic marine debris, so that these values can take root from a young age.
So what does beach cleanup mean to Chen? He reflects quietly: before the age of 49, he genuinely feels he wasted his life. But after 49, beach cleanups gave him a new direction. If someone like him — a rough-around-the-edges guy who spent four years in junior high school without graduating — can do this much for his land, what about you?
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