Such abandoned companies sometimes offer us more insight into Taiwanese habits than it might seem—especially when we do a bit of research. Here we see a traditional company that apparently also cared about its employees. At the same time, it is an example of the kind of “cold bankruptcy” common in Taiwan—operations simply cease without formally deregistering the company. Even Professor ChatGPT was misled.
This beauty is visible right from the street—as are the piles of garbage. It was a manufacturer of plastic sheets, boards, and pipes, founded in 1981. The site consists of two connected halls and an office building.
In the office building, some furnishings are still recognizable. Evidently, the boss cared about the well-being of his employees—there’s a punching bag for stress relief and even a snooker table.
At the same time, the setup is quite traditional. Inside the building, there’s an altar (odd that it wasn’t taken along), and at the entrance, there’s a kind of pagoda or shrine.
If you research the company, you’ll find hardly any signs that it’s shut down. Even the world’s best scientist Chat was fooled.
You had to dig deep before finding a statement from the city of Miaoli confirming that the factory had clearly not been in operation for two years. The machinery had also been removed for safety reasons.
This kind of situation is quite typical in Taiwan and something I often encounter as a lawyer. Companies are simply shut down without formally deregistering or initiating bankruptcy proceedings. The latter are notoriously inefficient in Taiwan—probably because no one bothers with them anyway.
It’s strange—the company was equipped with substantial capital (NT$30 million at the time) and had even acquired an export license in 2021.
(Copyright Claudius Petzold)
