Following the enthusiastic response to our Taiwania solid-wood lightbox and giclée prints, we decided to release a jigsaw puzzle in recognition of the work's educational and public value. We hope more people can discover its story while enjoying a hands-on activity.

To respect the original work, we retained its 1:2 proportions, commissioned a custom cutting die, and developed the puzzle in the largest size the manufacturer could produce.

Completed puzzle dimensions: 39 × 80 cm; 1,104 pieces.

Material: Imported paperboard

Packaging: Cardboard box; includes glue and a missing-piece replacement form. The first print run also includes a complimentary 80 cm Taiwania poster.

About Taiwania: The Tree That Reaches the Moon

Taiwania has existed on Earth for more than 100 million years, earning it the name 'living fossil.' Its genus, Taiwania, is the only plant genus named after Taiwan. In the Qilan mountain region, Taiwania trees are uncommon and grow in scattered locations. One of East Asia's tallest tree species, it is known to the Rukai people as 'the tree that reaches the moon.' Very few people have been able to see its entire form.

Taiwania is the only plant genus named after Taiwan and has considerable international recognition and significance. In 1904, Japanese scholars first collected a Taiwania specimen in Nantou's mountains at an elevation of 2,000 meters. It grows mainly in misty mountain forests at elevations of 1,800–2,500 meters. A relic of the Ice Age and a living fossil of global importance, Taiwania often grows alongside Taiwan red cypress. During the era of extensive logging, some Taiwania populations were also heavily felled.

The Taiwania Life-Size Photography Project team consists of Dr. Jennifer Sanger and Steven Pearce, a couple from Tasmania, Australia. Sanger studies epiphytic plants, while Pearce is a professional photographer. On the 12th, the team gave a talk at the Forestry Research Institute under the Council of Agriculture to conclude their photography trip in Taiwan. This was their third project worldwide. Photographs of a 70-meter-tall Taiwania tree, taken meter by meter, would be assembled into a single image revealing the tree's full form, with completion expected about a month later.

Life-size tree photography can be traced to National Geographic's 2009 project photographing redwoods in the United States, the world's tallest tree species. The Tree Project followed in its footsteps, and such projects remain rare. Forestry Research Institute researcher Chia-Chun Hsu, who helped bring the project about, explained that tall trees are usually photographed from below, which alters their proportions. Life-size photography instead uses a track to move the camera up and down the trunk, photographing each height at a one-to-one scale without distortion or deformation.

In Taiwan's Qilan mountain region in Yilan County, at kilometer 10 of Forest Road 170, three enormous Taiwania trees stand together, known as the Three Sisters. An Australian team worked with Taiwanese tree enthusiasts to photograph them at life size. The results were breathtaking, prompting an Australian photographer to say: 'Taiwanese people should truly be proud to have this forest.' — Zhengjian News

Finding Taiwania: http://e-info.org.tw/node/105526

The story behind photographing The Tree That Reaches the Moon: http://e-info.org.tw/node/204865

Card Board Print.

The Tree Projects is an Australian environmental education and giant wood photography team dedicated to documenting and protecting giant trees and forest ecosystems around the world through the powerful Tree Portrait technology.

In Taiwan, The Tree Projects enjoy tremendous popularity because they are an important driving force for bringing Taiwan's "Shenmu" to an international perspective with a complete face.

The unique "giant wood photo" technology When people shoot magic trees in the forest, they can only shoot from the bottom to the top, causing the trees to be severely deformed and the proportion is distorted in the photo. The Tree Projects employs extremely time-consuming and dangerous technologies to address this issue:

Climbing tracks: They erect climbing ropes equal to the height of the trees next to the big trees as “tracks.” Lifting: The photographer lifts and lowers vertically along the rope, horizontally translating the parts of the giant wood at intervals.

Seamless stitching: Finally, thousands of local photos were stitched in a 1: 1 true ratio into a high-resolution "body photo" with no distortion and high image quality, so that the world can see the real magnificent face of the giant wood.

The Tree Projects has been invited to Taiwan many times, working with a team of "tree seekers" composed of forestry laboratories and successful universities to record Taiwan's precious Taiwania cryptomerioides (known as the king of conifers): 2014 "Taiwan Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Tree Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Tree Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Sister Cilan

2023 "Momoyama Shenmu": Come to Taiwan again to record Momoyama Shenmu with a height of 79.7 meters.

"Da 'an Creek Leaning Sword": They also took a full-length photo of the "Da 'an Creek Leaning Sword", which is currently the highest tree record holder in Taiwan and East Asia, with a height of 84.1 meters, showing the extreme biodiversity and vitality of Taiwan at medium and high altitudes. The work of The Tree Projects is not only a record of scientific exploration, but is also widely used in environmental education and ecological exhibitions, bringing the emotion of alpine giant trees to people in the city.