Chi Po-lin
30-second overview: A Ministry of Transportation civil servant used his NT$3 million life savings plus a NT$6 million mortgage to buy NT$30 million worth of aerial photography equipment, creating "Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above" with a box office of NT$220 million. He accumulated 1,600 hours of flight time in the sky, ultimately dying in the work he loved most—killed in a helicopter crash on June 10, 2017, while scouting for "Beyond Beauty II."
How does a civil servant who can't afford helicopters on his salary mortgage his house to create Taiwan's most successful documentary film?
At 11:54 AM on June 10, 2017, helicopter B-31118 crashed in the mountainous area near Changhong Bridge in Fengbin Township, Hualien County. All three people on board were killed, including 52-year-old Chi Po-lin. Scattered around him were millions of NT dollars worth of professional photography equipment—gear that had captured Taiwan's most beautiful landscapes and witnessed his final flight.
This isn't a story about success. This is a story about sacrifice.
From Safe Civil Servant to Risk-Taking Aerial Photographer
Chi Po-lin's story begins with what seemed like an ordinary decision. In 1990, at age 26, he joined the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation as an administrative officer. The job was stable, safe, with guaranteed pension benefits—the kind of "good job" Taiwanese parents dream of for their children.
But a chance event in 1991 changed everything.
The bureau needed to document the construction of National Freeway No. 3, and Chi was assigned to aerial photography duties. His first helicopter ride, viewing Taiwan from 500 feet above, revealed a completely different world. "That moment I truly 'saw' Taiwan," he later recalled. "The beauty and sorrow invisible from ground level became crystal clear from the air."
💡 Did You Know?
Chi Po-lin's name coincidentally matches that of the "Zeppelin" airship, but this was pure coincidence. His father chose the name based on stroke count calculations, with no knowledge of zeppelin airships.
The bureau only budgeted 20 hours of aerial photography annually, but Chi's hunger for the sky far exceeded this limit. He began "catching rides"—when Meteorological Bureau helicopters changed shifts, when the Forestry Bureau sprayed pesticides, when Taiwan Power Company lifted equipment. Whenever there was an opportunity, he would bring his camera and take flight.
Helicopter rental costs exceeded NT$100,000 per hour—completely beyond a civil servant's salary. But Chi found another way: trading time and relationships for flight opportunities. Construction company owner Huang Mu-shou even sponsored his aerial photography dreams multiple times at no cost.
Dangerous Skies, Irreplaceable Perspectives
Aerial photography was anything but romantic work. Every ascent was a gamble with life.
Chi once encountered foehn winds in the Dawu Mountain area of Pingtung, with the helicopter blown by fierce winds all the way to Taitung's coast, nearly losing control. Near Yushan's main peak, powerful unstable air currents prevented the co-pilot from controlling the aircraft's attitude; when the pilot took emergency control, the helicopter flew almost vertically upward. Downdrafts near Taipei's Qizui Mountain also nearly caused crashes.
"Every flight into the sky is a matter of life and death," Chi admitted. At Yushan's main peak, 4,000 meters high, sub-zero temperatures turned his hands purple; in strong air currents, he had to support his body with one hand while lifting his camera with the other. "I was exhausted for two full days afterward."
But what pained him more was the scenery before his eyes. From the air, Taiwan's beauty and trauma coexisted: winding coastlines and magnificent mountains, but also dense illegal constructions, pit-marked mountain tops, and polluted rivers. "I sighed constantly in the plane!" Chi said. "Photography speed couldn't keep up with development speed."
📝 Curator's Note
Chi once said that when facing life-and-death moments, he only feared his camera falling, not personal danger. This sounds exaggerated, but those who knew him understood it was true—the images in his camera were more precious to him than life itself.
A Gamble Without Guarantees
In 2009, at age 45, Chi Po-lin made the biggest bet of his life.
After Typhoon Morakot, he flew into disaster areas for photography, and the devastation he witnessed made him realize that still photos were insufficient to help people truly feel the crisis Taiwan's land faced. Inspired by Luc Besson's "Home," he decided to create Taiwan's first aerial documentary film.
This decision was opposed by almost all his friends and family. His wife complained that he was spending their savings on "this hobby with no visible future"; his son once wondered if his father could still afford to support his education.
But Chi pressed forward undeterred. He invested his NT$3 million life savings and mortgaged his house for another NT$6 million loan to purchase NT$30 million worth of professional aerial photography equipment. In November 2009, he founded Above Taiwan Cinema Inc., with "Above" symbolizing his attachment to the sky.
Filming "Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above" took three years, accumulating 400 hours of helicopter flight time. To avoid audience fatigue, Chi insisted on using long shots, medium shots, and close-ups in aerial photography. But he focused more of his lens on environmental destruction—industrial pollution, illegal cultivation and construction, soil and water loss.
"This will make audiences feel too heavy," many worried about these materials. But Chi persisted: "The images speak for themselves, no need for words. Anyone who sees them will understand the danger."
Miraculous Success and Heavy Responsibility
On November 1, 2013, "Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above" officially premiered. No one anticipated what would happen next.
The first three days broke NT$10 million in box office, becoming Taiwan's highest-grossing documentary opening; by November 29, after 29 days of screening, box office exceeded NT$100 million; on January 5, 2014, after 66 days of screening, it broke NT$200 million, ultimately reaching NT$220 million—a number that shocked everyone.
"Beyond Beauty" wasn't just commercially successful; it won Best Documentary at the 50th Golden Horse Awards, breaking Taiwan's documentary ceiling. DVD sales exceeded 30,000 copies, schools purchased over 1,000 public screening licenses, and its influence continued spreading.
But success brought not only praise but also pressure and danger.
The film exposed issues like ASE Group's wastewater discharge in Kaohsiung's Houjin Creek, illegal guesthouses at Cingjing Farm, and hillside collapses behind Alishan's Zhushan Station. The government began prioritizing environmental issues, but enterprises and shops faced investigations, and online threats against Chi's personal safety appeared.
Facing this pressure, Chi chose to continue forward. "Taiwan was truly beautiful in the past! But in these decades of pursuing economic development, we unintentionally harmed her."
The Final Flight
On June 8, 2017, Chi held the opening ceremony press conference for "Beyond Beauty II." He hoped to expand his vision beyond Taiwan, from mainland China, Japan, and Malaysia, as far as New Zealand, tracing the Austronesian origins of Taiwan's indigenous peoples to awaken the "adventure DNA" sleeping in Taiwanese blood.
Two days later at dawn, Chi boarded a helicopter from Hualien Airport for the third aerial scouting mission. On board was his latest 6K photography equipment, specially purchased for the new film.
At 10:45 AM, the helicopter took off from Chishang, heading to Yuli, Ruisui, and Fengbin areas for aerial photography operations. At 11:54 AM, the aircraft lost contact with ground control.
Post-accident investigation found multiple contributing factors including the pilot's consumption of antihistamine medication affecting reactions, flight hours approaching legal limits, and possible mechanical failure. But for Chi, these technical details no longer mattered—he left this world doing what he loved most.
Legacy Beyond Life
Chi's death shocked all of Taiwan. President Tsai Ing-wen personally issued a presidential commendation, praising his contribution in "exposing wastewater pollution and illegal cultivation, revealing environmental development changes." The Air Force dispatched C-130 transport aircraft to help transport his remains, forming honor guards at Songshan Airport.
He left behind not just hundreds of thousands of aerial photographs, but a spiritual legacy. Asteroid 281068 was named after him; newly discovered species Neorhynchoplax chipolini (crab) and Dendronereis chipolini (polychaete) bear his name; the first satellite in the Formosat-8 constellation was also named the Chi Po-lin satellite.
In 2018, the Chi Po-lin Foundation was established, dedicated to digitalizing his works and cultivating aerial photography successors. "Beyond Beauty II" was ultimately completed through other directors' efforts. Though Chi couldn't witness it personally, his spirit was deeply imprinted in the work.
From a Transportation Ministry civil servant to Taiwan's most renowned aerial photographer, from NT$3 million savings to NT$220 million box office miracle, Chi Po-lin spent 26 years proving one thing: love can make someone choose the extraordinary.
He once said: "Your blood must contain adventure genes!" Now, whenever we look up at the sky, we can remember that figure flying among the clouds, and the land he protected with his life.
✦ "Taiwan is so beautiful, it's worth recording with my life."