Accomplished writer returns to Yilan to take over father’s gas bottling business
Accomplished writer returns to Yilan to take over father’s gas bottling business
2026-06-30
Sometimes, people will choose a side hustle to generate more income or showcase a different skill. But for Wang Ya-lun, hers is a way to commune with her late father. Now over 60 years old, Wang used to live in Belgium working as a writer, and has even worked with the Cannes Film Festival. Four years ago, her glamorous life came full circle when she returned to Yilan to take over her father’s natural gas bottling business, all to preserve his memory.
Drivers bring their trucks up to the station, emptying gas cylinders one by one to be refilled. It’s hard to imagine the boss weaving her way among them, Wang Ya-lun, was once a top student at Taipei First Girls’ High School and NTU’s foreign languages department. She even earned two master’s degrees in France on scholarship. But now, she’s selling gas.
As she leads the reporter through the station, Wang tells how she used to be a seasoned writer and European correspondent. Four years ago when her father died, she moved back home to take over his business.
Wang Ya-lun
Gas bottling station owner
Before, no matter how I wrote the invoice, it wouldn’t go through. I didn’t even know I had to get carbon paper! I came back so often at the time because my parents’ health was getting worse. After my father passed... That period of time was too short. I felt like, at least this station has been the same for 40 years. Of course it’s changed a little, but it’s still here, so I couldn’t... I couldn’t let it go.
Wang has helped with the Cannes Film Festival and even translated the memoir of its former president. But is it possible for this seasoned writer to blend in with the gas workers?
Mr. Yeh
Gas supplier
I told her not to take over the business. She should be holding a pen, not gas cylinders!
Wang said if she never took over the business, it would have been hard for her to understand the hardships her father faced.
Wang Ya-lun
Gas bottling station owner
I never doubted that my father loved me deeply, but he was very strict with me. It’s because I took over the station that I can better understand what he went through. The process is what’s most important. I’ve learned a lot.
Fans of her writing have even come to visit her at the station. After traveling all the way around the world, Wang has landed back where she started to better understand the love her father left behind.
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與父和解! 60歲前媒體人返宜蘭老家接手亡父”瓦斯分裝場"
2026-06-30
有時候選擇斜槓，是增加收入或展現不同的技能。但60出頭的王雅倫，她的斜槓是為了和已逝父親的對話。原本住在比利時的王雅倫，是作家，也曾辦過坎城影展，光鮮人生繞了一大圈，四年前她回到老家，接下爸爸留下的瓦斯分裝場，因為她想留下一些關於父親的回憶。
瓦斯行老闆們開著貨車，把一桶桶鋼瓶送來分裝，很難想像，這位穿梭在工廠裡的老闆娘王雅倫，她曾是北一女 、台大外文系高材生，靠獎學金在法國拿到雙碩士，如今卻在賣瓦斯。
帶著記者穿梭瓦斯分裝場，王雅倫曾是撰述委員、歐洲特派，4年前父親過世，她返鄉正式接下家業。
[[瓦斯分裝場業者 王雅倫]]
“我怎麼開(發票)都沒有印過去?我連要買複寫紙我都不知道。那時候會回來那麼勤，也是因為他們的身體開始不好，他走了以後，就是最後這時間，實在是太短，我就覺得起碼這個(分裝)場，40年都是這個樣子，當然有一些變，可是這個場還在，我就沒有…我就一下子捨不得。”
王雅倫辦過坎城影展、還翻譯過坎城影展前主席回憶錄，但拿筆的文人 一下子就要和瓦斯場師傅打成一片有可能嗎?
[[瓦斯行業者 葉先生]]
"有跟她建議你不要接啦，她是拿筆的，不是扛瓦斯的！"
談起父親，王雅倫說要不是回來接家業，她可能很難理解爸爸的辛苦。
[[瓦斯分裝場業者 王雅倫]]
"我從來不懷疑說我爸爸很疼我、很愛我，可是他就是對我很兇。然後也因為我來做瓦斯場，我比較能夠理解他的辛苦。那重要的是這個過程，我學到多。"
經營瓦斯分裝場， 還會有書迷慕名而來 王雅倫繞了世界一大圈，最後在父親留下的瓦斯場裡，讀懂那句沒說出口的愛。
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