In 1984, he first came into contact with Japanese "stream tracing" techniques (for following rivers and streams to their sources). This was the key which unlocked for him the doorway to all his later surveys of areas deep in the mountains.
民國七十三年，他在接觸了當時方從日本引進台灣的溯溪技術後，真正開啟了日後深入山區做地氈式調查的關鍵。