Pretty much all boys from Danshui go to this elementary school (and all girls go to another). Naturally both Mr 張 and EyeDoc attended this school albeit at different times. It does have a long history - 107 years to be exact.
(Entry to Danshui Public School)During the Japanese occupation, Taiwanese children went to public schools (公學校), while the Japanese (or children from rich and powerful Taiwanese families) went to the much better staffed and equipped Little Schools (小學校). [日據時代臺灣人讀的學校叫公學校,日本人讀的學校叫小學校,小學校的設備,師資,教具等學用品都比公學校好的多,只有極少數有錢有勢的台灣人才能讀小學校.]
There have been many famous alumni of Danshui Public School, e.g., past President of Taiwan Mr Lee Teng Hui [李登輝總統], and the first physician with a doctoral degree, Dr Tu Chung-Ming [杜聰明博士].
In 1922, Tu Chung-Ming of Danshui County submitted his post-graduate research thesis to the then Imperial Kyoto University and received its faculty approval, thus becoming the first Taiwanese to have earned a doctoral degree. Dr Tu was born in Danshui in 1893. At age 11, he entered the Ho-be Public School and graduated first in his class at age 17. He then entered Taiwan Office of the Governor-General School of Medicine (the predecessor of National Taiwan University School of Medicine) and graduated again first of his class in 1914. He started his teaching career at the same school from 1921 until 1954 when he left to found Kao-Hsiung Medical School. He was most definitely an accomplished teacher, researcher and physician who had saved many lives and nurtured many students in Taiwan. He was a farm boy who had never forgotten his roots.大正11年(1922)，距日本治台僅27年，淡水郡青年杜聰明先生通過京都帝大論文審查，成為台灣獲得博士學位殊榮的第一人。當時，台灣身處殖民地，在教育上受著不平等的差別待遇，杜聰明的學業成 就不僅為台灣人揚冒吐氣，也大大地提昇了台灣人的尊嚴和自信心。
杜聰明，1893年誕生於淡水百六戛農家，9歲入書房啟蒙，11歲 入滬尾公學校並寄宿在滬永吉街，17歲以第一名畢業。同年又以第一 名考進當時的最高學府「台灣總督府醫學校」，他的成績一直保持第 一，1914年以醫學校十三回第一名畢業。但是杜聰明先生並不是只會讀書的獨善其身者。他在醫學校求學時，熱心於革命志業，曾親赴中國北京，試圖謀刺梟雄袁世凱，為民除害。且自1921年任教台北醫專 ，一直堅守教育崗位，1937年任職台北帝大醫學部教授，戰後受聘為台大醫學院院長，又於1954年創辦高雄醫學院。一生作育英才、提攜 後學，不遺餘力，貢獻於台灣之醫學教育，居功厥偉。並且積極從事鴉片、嗎啡、蛇毒等研究，發明減量弁毒療法及尿液檢查法，又自蛇毒中提煉鎮痛劑，自木瓜葉中製成赤痢病特效藥，不僅獲得極高的藥理學成就，而且濟世救人無數。
杜聰明博士一生動敏好學，以一農村青年躋身日本帝國學術殿堂 ，成為台灣醫界泰斗，已屬不凡；更以所學回饋台灣社會，實為台灣人知識份子的典範，足以為有志向學之淡水青年的最佳榜樣。--錄自"金色淡水"
Hi there,
回覆刪除It is a great story that you have created from a leaf of postcard.
I still remember the playground is full of red clay. We dig it and take home then add salt for making salty duck eggs.
Have a good day.
Cho-San
Dear Cho-San,
回覆刪除You are absolutely right. Your recall of the details is very impressive. Yes, the red clay. When it rained, the mud was tracked into the classrooms making a total mess. We used to make a small mud cube, poked a hole in the middle and slammed it on the ground hole-side down to hear the loud popping sound. And I used to go to school bare-footed because sneakers did not last too long in the mud.
And in the back of the school yard, there was a steep decline where we went down-hill sliding much like tobogganing in the snowy Northeast of the US. Until someone ratted on me and told my grandmother about it. That ended that part of fun.
Thank you so much for this note. We are relatives of Tu Tsung-Ming, does anyone remember the school song from the 1920s-30s? and might anyone have a link?
回覆刪除