General Sun, however, had left no personal effects behind in Tamsui, not even a portrait. British Consul Alexander Frater did record in detail the dealings between the two in his reports to British Foreign Ministry. For example, Sun had asked for Dr Johanson's assistance, who was then the resident physician at Ft San Domingo, to treat the wounded soldiers. And Frater on the other hand had sought for Sun's assurance that the practice of cutting off of the French war dead's heads for rewards would cease. Both requests were granted.
General Sun was from Chi-li County in Hunan and owned a 50-acre estate in Yan-Po-Du Township. After the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf, he was reassigned to other duties in Hokkien until his death in 1893, never returned to his hometown again.
James Wu, a member of Tamsui Peace Park (TPP) supporting committee, has visited Sun's old house and filed this report:
訪張家界市慈利縣岩泊渡鎮星明崗村委書記
昨6/13/2012下午前往孫開華故居拜訪當地村委鄒書記和拍攝殘缺故居原貌照片數張。
據鄒書記口述，孫開華年少藉藉無名既外出從軍，之後至病歿一直沒有回到岩泊渡定居，照片中之宅邸是朝廷因其屢建功勛而為其建造，但他本人與其子均在福建和台灣兩地為官居住，也因此岩泊渡老少鄉親對其家族知之不詳，及至前幾年孫開華孫女曾回祖籍瞻仰過一次，再加上網路搜尋資料方便才有當地政府人員涉入研究。總歸，孫開華任官和居住過的淡水人都比其老家人更瞭解其人史跡。
又據鄒書記所述， 孫開華岩泊渡故居原佔地五十畝，含二十八宿四十八個天井宅邸四週挖掘水溝是謂[水繞四門]，但是經過1958年大躍進和1966年文革時的破壞如今已成照片中的殘垣。然最近幾年因有本籍多人開始蒐集研究逐漸炒熱其事跡，慈利縣委才於今年初向省府提出修建其故居一案，故居原貌由數位當地耆老尋記憶描述繪製，今日造訪得知省府已批准並撥款人民幣一億年內動工修建。
又因孫開華本人及其後人並未在慈利縣岩泊渡待過故無任何文物流傳下來。
聞其數年前曾回祖籍瞻仰過的孫女 [note: granddaughter 孙克俊] 現居美國，但並未留下通訊地址給當地政府。
[Above: The main residential house and below: its interior]
[Below: Brick-stone walls of unknown purpose - part of the remnants of the 水繞四門]
[Above and below: woodwork details of the main residence]
Essentially, after years of neglect and destruction, General Sun's hometown folks now know much less about him than the grateful folks of Tamsui. Also, two more Hunan Braves' graves have recently been discovered. To fully restore the history, we now will need to recruit the help of the descendents of General Sun and his Hunan Braves, or those who know of them. Please email hmcheng542@msn.com or leave a comment. Thank you very much. 
What a lovely house! I've seen pictures of old Japanese farmhouses that have major beams made out of big curved natural logs. It's so beautiful to look at but really difficult to build because precise joinery on curved logs is no joke. And this house has it.
回覆刪除The ornamental carvings and the bat window screens exude craftsmanship of unique visions. Haven't seen such tasty woodwork design elsewhere. My respect to the unknown master carpenters. Let's hope the renovation won't include bulldozing of this house.
Hi Herman,
回覆刪除Now that you've mentioned it, the interlocking beams of various sizes do look incredibly complex. My cousin James took quite a number of pictures when he was there last week, so at least we have some visual records. Indeed let's hope the house is renovated, not rebuilt from the ground up. Maybe it should be moved to Tamsui and reconstructed there just like the 一滴水紀念館.
Hey EyeDoc,
回覆刪除That's a lovely thought, moving it to Tamsui and reconstructing it there. If that happens, that would be worthy of google+1, facebook like, and 台灣加油讚. Who knows, I may even get to join the volunteer group.
OK, we'll work on a proposal.
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