The Guan-du Tunnel and Gorge

[An old friend: BK24, the steam locomotive that had served Tamsui Railroad faithfully between 1901 and 1954; now on display on Guan-Fu Campus of National Cheng-Kung University.]

Tamsui Railroad opened for business in 1901. It was a one-hour ride between Tamsui and Taipei enjoyed by generations of Tamsui-lang until 1988 when it was demolished to make way for the Taipei Metro. It had the same gauge [1,067mm] as the rest of the Taiwan Railroad system; although the steel rails were lighter in weight that could not support regular locomotives. A less powerful and smaller Model BK24 [the Columbia, manufactured by Japan Steam Engine Co in 1901] therefore must be used which was also the only locomotive that could fit comfortably into the Guan-du Tunnel [關渡隧道]. Therein, however, lied the problem: since the tunnel, sitting next to the Guan-du Station, was situated at the top of a slow slope, the train often must back up a short distance to literally gather steam before charging uphill into the tunnel. There was also a very steep curve immediately after the tunnel. The centrifugal force was fun for most boys, heart-stopping for others. People were known to mutter prayers during this part of the train ride. And our regular contributor ChoSan still remembers the ritual of passengers having to close the windows when the train was inside the tunnel. The dense soot-rich dusty smoke from the coal-fired steam engine was quite over-powering indeed.

Here are maps from before (made in 1921-28) and now (from Google maps today), both showing the sharp bend of the railway and, in the area below the bend, the Guan-du Gorge, where the Keelung River and the Tamsui River merge. The gorge was widened in 1964 to facilitate the water flow especially during the typhoon season:

After the sharp bend, now there is the Guan-du Bridge, built in 1980-83. The engineers had used a labor-saving technique, the 潮汐施工法, i.e., large pieces of the columns were dragged to the construction site at high tide, and lowered/fitted into place, almost automatically, when the water receded at low tide. A bit beyond the bridge, the riverbed apparently drops resulting in the white rapids. While the bridge connects Bali with the eastern shore of Tamsui River, the east end also loops into the bottleneck of the highway to Tamsui. Most travelers now take the well-run Taipei MRT Tamsui Line, just like in the olden railroad days, instead of driving.

Talim

Tropical storm Talim went by Tamsui 3 days ago. It brought clouds and rain, leaving, fortunately, no lasting damages. Christina took these photos, looking towards Guan-du (top), at Guan-yin Mountain (middle), and at the mouth of Tamsui River:

Another piece of good news: the newly reclaimed land from the River, near the MRT Station, has remained intact:

The concern for its survival stems from the past disappearance of the delta [known as the 浮線]. The delta was severely eroded by a tidal wave from upstream when the Guan-du gorge was blasted open in 1964. And to make matters worse, full-scale harvesting of sands from the River was officially sanctioned on July 1, 1982. It was not until April 30, 1989, that the practice was finally banned. By then, however, the delta was totally gone, and with it, part of Tamsui-ren's memory.

In search of General Sun Kai-Hua孫開華提督

General Sun Kai-Hua was the defender of Hobe/Tamsui during the Sino-French war. The Hunan Braves 湖南勇 under his command defeated the French fusiliers marins (Oct 8, 1884) winning the only victory in this war at the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf.

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.

淡水信用組合 (1918 - present)

Miss Christina Hong kindly sent these photos of the Tamsui Cooperative Trust:

[Above: taken on the 20th anniversary of its founding and bottom: present-day]

The Tamsui Cooperative Trust 淡水信用組合 (now 淡水信用合作社 at 67 Chung Cheng Road, a post-war name change) was founded in 1917 with 103 members, including 吳輔卿 (who had also served one term as the mayor of Tamsui), 林金鐘, 許丙 (the chief of staff of the famed Banqiao Lin Family), and officially opened for business on Oct 5, 1918. The first chairman was Mr 洪以南 who was also the mayor of Tamsui. Mr 洪以南 was succeeded by 吳輔卿, 施坤山, 汪水汴, 郭水源, 盧阿山, 李元貴, 朱木火, 吳獻璜, 高欽三, and 呂子昌. This Trust, established and operated by the locals, has been instrumental in the economic development of Tamsui, in the beginning when the international shipping declined as well as during the more recent dark period when the Taipei Metro was being built (1988).

[A token of appreciation from Tamsui Agricultural Association]

Interestingly, a bomb shelter in its basement from the 1944-45 era is still preserved.

Taiwanese POWs in New Guinea

Many Taiwanese farmers drafted to serve in the Pacific War as members of the Agricultural Production Brigade never came home. On Jan 12, 1945, 148 [out of 200] with four from Tamsui, Mr 張根池, Mr 郭福林, Mr 陳九連, and Mr 張流和 were killed in Cape St Jacques, near Saigon. They were on board of Shinsei Maru, a transport ship, sunk by 2 bombs and one torpedo delivered by F6Fs from the US Navy.

Many more such Taiwanese military workers [as well as combat soldiers] ended up in Papua New Guinea. Those who survived the war were incarcerated in POW camps. It was not until one year later when they finally returned home to Taiwan. Here are some photo records:

Photo taken on Nov 23, 1945 showing the POW camp site in Kokopo [formerly Rabaul], New Britain, where Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese POWs were detained

Taiwanese POWs outside of a storage tent in the 20th POW camp located in Lae, Australian New Guinea, Nov 3, 1945

Taiwanese POW camp trustees in Lae

Growing vegetables - doing what they did best

The Taiwanese have often been portrayed as sadistic prison guards who abused and killed Allied POWs. These were actually in the extreme minority, not among the 80,433 combat soldiers. In all, of the 207,083 Taiwanese who served, 173 [most of them guards] were convicted, sometimes without legal representation, as class BC war criminals with 26 sentenced to death and executed. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience for the Taiwanese during and after the trial - in the hands of the Australian military who intended on exacting revenge.

Addendum:

Dr Wei Chiu-Jin, a Taiwanese draftee from Wu-feng, sends his memoir. He recalls waiting to be shipped out from Singapore in early 1945 and saw the arrival of the Awa Maru 阿波丸, the Red Cross relief ship that carried vital supplies to US and Allied POWs. He mentioned seeing shipment of coffee, cigarettes, etc, intended for the American POWs.

Awa Maru was sunk by USS Queenfish on April 1, 1945, despite the Relief for POWs agreement that accorded the ship safe passages. Except for 1 survivor, 2,004 on board were all lost. After this attack, no more supplies for the POWs. The negotiation for a replacement ship was never concluded and the Japanese demand for the compensation of the ship and the lives lost was never met.

The wreckage of Awa Maru was found by the PRC in 1977 and the salvage operation that ensued had recovered no gold, platinum, or diamonds - treasure rumored to be on board.

Compulsory public education

Graduation photo of the 14th Advanced Class (Class of 1939) of Tamsui Public School [front row, 4th from left was one of EyeDoc's cousins and 5th from left, husband of EyeDoc's aunt] (Courtesy of Mr N Hirokawa).

There were two reports prepared by the British Consul then stationed in Tamsui, dated 3/4/1940 and 6/17/1941, respectively, commenting on the public education reform in Taiwan. Quoted in part:

"The Japanese policy of assimilation demands as its ultimate aim that the Formosans shall not merely be loyal subjects of the Emperor, but that they should think, talk, dress and live in a manner indistinguishable from home-born Japanese. All Formosan students are expected to speak Japanese only, not merely in the classrooms, but in their private intercourse. By the use of such means it is hoped that Japanese will supplant Chinese as the language in daily use among the people; but obviously the aim cannot be achieved without universal compulsory education. This reform has been long delayed by financial stringency, and so recently as 1935 it was estimated that not more than 37 per cent of Formosan children went to school. The present figure [note: 1940] is unknown, but is still fall far short of the aim. Now, however, at least the intention has been declared of introducing the compulsory system as follows: --

"Primary" schools ("shogakko [note: 小學校]")--for Japanese children only--compulsion to be applied from the fiscal year 1941-42--period of attendance, 6 to 14 years of age.
"Public" schools ("kogakko [note: 公學校]")--for Formosans--compulsion to be applied from 1943--period of attendance, apparently from 6 to 12 years of age.

Children in the "savage" districts will not be included in the scheme. This, however, represents a very small leakage, since there are only some 150,000 aborigines in the island as against 5,400,000 Formosans of Chinese race. Mo doubt the details of the scheme may be mended later."

Kids in Tamsui belonged in the 37% that had attended elementary schools by 1935. There was one 小學校 and two 公學校, the latter for boys and girls, separately [known as 淡水國小 and 文化國小 after 1945]. They were taught by Japanese teachers. In 1941, all schools were superseded by the common title Kokumingakko [i.e., national school 國民學校] and by 1943, locals were also among the ranks of the teachers and the students were no longer segregated.

Supplanting the mother tongue even in private conversation never took place - with non-Japanese-speaking parents, it was mission impossible. The 8-year education had already been implemented at least in Tamsui, since after advanced class (高等科, equivalent to junior high) in elementary schools, kids who qualified went on to senior high schools in either Tamsui or Taipei. The elite high schools in Taipei, the First High was attended by almost all Japanese and the Second High, by Taiwanese only. Many then received even higher education in medical schools or universities in Taiwan or Japan, even in the Japan-controlled Manchuria and Korea.

The British Consul had also noted in his 1941 report that

"...With the initial hardship of being educated in an alien language, it is obvious that on a shorter educational course the Formosan child can never hope to succeed in open competition with the Japanese. Indeed, his educational facilities are expressly designed to ensure that he shall not."
and
"...since the island schools are used as an overflow of Japanese youths from Japan who cannot secure entry into schools in their own country, it is more likely that such new facilities as can be provided will benefit Japanese children rather than Formosan."

Again, the "shorter educational course" referred to the 6-year main student course [本科部]. While these observations might be factual, the Consul had not given Formosan children due credit for their ability to overcome any hardship, especially when the competition was with academic low-achievers from Japan.

Angels in white 白衣天使

This is a group photo of all nursing students of National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital Nursing School, taken on the graduation day of the first class on March 31, 1952, on the front steps to the Hospital.

Nursing profession arrived in Taiwan with the Presbyterian mission in as early as 1865. Many missionaries were nurses themselves having previously been trained in England or Canada. They took on the clinical duties at missionary hospitals and at the same time taught nursing (among other subjects) to the Taiwanese. These dedicated ladies were usually unmarried and were therefore addressed respectfully as 姑娘 in Taiwanese. [Note: On Aletheia University campus in Tamsui, the building known as 姑娘樓 was where they resided when working for the northern branch of the Presbyterian Church. Most notable among them were 金仁理[Jane Kinney], 高哈拿[Hannah Connell], 李仁美[Geraldine Greer], 黎瑪美[Mable G Clazie], 安義理[Lily Adair], 杜道理[Dorothy Douglas], and 德明利[Isabel Taylor].]

When the Japanese invaded Taiwan in 1895, with the mounting casualties from illnesses, they brought in 10 physicians, 9 pharmacists, and 20 nurses to staff a field hospital in Taipei. In 1898, Japanese women only were admitted to the nurse training program. It was not until 10 years later in 1907, when the program was finally opened to the Taiwanese.

The two training tracks actually ran in parallel; although the indoctrination of the sense of duty was fundamentally different. The missionary way was to inspire a Nightingale-like self-sacrificial higher calling; whereas the Japanese way instilled obedience as part of the social hierarchy where nurses were subservient to [almost all male] physicians. The Japanese tradition is to last to this day even after the introduction of the American system.

The American style nursing education started in 1950 at NTU Hospital [see graduation photo above] which culminated in the establishment of a university-level Nursing School at NTU in 1956. These two levels of nurse education are now the common modes of training in Taiwan.

Part of this long nursing history remains hidden, however. Not known at all was the fact that nurses in Taiwan were drafted, starting in 1942, to serve in the Pacific War. They were 17-18 year-olds, appointed as 特別志願陸軍看護助手 (or 特志看護婦 in short) as members of the IJA. The only surviving evidence is probably the Nursing Assistant's Song, 看護助手の歌. Its lyrics were by 越山正三 and melody by 呂泉生, composed in 1943, and in part:
父母離れ　　はるばると 南支那海　　乗り越えて 皇軍（みいくさ）進みし　　島山に ゆかしく　咲ける　　小百合花
乙女と　いえど　　軍律の きびしき　中に　　起き伏して 幾層楼の　　病棟に 輝く　愛の　　赤十字
Translation: 離開父母,到中南海遙遠的戰地去照顧戰士們,就像是山裡盛開的百合花 [Leaving Mom and Dad behind to take care of soldiers in the far away South China Sea, just like lilies in full bloom on the hills]
雖是小小姑娘，但是在病房裡，就像是充滿輝光的紅十字小護士 [Even though we are little girls, in the wards, we brighten up the whole place, we are the little red-cross nurses]

Sadly, many perished in the battle fields and some starved to death in, e.g., the Philippines, in the waning days of the war. Most survivors, however, still remain silent, not wishing to be confused with the notoriously maltreated comfort women.

More recently, there appears an acute nursing shortage in all hospitals in Taiwan. The average working span for a nurse is now a mere 7 years. The high turnover and even higher attrition, owing to the combination of extremely low pay and absurdly high workloads, are bound to alter the current health care system in a big way.

Angels working in sweatshops? Somehow, this picture does not look right.