A modern day Danshui-ren's journey south

It took 19 days for George Leslie Mackay to travel 220 miles from Danshui to Tainan. Now it takes only half a day from Danshui to the southern tip of Taiwan:

東港 TungKang is now famous for its 烏鮪魚文化觀光節. The first pair of the blue-fin tunas caught each season trigger this very well-coordinated event. The fish are paraded around town first with great fanfare and then auctioned off at the fish market, for upwards of NT$ 2 Million - for the pair, sometimes for just one. So, instead of exporting to Japan on the cheap as in the past, the blue-fin tuna (toro, not maguro) is now in great demand in Taiwan. The harvest is only a few hundred each year, because the fish seem in a hurry; they migrate north from the Philippines, go pass 蘭嶼, then disappear mysteriously somewhere deep into the Pacific. Only to return around the same time next year. And they are the fattest, at the most flavorful stage, when the fish reach the outskirts of Taiwan.

Well, how to get to 東港 comfortably and see everything along the way. By car of course.

How is this done? From Danshui, you simply take the 台二高 from Taipei, i.e., the second highway of Taiwan; although the official name is 國道三號高速公路 or the No 3 Freeway (except it is not for free). There are 10 toll booths all together. NT$40 for each.

The best parts of this highway arguably are the rest areas. Very well-maintained typically with a shopping area, a restaurant, a children's play area, and a food court. Except for a lack of paper towels (true everywhere in Taiwan), these rest areas are even better than the ones in New England.

This is the 南投服務區, also known as the Lamungan (原住民語) Service Area. There is the 西湖服務區 in 新竹 before this one and another later at 關廟 near Tainan.

There is a distinct change of vegetation to the tropical varieties as you travel south. Many more 椰子樹, even more 檳榔樹. Soon after passing Tainan, you enter the 屏東平原 and the sun begins to shine. The climate is far warmer and more humid than the north.

Once entering 東港, one notices very few tall buildings. Most are lower than four stories if not less. KFC, MacDonald's and 永和豆漿, the usual suspects are all here in town.

The fishing port has a commuter boat line to 小琉球, a 30-min ride. Inside the small port, there is a large fish market. Here, the frozen fish lie on the floor waiting to be sold. Presumably, even the tourists can bid. In fact, rumor has it that one such person made the mistake of bidding on a nice looking tuna for NT$5,000 - thinking that it was for the whole fish and it turned out to be for per kg. At around 200kg per fish, he was in for a big shock.

Across from this area, there is a row of small sashimi-eating places. And the sliced tuna is almost like ice-cream, 入口即化. For lunch, the seafood restaurants here serve dishes prepared from different parts of the tuna, including two with fish eyes. There were also 油魚子 (not 烏魚子), crabs, 金針,魚翅, sakura shrimp fried rice, etc. The sakura shrimp 櫻蝦 looks almost like the whale food, the krills 磷蝦, except the former is 10 times more expensive owing to limits set by the 漁會. 東港 is the only place where the sakura shrimp thrive outside of Japan's 駿河灣. The tiny shrimp does have a very distinct flavor, kind of hard to describe.

Here in this photo, half a truckload of frozen fish, to be shipped to all over Taiwan. Interestingly, because of the much improved highway system, other fishing ports can no longer compete with 東港 . With its low wages, low costs for storage and maintenance, 東港 is now the premier supplier of fish in Taiwan. This is much like the HSR's impact on domestic airline industry, also fast and deep. An unavoidable evolution of sorts.

This seaport is similar to Gloucester in Massachusetts (of The Perfect Storm fame). The same type of ships catching the same types of fish - except the fishermen here are now mostly 外勞 (from Indonesia).

This photo shows a typical fishing vessel of 東港 . With the GPS and communications systems now widely available, even a small steel-hulled ship such as this one can sail out to as far as Guam. At the beginning of the tuna season, ships are positioned along the migration route. The first ship that catches one or two promptly reports back to the 漁會 thus preempting other claims.

It takes 5.5 hours from Taipei to 東港, similar to that from Boston to Philadelphia. In the more recent past, even by train, it still took forever. One must admire what Mackay et al did, on foot, in 1885.

Disappearance of the delta - 浮線

Mr ChoSan mentioned the disappearance of the old delta (the 浮線) which indeed used to be in the middle of the river. In this undated old photo of Danshui (most likely taken before the Sino-French war) looking into GuanDu, a trace of it can still be seen - to the right of the picture in the river. It later might have built up into a true delta, possibly a result of ships deliberately sunk at the mouth of the river to prevent the French Navy from entering that had greatly impeded the out flow.
張三先生注意到淡水河中的浮線(或沙埔)現時己經不見蹤影了.左方的老照片(很可能是中法戰爭前所攝)右手河中還可看見部份浮線.而且關渡口似乎有另一浮島.現在看來,淡水河中的浮島與時變化,並非常景.

In the 50s, many older boys swam up to it, usually on a dare. No one seems to remember what the girls did for fun.
50年代男孩們會被同伴們挑戰,游水到島上.女孩們玩些什麼遊戲就不得而知了.

There have been many different theories on how the delta disappeared. For example, dredging - which did go on but only for a very brief while. The most convincing one is that after the narrow GuanDu passage was blasted open in 1964, at the suggestion of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the water rushed downstream and washed the delta away. That might have been; however, the true reason is prior to that, some 8 to 10 sand and gravel companies set up shops in Bali along the shoreline and began to siphon the river water 24/7 - to recover the sandy sediments. The sand was sold for profit of course. And this continued for several years until the delta was totally gone. No one knew if this activity was authorized by whomever. Widening the GuanDu passage probably also has contributed to the wash out later, but it was not the main cause.
至於浮線為何消失,與 1964 年關渡拓寬倒是無甚關係,而是之前八里的 8-10 家砂石公司無日無夜的作業給抽光了.

The idea of resuscitating Danshui's shipping industry has been bandied about for decades. No dice so far - sedimentation is the perennial issue.
很可惜,這個長久的淤沙問題使淡水一直無法回復到上一世紀國際港的盛況.

法國海軍陸戰槍兵 Fusiliers marins

在漁人碼頭戰爭中,法軍陸戰隊是何許人物,裝備又是如何呢.
So who were these French soldiers who fought in the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf and how were they equipped?

原來是他們是 Fusiliers marins (英文為 Navy riflemen 或 Marine infantrymen),乃法國陸戰隊中的一支特種部隊,於1856年6月5日建軍.是海軍士兵經陸戰訓練而成,每一連編制70人,由一名海軍中尉軍官 [連長] 及兩名少尉 [排長] 率領.他們是中法戰爭中,在越南和臺灣的攻擊主力.
They were the Fusiliers marins, a special branch of the French Marines, created on June 5, 1856. They were sailors trained in ground battles. Each company had 70 men led by one lieutenant and two lieutenants JGs. They were the main attacking forces in both Tonkin and Taiwan during the Sino-French War.

下左是一 Fusilier marin 的畫像 (年代不詳).
Bottom left is the portrait of a Fusilier marin (of unknown date).

從描畫法軍進攻東京 (北越) 的北寧與劉永福的黑旗軍大戰 (03/12/1884) 時的圖片,可以看到軍服應是:
They were equipped thus (cf color picture below):

深藍水手帽加紅纓頂 (Dark blue sailor's beret with a red fuzzy ball on top)
水手披肩 (Seaman's collar)
深藍紅裡外衣 (Dark blue tunic with red lining)
淺藍長褲 (Light blue trousers)
綁腿靴 (Boots with leggings)
此外,步槍一 (plus a long rifle)
兩條披肩帶(可能掛水壺及彈藥盒各一) (Two shoulder straps each with a canteen and an ammunition pouch/case attached)

法軍官則全身深藍,上衣紅內裡,馬褲白條邊,裹紅布腰帶,戴米色防暑盔,登黑長靴,左右手各執手槍及指揮刀.馮子材的相片中佩帶的法國軍刀,應是當年的戰利品.北寧之戰時也有東非兵團 (下圖最左黑人兵) 及外籍軍團參戰.
The French officer wore dark blue uniform with red lining, a red sash around his waist, and a beige pith helmet, holding a pistol in the left and a sword in the right hand. A photo of Sun Kai-Hua showed the commander posturing with a French saber which was probably a trophy from the battle taken from one of the French lieutenants. The African Battalion (the left most figure in the picture below) and the Foreign Legion both participated in the battle of Bac-Ninh (March 12, 1884), fighting the Chinese Black Flag Army commanded by General Liu Yong-Fu.
至於Fusilier marin 所用步槍是單發式 Fusil Gras M80 Modèle 1874:
The rifle used by Fusilier marin was the single-shot Fusil Gras M80 model 1874:
其長 1.31 公尺,重 4.15 公斤, 口徑 11 mm, 裝有三角形切面刺刀,由聖倚天 St Etienne 兵工廠製造.
It was a 11-mm caliber rifle manufactured by the St Etienne Military Works, measuring 1.31 m in length, weighing 4.15 kg and it also had a bayonet with triangular-shaped blade (in cross-section).

傳統 Fusilier marin 的軍歌:
The Fusilier marin chant:

歌詞首部 - 法文加翻譯如次(可以想像到漁人碼頭之戰法軍登陸後列隊前進的情景):
The beginning lyrics - with translation (possibly sung after landing and beginning to march on the beach at Fisherman's Wharf):

Les fusiliers partent pour l’aventure (陸戰槍兵開始玩命)
Soleil couchant les salut (連日頭都會來致敬)
Chez l’ennemie la vie sera très dure (敵人日子不會好過囉)
Pour ceux qui pillent et qui tuent (特別是搶劫殺人的那一群)

上引 video 唱的是合唱部:
And the refrains sung in the above video:

France o ma France très belle (我美麗的法蘭西)
Pour toi je ferai bataille (我為妳而戰)
Je quitterai père et mère (我離開了爸爸和媽媽)
Sans espoir de les revoir jamais (也許就不能再見到他們的面了)

En pagayant sur la mer toujours belle (在美麗的海上航行)
Ils songeront à leur vie (會想到生命的意義)
Ils peuvent demain devenir éternels (是要永世流芳)
Ils tomberont dans l’oubli (還是默默無聞)

Si d’aventure la mort les refusent (命也玩了而死神也拒收)
Ils rentreront dans leur port (返回到出發港口)
Et ils boiront le champagne qui fuse (痛飲香檳酒)
A la santé de leurs morts (祝戰歿同伴們健康)

Bombing of Danshui, 1944

(Left: an F6F Hellcat ready to take off)

Because of the strategic location, not only the Sino-French war, WWII also came to Danshui.

The 1944/45 map of Danshui posted under Mr Chang's "Memories of 濱栗 and more..." has been brought up before because the US Navy bombed Danshui in 1944 for reasons unclear to me.

According to Mr Chang: "You mentioned several times about the small sea plane base next to train station. The lot belongs to GO-SHA, the fifth son of the rich man, before Japanese takes over and converts to airport. I also met Mr. Iwamoto here in SF bay area, he was a pilot of the Zero fighter converted sea plane at that base. It is interesting that his only memory about Tamsui is fried BeeFunn 炒米粉."

The intended targets actually were the oil storage tanks of the old British (Dutch?) Shell Oil Corp near the seaplane base. The oil storage was hit and my youngest uncle remembers seeing the sky over Danshui orange red from a distance at 北投仔 where the family was evacuated to, and figured that the whole town had been destroyed. The fire actually burned for 3 days. Mr Chang recalls that one of the 20+ casualties was a driver minding his own taxi business near Danshui Station when the area was hit by an off-the-target bomb.

The date of the bombing was Oct 12, 1944, the first day when the whole Taiwan was attacked. The F6F fighters would have been from US Naval Task Force 38/58 (based on the carriers). There is still some confusion whether the B-25s or the B-29s from the land-based USAAF were involved. The intended target was actually 迺生產石油株式會社淡水油槽所, the "Rising Sun Petroleum Co" on the US Navy map. This event was known as "火燒臭油棧" to Danshui-ren. 臭油, because of the foul oily smell. The seaplane base was apparently a secondary target.

The oil company site is still around albeit somewhat neglected. For a quick tour, see here.

Addendum: The attacking aircraft were carrier-based, most likely the F6Fs. According to CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 150, OCTOBER 13, 1944:

"Carrier aircraft of the pacific Fleet fast carrier task force striking Formosa on October 11 (West Longitude Date) shot 124 enemy aircraft out of the air and did heavy damage to enemy shipping and shore defense works. Preliminary pilot reports and photographs show that 97 enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Initial reports indicate the following damage to enemy shipping

Ships sunk:
Large cargo ships‑2
Medium cargo ships‑2
Small cargo ships‑12

Ships damaged:
Large cargo ships‑2
Medium cargo ships‑7
Small cargo ships‑10

In addition to the foregoing, extensive damage was done to hangars, buildings, oil dumps, warehouses, docks and industrial establishments at Einansho臺南安南區, Okayama岡山, Tamsui淡水, Heito屏東, Reigaryo苓雅寮, and Taichu臺中.

Our losses were 22 aircraft. There was no damage to our surface ships."

Robert Swinhoe - first British Consul based in Danshui

[Left: Robert Swinhoe 1836 - 1877]

Robert Swinhoe was born in Calcutta, India. He was a naturalist and a diplomat. He arrived in 1854 in Hongkong to learn Chinese languages after passing the British Consular exam.

In 1858 HMS Inflexible sailed from Amoy to Taiwan, with Swinhoe as interpreter. They explored the entire coast, and penetrated considerable distances inland. Swinhoe made important collections of animals and plants.

After serving briefly as interpreter for the 2nd Division of the allied forces in northern China under Major Garnet Wolseley and (later) Commander-In-Chief Sir Hope Grant in 1860, Swinhoe was appointed the first British consular official in Formosa in 1860 at age 24. He traveled to Formosa aboard the gunboat Cockchafer and arrived in Takao with an assistant, George Braun, and a retinue of Chinese servants in early 1861. They then trekked overland to Taiwanfoo, where he set up an acting consulate in Funshin temple outside the city walls. Although Swinhoe was only a vice-consul, he conferred upon himself the title of “brevet rank of acting consul” in order to gain the respect of the local intendant, and eventually managed to secure a house inside the city walls in which he officially opened the consulate on 10 July 1861. Shortly after he moved the consulate to Tamsui in order to encourage trade in late 1861. For the next year the British consulate was based on the SS Adventure, moored in the Tamsui (Danshui) River, after which it was moved to San Domingo, the old Spanish fort in Tamsui:
Swinhoe fell ill and returned to England on sick leave on 10 May 1862 and returned to Taiwan in 1864. He remained active professionally until 1873 when he suffered the first of a series of strokes. He died in 1877, at age 41.

(Source: http://ringmar.net/europeanfury/?page_id=1188)

First female physician of Taiwan

(蔡阿信醫師Dr Tsai A-Hsin, 1899 - 1990)

蔡阿信Tsai A-Hsin was a precocious child who grew up to be the symbol of high achievement of Taiwanese women. After graduating at age 18 from Danshui Girls' High School, she went on to study medicine at Tokyo Women's Medical School in Japan. Danshui Girls' High School 淡水女學校 was founded by Dr George Leslie Mackay in 1884, later to become Danshui Girls' Academy 淡水女學堂. Only 45 graduated from the Academy and Dr Tsai was one of them. After receiving her medical degree, she came back to Taichung to practice, and became the first female physician (specializing in OB-GYN) of Taiwan. Her hospital had an affiliated midwifery school, in which 30 students were trained every half year. In a short span, 200 to 300 midwives graduated from this school, and practiced all over Taiwan. (Adopted from http://www.tccgc.gov.tw/report/taichung/English/people/people-18.htm)

Danshui is always proud to have hosted Dr Tsai and many of her fellow Danshui Girls' High students, including Pianist 陳信貞女士 (also of Taichung), who came from different parts of Taiwan to study here.

Danshui Elementary School

Shown below is a postcard of "Danshui Public School" celebrating its 100th Anniversary, forwarded by Mr Anonymous (or Mr 張三). Two others below were also from the same time period (1910-1941).

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)

The predecessor of Danshui Elementary School was established in September, 1895, known as the "國語講習所 (or the Japanese School)". The school name was changed to 滬尾公學校 (Ho-be Public School) in 1902 and move to the present site at 淡水鎮中山路No 160. It has been renamed many times since: In 1910 to 淡水公學校 (Danshui Public School), in 1941 to 淡水東國民小學 (Danshui East Elementary School), in September, 1946 to 臺北縣淡水鎮淡水國民學校 (Taipe County Danshui Township Danshui Elementary School), and finally in August, 1968 to the present 臺北縣淡水國民小學 (Taipei County Danshui Elementary 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"