Alishan’s transformation from logging site to tourist landscape is celebrated in Chiayi Forestry Culture Park.
A storage pond for freshly felled trees in Alishan Forestry Village in Chiayi City. (Photo courtesy of Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office)
For railway buffs in Taiwan, Christmas came a day early with the reintroduction to the public of the 110-year-old Shay 21 in the southern city of Chiayi. The steam engine had just undergone a year and a half of repair, and after nine months of trial runs, the locomotive was back in service for the first time since its retirement in 1976. The train originally started running in 1912, the first year of Alishan Forest Railway’s operation.
Today’s railway still looks much like the original, a testament to the skill of its engineers and construction crew over a century ago. (Photo courtesy of Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office)
The construction of railways and use of steam trains was vital to Japan’s commercial utilization of Taiwan’s natural resources during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945). In 1899 the colonial government discovered rich cypress forest in the central-southern mountain range, and Alishan soon became the largest of three mountain logging sites developed during that period. The quality and quantity of the cypress trees covering the slopes merited a dedicated rail track from Chiayi City to three forests in Chiayi County. The line was a feat of engineering running from the plains to mountains reaching altitudes of over 2,200 meters. Construction began in 1906 and the main section opened six years later. Still Asia’s highest narrow-gauge mountain railway today, the Alishan line was known for its unique features such as Z-shaped switchbacks and steam locomotives equipped with vertical cylinders allowing the train to climb very steep inclines.
Under the 2017 Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office obtained NT$390 million (US$13 million) to reconstruct Tunnel No. 42. It was destroyed by two typhoons in 2009 and 2015, causing suspension of 23 percent of the railway line for 14 years. The reconstruction is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Another NT$2 billion (US$66 million) went to improving and renovating structures along the whole rail route.
In 2003, the Council for Cultural Affairs, forerunner of the Ministry of Culture (MOC), listed the railway as one of 18 potential UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and in 2019 the MOC designated Alishan’s forestry heritage sites and infrastructure an important cultural landscape. “When it comes to the railway, the Forestry Bureau previously focused on ensuring smooth operation, but now restoration is equally important,” said the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office. The office also preserves intangible heritage via oral history, recording conversations with 20 retired rail workers from technicians to station staff who shared stories of Alishan’s development. The office is currently interviewing 15 seniors from settlements along the route who recall how the railway shaped their lives. In addition, the office promotes the line and its legacy by designing guided train rides and producing related teaching materials for elementary schools in Chiayi.
A public artwork titled Song of the Forest by Wang Wen-chih in Alishan Forestry Village is a Chiayi City landmark. (Photo courtesy of Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office)
Colonial Cityscape
The railway enabled an era of commercial logging at Alishan and contributed to Chiayi’s economic boom as the city became a major timber processing and distribution center. Today, two groups of legacy buildings in the city, Alishan Forestry Village and Hinoki Village, form Chiayi Forestry Culture Park, which showcases the cutting-edge engineering and urban development that came with the timber industry. In July 2018, the Forestry Bureau integrated Alishan Forestry Railway and Chiayi’s cultural park into a single outdoor museum managed by the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office. The office manages the implementation of a national initiative covering forestry cultural parks around the country. A budget of NT$38.8 million (US$1.3 million) from the program has been earmarked to improve the drainage system, strengthen wooden structures and design exhibition spaces in the park. The 2021 Taiwan Design Expo in Chiayi included exhibitions at Alishan Forestry Village’s Chiayi Sawmill on the general development of Alishan Forest Railway, along with a display of photos and models of locomotives and cars.
Construction on what is now called Hinoki Village started around 1914 with worker and management housing, and renovation on the 3.4-hectare residential area was completed in 2013. One of the earliest buildings on the site to be afforded protection was the Forestry Club, which was listed by Chiayi City as a municipal historic site in 1998. It was built as a social hall for forestry staff and demonstrates the Western architectural style popular in Japan during the Meiji period. Like other structures in the cluster, it has had varied uses as a kindergarten for children of Forestry Bureau employees, a venue for tree auctions, a county administration office and living quarters for the bureau’s staff.
Hinoki Village is the largest grouping of Japanese-era houses in Taiwan, with 29 restored buildings that now operate as retail and exhibition facilities. The restored residential buildings offer a cross section of structures reflecting the hierarchy of the colonial commercial timber operation. One of the most impressive is the Taiwan Governor-General’s Forestry Bureau Chiayi Branch Office director’s residence. This large eight-roomed structure had multiple potential configurations achieved by folding doors and screens so it could be used for official banquets, meetings and as a residence. The roof was constructed of red cement tiles, a more unusual material at the time compared to the black roof tiles that were used elsewhere in colonial-era buildings. Also indicating the wealth and prestige of the timber industry are the high-end and modish interior features, including built-in wooden cabinetry and colored cement tiles after the European fashion of the time.
Chuchi Station on the Alishan line is now fully restored and open to the public. (Photo courtesy of Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office)
Cutting Edge
About four minutes’ walk from the village, the sawmill complex is where logs transported via the railway were stored in huge ponds and then processed into lumber. The water storage ponds for freshly felled Alishan trees ensured the wood would not dry out, and the facility’s timber processing was the height of twentieth century engineering.
In 2009 the central government started to restore the production structure of the outstanding antique industrial complex, whose machines were the most advanced in mechanical automation available during the colonial period. Power was provided by using sawdust in a forward-thinking circular-use pattern that lessened dependence on coal. The sawdust room collected and ferried wood waste from the timber production facilities to the power room, where a British steam boiler and an American generator burned it to run saws and other machinery. A brick-built flue conveyed smoke from the boiler room to a 36.5-meter-high chimney. To publicize this site, Alishan World Heritage Association (AWHA) was commissioned by Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office to offer activities like weekend fairs at the complex and training courses for volunteer guides.
New Growth
As a major Chiayi tourist site, Hinoki Village attracted 17 million visitors over the decade from March 2013 to present. The growing visibility of Alishan’s former commercial timber culture also owes much to nongovernmental organizations like AWHA. Founded in 2018, the association educates visitors by arranging mountain tours that give a close look at the vestiges of the area’s logging past. AWHA’s ultimate goal is to put Alishan Forest Railway and the legacy assets in Chiayi Forestry Culture Park on UNESCO’s world heritage list. A milestone for the endeavor was reached in 2021, when the association became a member of the International Council of Monuments and Sites, a major organization that UNESCO consults with. AWHA Director General Kuo Ying-liang (郭盈良) is excited about the international council’s 21st Triennial General Assembly in Sydney, Australia, starting August 31 this year. AWHA is busy preparing for a series of lectures and seminars on Alishan heritage that are timed to coincide with the event. “We don’t know if the site will be accepted by the U.N. agency,” Kuo said. “What matters most to us is the process of raising the profile of Alishan’s history, which creates consensus that these assets are valuable and worthy of attention.”
Alishan’s forestry heritage and railway are designated by the government as an important cultural landscape. (Photo by Kent Chuang )
Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw