Referred to by archeologists as Taiwan's largest jade ornament export processing zone and dating back over 3,000 years, the Pinglin site in Hualien County's Wanrong Township has been designated for protection under Taiwan's Culture Heritage preservation Act.
At present, the area around the site is agricultural land used by local indigenous tribespeople, who will still be allowed to till the land, provided no digging-depth restrictions are violated under the new designation.
The Pinglin site, located in Xilin Village, is home to the Taroko tribe. The archaeological site is in terraced land in the Central Mountain Range southwest of Xilin Village at an altitude of between 200 and 300 meters. Located nearby is the Fengtian jade mining area, the largest in Taiwan.
Some 3,000 years ago, people skilled in the detailed work of sanding down and polishing jade lived and worked here, producing a variety of jade ornaments and vessels. The output from this area was not only sold all throughout Taiwan, but was also exported to places all around the Asia-Pacific region.
The area was first discovered in the 1950s. Large numbers of jade items, including rings, knives, pendants and hatchets were unearthed by archaeologists in 1988, along with stone coffins, stoneware and pottery with rope-like patterns. Unfortunately, it was not protected as a cultural heritage site for many years.
Wu Jin-shu, the acting director of the Hualien County Department of Cultural Affairs, said the site coming under protection includes 46,000 square meters, covering 15 different parcels of land, most of them terrain reserved for aborigines. At present, crops grown on the land are those with shallow root structures. In some cases, betel nut trees are grown on slope land. Wu said, however, that most of the land lies fallow, and none of the areas coming under protection have buildings on them.
In addition, Hualien County's Cultural Heritage Screening Committee has also decided to list two lime kilns that were built during the Japanese colonial era in Xikou Village of Shoufeng Township as historical structures.
(This article originally appeared in The Liberty Times May 6.)