Taiwan Today

Hidden among the green hills of Taipei County's Jueifang Township, Chinkuashih was once the site of a gold rush that attracted prospectors from around the world. But as the mineral deposits were depleted, so the glittering face of the area faded and was buried beneath silvergrass buffeted by seasonal northeasterly winds into shifting, snowdrift-like shapes. Chinkuashih's time in the spotlight came to an end, and it slowly slipped back into obscurity. Like the genie in Aladdin's lamp, it awaited rediscovery to bring it back to life. In 2002 a group of impassioned cultural workers cleared some of the dry grass blanketing the slopes. They worked to uncover and piece together the remnants of this long-abandoned mining town so rich in natural and cultural treasures. Then in 2004 Taipei County's Cultural Affairs Bureau established the Gold Ecological Park there and the old mining town began to rediscover some of its former glory. In 1889, when Liu Mingchuan, Taiwan's first provincial governor, was building the railroad between Keelung and Taipei, workers by chance discovered gold sediment on the banks of the Keelung River. Although the initial discovery was made in the area between modern Chitu and Patu, gold prospecting activity soon spread from the mouth of the river upstream. According to accounts of the time, by 1892 more than 3,000 people could be seen panning for gold along the banks of the river. That same year, the Ching government set up a bureau to oversee prospectors and levy a tax for access. In 1894 a vein of gold deposits was discovered in "Little Pumpkin Hill" (Tatsukeng), and with gold also found in the adjacent Chiufen, this sparked a new gold rush. But the very next year Taiwan was annexed by Japan under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed by mainland China and Japan. Departing from a reliance on riverbank gold panning or excavation mining, the Japanese set up smelting plants and used modern methods to extract gold. They introduced advanced mechanical equipment and specialized technologies, while hiring locals as company employees. After 1905, when enargite was discovered, and gold and copper were produced in tandem, the mines earned a reputation as Asia's most valuable source of precious metals. At the time, the prosperity of the area was unmatched in Taiwan and it became known as "Little Shanghai." Seventy-eight-year-old former miner Chang Kao-yung, who began working in the mines after graduating from elementary school said that, based on statistics from 1937, there were more than 8,400 people working in the area. Including workers' family members, Chinkuashih residents numbered between 20,000 and 30,000. During World War II, there were three recreational clubs in the mining area. The clubs normally concentrated on film screenings, and on occasion there would be performances of Taiwanese Opera. Because the showings were not restricted to locals and often featured new films, residents of the surrounding area spanning Chiufen, Jueifang and Keelung came to Chinkuashih to watch movies. As a result, the theaters were usually packed. For a while miners enjoyed a relatively affluent lifestyle, but the work was extremely arduous. "The environment inside the mines was harsh. Copper deposits usually lie deeper than gold deposits, and copper ore oxidizes on contact with air, producing heat. Thus although the average temperature in the gold mines was around 18 C, it could be over 40 C in the copper mines. The changes in temperature when moving about in the mines made it feel like you were in a sauna. In addition, collapses within the mines had to be guarded against, as well as the effect on the lungs of dust from excavation with explosives and drilling," recalled Chang, who retired from Taiwan Metal Mining Co. in 1986 and suffers from mild pneumoconiosis. As World War II was drawing to a close, between 400 and 500 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war who had been captured in the South Pacific were sent by the Japanese to work in the Chinkuashih mines. Many of them died and were buried there, and it was only many years later that their stories were told. After the war, Chinkuashih was taken over by the Kuomintang government's Taiwan Gold and Copper Mining Bureau. In 1955, the bureau was reorganized as the Taiwan Metal Mining Co. The gold deposits in the area began to run out in the 1970s, however. After an incident in which sulfuric acid leaked from a copper-smelting plant, the mine ceased operations in 1987, bringing Chinkuashih's golden age to an end. Although the possibility of building a museum at Chinkuashih was discussed in the 1990s, a combination of factors--including the fact that different public-sector institutions owned the land, which was subject to numerous restrictions pertaining to mining sites--meant that these plans never left the drawing board. In 2002, on the invitation of Tchen Yu-chiou, then chairwoman of the Council for Cultural Affairs, the Taipei County Government, Taiwan Power Co. and Taiwan Sugar Corp. came to an agreement to jointly develop Chinkuashih as the Gold Ecological Park. In May of the same year, the curators of the Yingge Ceramics Museum were given the responsibility of organizing Taiwan's first ecological museum in Chinkuashih. Gold Ecological Park is spread over five hectares. Walking along the Chingshui brick-street from the visitors' center on Chinkuang Road, the first sight that greets a tourist is a handful of neatly arranged dormitories that once served as accommodation for high-ranking Japanese employees. The next building that comes into view is the Environmental Building. Nearly 70 years old, this structure served as a transformer station during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945). After World War II, it variously housed the offices of Taiwan Metal Mining Co. and Taiwan Power Co., and later the Jueifang Visitor Center. Looking at a three-dimensional model of the park, one gets a sense of the cul-de-sac-like layout of the area, with Chinkuashih surrounded on three sides by mountains. To the east lie "Handleless Teapot Mountain" and Mount Panping, while Mount Keelung is to the west. Looking south one can see Penshan, which is riddled with visible mineral veins. One can also clearly make out Neichiufen and Waichiufen creeks, which flow into each other to become Chinkuashih Creek. Acidic freshwater from this stream then flows into weakly alkaline seawater, producing a yellowish iron hydroxide suspension that floats on the blue surface of the Pacific Ocean. Various minerals are on display at the park. In addition to the gold ore that attracted so much interest years ago, visitors can also see pyrite, commonly known as "fool's gold." Discovery of this mineral would have resulted in many premature celebrations among prospectors, but its presence in combination with barite is often an indicator that gold may not be very far away. Also on display are lustrous black columnar crystals of enargite, a major source of copper. Not far from the mineral displays is the Prince Hotel, which was built in 1922 for an anticipated visit by Crown Prince Showa, who subsequently became Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1901-1984). Occupying 1,200 square meters of land, the building was constructed using large amounts of hinoki wood and other items considered premium at the time, such as glass windows. The hotel also boasts a concrete miniature golf course and an archery field. Although Crown Prince Showa later changed his itinerary and did not make the visit, the Prince Hotel remains Taiwan's best example of a Japanese-style wood building. Moving along Cherry Blossom Road, visitors arrive at Penshan Fifth Tunnel, which was once used to extract gold ore. Because the rock there was lined with mineral veins, it became known as Chinkuashih, or "pumpkin stone." Over time, the name stuck and was used to refer to the area. During the Japanese colonial period, Penshan had nine tunnels forming an underground network more than 600 kilometers in length. To allow visitors to experience the working conditions faced by miners, a 110-meter stretch of the fifth tunnel has been cleared. Realistic mockups of mining equipment have been installed and a recorded narration is available. Tourists can take a shift assignment card, don a safety helmet and travel back to a more difficult time. Adjacent to the tunnel is a museum building whose entrance is adorned with a portrait of miners fashioned from gold leaf. Its cabinets display artifacts such as mining tools and items of clothing. The second floor of the building houses the aptly named Gold Pavilion, where the star attraction is undoubtedly a 99.99-percent pure gold ingot weighing 220 kilograms. Eight men were required to lug this hefty display item into place, earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. Members of the public are permitted to touch the ingot before moving upstairs to the panning workshop, where they can try their hands at finding a souvenir to take home with them. There is little doubt that the Gold Ecological Park has reinvigorated Chinkuashih, a town that has seen both boom and bust. For Taiwanese who know its past, Chinkuashih will always be associated with the divisions and antipathies of ethnicity and class that were enforced under Japanese colonial rule. But in addition to generating revenue and educating visitors, the park has also given local residents an opportunity to share the memories and stories that they have kept from each other for so long. --Story adapted from the February 2006 edition of Taiwan Panorama