For a time, indeed, the Hsilo Bridge was the longest in the Far East—and the second longest in the world. Its formidable image—a length of 1,939 meters, characterized by the "Warren truss" construction method of steel frame and cement piers—like the suspension-cable structure of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, is familiar throughout the country.
The Hsilo Bridge traverses Taiwan s longest river, the Choshuichi; for 32 years now, it has thus facilitated north-south island traffic, contributing not only to this nation's economic progress, but the general pace of its overall cultural development. More magnificent bridges have since been constructed in Taiwan, including the mighty Sea-Spanning Bridge in the Penghu Archipelago and the North-South Freeway's Sino-Saudi Bridge, which is not only longer—2,345 meters-but features more up-to-date engineering But the Hsilo Bridge continues to be vastly imposing, its lore and image coalescing infrequent scenic reality, at sunset, to remind visitors of the famous lines of the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shang-yin (812-858 A. D.): The evening light was immeasurably sweet; only, the yellow dusk was too near.
So it has somehow become a "sunset" bridge, spiritually as well as physically, and a most filling symbol for the pleasant little city of Hsilo in Yunlin County, in the middle-west of Taiwan.
Surprisingly, not even the increased traffic volume from the time of the 1953 bridge opening has basically affected Hsilo's economic structure or its notably leisurely life-pace. It still counts, of a present population of about 50,000, about a 70 percent dedication to agriculture-related occupations.
Bottle-shaped hu lu (calabashes) are favored as ornaments; they are often inscribed or otherwise decorated, then hung from cords.
To the north, the town is bordered by the lower reaches of the mighty Choshuichi River and, indeed, its everyday vigor is mirrored in the very rises and falls of that waterway.
Rising in the Central Mountain Range, the main watershed of the island, the 176 km Choshuichi is the natural south-north dividing line of the island—the climate and crops of north and south contrast progressively moving outward from its banks.
Generally, the lowlands south of the Choshuichi River belong progressively to the tropics, and north to the subtropics. The staple agriculture of the island, for many years, was also thus characterized: "south sugar, north rice."
Hsilo, as might be expected, is home to both tropical and subtropic vegetation. Made more fertile by irrigation waters from the Choshuichi River, four-fifths of the district is devoted to farmlands. Indeed, ever since the Ching Dynasty, Hsilo's irrigation works have been extensive. And even before, Hsilo was an important agricultural center—almost from the time the Han people (the main ethnic Chinese group) began to cultivate Taiwan.
A fruit stand lit for the town's evening market.
The earliest settlers to arrive and cultivate the area were members of the Chang-Liao family. Currently, the numerous clan members make it the foremost surname in Hsilo.
Though there are, actually, many such two-character surnames in China, Chang-Liao is unique, a direct result of its historical origins:
During the late Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), when imperial warfare had left the Chinese social order in chaos (according to the historical records of the Chang-Liao family), the youthful Chang Yuan-tzu fled his hometown and took refuge in the relatively remote Fukien Province community of Kuanpo in Chaoan County, where he was taken in by a household of the Liao family.
Finding Chang Yuan-tzu a goodly youth, the master of the household gave him his only daughter in marriage. Since the Liao family had no son to carryon the family name, Chang Yuan-tzu, being grateful to his wife's family, left an injunction on his own death bed for his son, directing that future descendants should "bear their mother's Liao surname in life, and their father's Chang surname after death." Thus was created the unique "living, Liao; dead, Chang" family surname.
During the reign 0f the Emperors Chienlung and Chiaching (1736-1820) of the Ching Dynasty, descendants of the Chang-Liao family gradually emigrated from Fukien Province to Taiwan Island, settling in the Hsilo farmlands. They were hardworking and thrifty, and established a solid foundation for the prosperity of their descendants.
Chung Yuan Tang, the Chang-Liao ancestral hall, was established at Hsilo during the time of Emperor Chienlung. Rebuilt in expanded form in 1924, it is now the biggest clan hall in Taiwan. Each year there are special ceremonial rites in spring and autumn that all Chang-Liao descendants are expected to attend. In ancient times, the ancestral hall also served as a schoolhouse for clan children.
Not only has the Chang-Liao clan contributed much to the physical development of Hsilo, from its very beginnings, they also transplanted the traditional Chinese ethical system to that locale; and it has spread, bloomed, and prospered elsewhere in Taiwan.
The Chang-Liao pioneers strictly observed the traditional Chinese Chi Kan Chen Kuei (Seven Admonitions), which vigorously proclaim that descendants must demonstrate filial obedience, respect their elders, and also cultivate such excellent practices as diligence, mutual cooperation, filial piety, and fraternal duty.
The island of Taiwan was long treated by the Ching Dynasty as a remote hinterland. During the last long years of the Dynasty, when rising domestic troubles and foreign invasions left the Ching Imperial Court with little surplus energy and funds to devote to relatively distant Taiwan, the social order of the island disintegrated, and banditry grew rampant.
Living well by farming, the Chang-Liao clan had proliferated and prospered. In order now to better protect themselves, the clan patriarchs in the Hsilo area divided their numbers, according to village units, into seven kan, and drilled the units in joint defense and self-protection techniques. This is the origin of the subsequent happenings and legends later adapted for the TV series The Seven Swords of Hsilo.
A fifth generation of A-shan Shih martial arts disciples at the Cheng Hsing Temple.
The central figure of the TV drama is A-shan, styled Shih (Master), and born Liu Ming-shan in 1792 in Chaoan County, Fukien Province. From childhood, he practiced wushu (a martial art) at the Shao Lin Szu Temple (famous for its martial monks), where he also learned medical skills.
At the age of 36, A-shan Shih crossed the sea to Taiwan where he became the first martial arts master of the Shao Lin Szu Temple erected in Taiwan. At first, he lived at Chiayi in southern Taiwan. Three years later, he moved to Kuanghsing Village, Hsilo, where he set up a martial arts group, the Chen Hsing Society, which not only taught the traditional martial arts, but also practiced medicine. During the turbulent times, A-shan Shih, focusing on the strength of his martial arts group, organized the villagers of the seven kan to protect their home area.
Though A-shan Shih died at 76 (1867), his legacy to the natives of Hsilo—a national consciousness and a code of brotherhood-long continued to outlive him. During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, unarmed Hsilo warriors often fought hand-to-hand with Japanese soldiers on the banks of the Choshuichi River, a show of resistance that enraged the Japanese, who forced the final dissolution of the Chen Hsing Society. And in the ensuing years, Kuanghsing Village gradually lost its old glory as a center of China's age-old martial arts.
However, interest in the martial arts remains high in Hsilo, and numerous big and small martial arts schools are still to be noted along its streets. On the original site of the headquarters of the old Cheng Hsing Society, there now stands the Cheng Hsing Temple, which houses the tomb of folk-hero A-shan Shih.
And not only have the traditional martial arts prospered through the ages of Hsilo, so has the traditional Chinese penchant for education. According to the town elders, about half a century ago, Hsilo was the home of most Taiwan students studying abroad—then, mostly in Japan, and studying the medical sciences.
In 1831, the stately Cheng Wen Shu Yuan (a study hall) was established at Kuanghsing Li in Hsilo. It is the best preserved among Taiwan's 44 old study halls and the most important historic site in Hsilo. A board inscribed Chien Chiu Shu Tzu (Ancestors of Books Through out the Ages), hung at the hall, demonstrates the enduring reverence for education.
Though the Japanese occupied Taiwan for half a century, the basic life-styles and identifications of the Chinese inhabitants of Taiwan were never changed, a phenomenon attributable in great part to the educational legacies of these study halls, which passed the torches of learning and the Chinese heritage to successive generations.
Today, agriculture is still the most important economic activity of the Hsilo area, and rice and vegetables are the main crops. More than 2,800 hectares, over half the total area, is devoted to rice since so much of the soil is eminently suitable fertile clays served by irrigation water from the Choshuichi (literally, Muddy) River.
The rice grains produced at Hsilo are very large; when cooked, they are more fragrant and tender than most others. This rice is much welcomed in island markets, where it is known as cho-shui mi (Choshuichi River rice). Hsilo has, thereby, long enjoyed a reputation as "the rice granary of Chia-Nan (the South Taiwan Plain)."
The Hsilo bridge has given way to others for the record books, but its drama lives on.
In 1973, under the historically-successful government policy "to speed up economic development in the countryside," a vegetable special area was established at Hsilo. Totally reckoned now at 80-plus hectares, this is the biggest among the province's 1i vegetable special areas. In any season, people can now come to Hsilo to see the "green vegetable carpets" spreading across its fertile lands. More than 30 kinds of vegetables are alternatively seeded, grown, and harvested.
In addition to direct sales through the Hsilo Farmers' Association, the town features one of the three biggest vegetable markets in Taiwan. Almost all day long, trucks ceaselessly shuttle harvested vegetables in and out of the market to destinations island-wide.
The diligence traditionally characteristic of Chinese farmers is fully visible in the area—very intensive and meticulous cultivation, covering the land with almost no breaks. In addition to the vegetable special area, rice paddies are also planted to certain vegetables in harvest intervals. By such hard work, Taiwan's farming villages have truly prospered; the country roads are paved, and household family appliances are no less than in urban households.
In earlier years, actually, Hsilo was most famous for its soy sauces. And even today, the most numerous shop signs on the streets of Hsilo advertise soy sauces.
It is general conceded that Hsilo admirably fulfills the three most important conditions for soy brewing-quality water, mild ambient temperatures, and stable humidity. The water of Hsilo contains little iron and will not turn yellow even after standing over a week; and the temperature and humidity stay in moderate bounds, which is important for the soy fermentation process. Thus Hsilo continues to occupy a leading position in the soy sauce brewing industry of Taiwan.
The most fragrant and delicious soy sauce, brewed with black soy beans, must be aged through many months. Since the production volume is thus limited, and the rest of the brewing process more complicated than for ordinary soy sauce, the price of black-bean soy sauce is three or four times higher. But the cost does not scare away the gourmets. It is even said that the proprietors of the shops, due to the continuous demand for their product, are truly reluctant to reduce supplies by eating the sauce themselves.
Overlooking the green vegetable fields, speedy automobiles shuttle down the cement freeway; in sharp contrast, the life-pace of Hsilo remains slow and tranquil. In this town, still filled with ancient customs, the mood is carefree everywhere. People encased in the bustle of modern urban life elsewhere on the island find real relaxation there.