#jinguashi

[kaelula-sungwis]

金瓜石・祈堂老街 ∣ Chitang old street・Jinguashi by Iyhon Chiu

[mothmiso]

金瓜石 / Jinguashi (2) (3) by Jason

Via Flickr:

Mining facility in northern Taiwan built during the Japanese imperialist era.     

[faithintaiwan]

july 19 - jiufen !!!

When Fanny and I first researched things to do in Taiwan during our preprogram and free days this was the outing I wanted to do the most! I was so excited to find out that this was on our itinerary when it got sent out!! Everyone described Jiufen as a mountain village that resembled Spirited Away, one of my favorite movies, and it had a rich history in mining and in, what I later found out, Japanese colonization.

We left bright and early in the morning on our party bus and first toured the museums. Then we got to walk around the long street with tons of people ad shops on either side. I bought a solar powered no face figure from a gift store before we went to eat braised pork with rice and xiaolongbao at this restaurant with a beautiful view of the mountain and ocean. As we walked we made sure to take photos of dogs, try samples, and look at interesting stores including one that sold these round flute instruments! At the end of the road were stairs that led to the theater and the tea houses. Andy, Fanny, and I got tea together after wandering through a tunnel. It was delicious and the view was gorgeous!

The way back was rough but we had our party bus waiting for us! We then drove an hour to another museum that ended up closing right before we got there so Peter had us participate in a lantern lighting! We wrote our wishes onto these giant, red, paper lanterns and lit them up to fly into the sky. Chief then started a trend of getting scallion pancakes and while they were spicy, they were delicious.

Academic Reflection

Peter explained that Jiufen had previously been a small, mountain, mining village that didn't have many visitors until the movie City of Sadness came out, inspiring many to explore the town in which it had been set.

From our readings and the descriptions in the museum, I learned that gold was rumored to be in the mountain as early as the 17th century. In the 1890s gold was discovered resulting in a gold rush that catapulted the Jinguashi and Jiufen gold mines to the largest ones in Asia. During WWII, under Japanese colonial rule, many POWs were forced to labor in the gold mine. If they did not meet quota, they would be brutally beaten with the hammers they used to mine. Food and water were also withheld with the Japanese feeding them a diet of watered down vegetable soup. Because of these human-rights violations the Red Cross demanded evidence of the POWs conditions only to be sent photos that showed clearly emaciated miners performing exercises. Walking around the museum and seeing the different types of ores, personal belongings from the miners, and the memorial outside commemorating the lives of the people who suffered there really immersed us into what occurred during the war and the atrocities that the Japanese committed.

Outside of the museum we explored the tea houses! The one we went to, Yu Zai Fan Shu Tea House, required us to walk through a winding tunnel then out to the building itself. When they served us our high mountain oolong there was a whole process of pouring hot water over the cups, smelling the tea on the rim of a separate cup, and pouring hot water over loose leaves when we ran out. The tea set was made of the traditional unglazed clay materials and the oolong tea itself was a specialty of Taiwan.

[jacob-in-taiwan]

July 19 - Gold Museum, Jiufen Mountain Village, and JingTong Old Street

Today was the first day it felt like we really got to explore outside Taipei. Even though yesterday we went rather far, today we went way out. The first stop was the gold museum in the historic mining town of Jinguashi. It was really cool to see all of the tools and equipment that were once used there. The star of the show was a massive 220 kilogram brick of gold. 

We didn’t end up spending too much time at the museum, because we wanted to be able to take our time and really enjoy the Jiufen mountain village. This was one of the coolest markets we’ve been to so far. As the name implies, the whole thing sits on the side of a mountain. Being from Florida where it's so flat I’m always so amazed when I see them. The market itself was really cool too. I really liked all the different kinds of shops and restaurants they had there. The Jiufen mountain village is particularly well known for its tea, so we made sure to stop by a tea house while we were there. The view from our table was absolutely incredible. It overlooked the coastline and had some amazingly blue water. 

After a good while at the village we met back up to go to our last location, the Jingtong mining industry museum. However, when we got there it had already closed. But Peter never panics, so he quickly switched plans and organized some sky lanterns that we got to design ourselves. It wasn’t what we were supposed to do, but everyone had so much fun and got to learn about Taiwan while we did it. 

One part of today's journey that really stuck with me was the Gold Museum, and specifically an informational piece titled “Life in Jinguashi POW Camp.” As I read about it one word came to mind, propaganda. A huge part of war, and especially during World War Two, was propaganda. At this POW camp, the Japanese sent photos of the prisoners exercising to the Red Cross, rather than letting them inspect the camp themselves. As we know today, Japan along with many other countries treated their prisoners horrible. Beatings, overworking, and death were all commonplace among many camps around the world, so of course the Japanese wouldn’t want the Red Cross anywhere near their camp. Even today propaganda still exists. In highly suppressive countries North Korea, Cuba, and Russia it's very profound and noticeable. However, even in countries like the United States it exists, just more subtle. The way we run our news can be a good example of this. Advertising can also be used as a way to push propaganda. A big part of studying history is using the past to inform the future, so learning about propaganda is always a good reminder to stay aware of the information you take in.

[irismfrost]

July 20 - Beitou Hot Springs

Today, we visited the town of Beitou outside of Taipei. Just like the gold in Jinguashi, this town was built around the natural hot springs. These springs are specifically very acidic green sulfur springs that occur because of Taiwan’s unique location on tectonic plate fault lines and has a lot of volcanic activity underground. I unfortunately didn’t get in the springs, but they seemed pretty cool and healing. 

First, we visited the Xinbeitou Train platform, first built in 1916. This station was the only way to get to the springs until 1988 when the MRT (metro) was created and connected to it in 1988. Now, it is more of a historic site right next to the MRT line. The springs in this area brought so much tourism and revenue into this town and the train station itself became a site to see. The entire area is beautiful and well-maintained. We also stopped in the library, which was a pretty cool architectural feat - it would be nice to study in a building like that. It is also a sustainable building - I am realizing that there are many buildings in Taipei that are eco-friendly. 

We also visited the Beitou Hot Springs Museum which once served as a public bathhouse during Japanese rule. Prior to Japanese rule, men and women shared the space and the Japanese split the bathhouse into men and women. Mothers with children could also have a private room. There was also a little window that was supposedly used to serve drinks and such out of but was later used as a peephole for employees to keep an eye on the guests… very interesting. You also had to take your shoes off to enter the building. 

After we visited the museum, we walked around one of the springs. It is literally the hottest place in Taiwan because not only is it currently the middle of July, but the springs are so hot that it makes the area surrounding them super hot. We walked around one that is so hot that you would literally boil alive if we went in. 

After our visit to the hottest place in Taiwan, I had some nice cold Taiwanese beer. There are no open-carry laws here which was pretty cool. However, the local Taiwanese people don't seem to be taking advantage of this particular freedom - I definitely did though.

Reflection

Just like gold, people place value in the sulfur hot springs. They somehow found out that sulfur has healing properties, like building immunity, pain relief, stress relief, healing skin conditions and dry skin, and more. You have to wonder what it was like to first discover something like that. Someone actually thought to themselves, “I will jump in this extremely hot and smelly water and see what happens”. 

I also thought the norms of the bathhouse had some unique changes over time. Chinese customs, Japanese customs, and local customs are all a little different and the people living in Beitou had to adapt to those changes. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, the people in Taiwan are very adaptable, mostly because they are forced to be, but it’s still impressive and I don’t think that most people in the US have a mindset like that. 

[thenotsosecretdiaryofbiyu]

2024年7月19日—傳統日式房子，黃金博物館，茶館，放天燈

I think today was my favorite day so far! We did things right up my alley– DRINK TEA and look at the pretty mountains and sea! The first thing we did though was go to a traditional Japanese house and I’m so glad my professor put it on our schedule because I never thought I would get to see one without going to Japan itself (which I assumed would be FAR into the future). Yeh Laoshi and I had to use the bathroom before we went, but when we arrived, all the house slippers for adults were gone and so we just went in wearing our socks after we took our shoes off lol. Apparently, the house was shared by four Japanese families (rich ones ofc), and they all had the traditional sliding doors!

Closeby was also a gold museum, where a 220kg gold brick in the world was!

(“There’s your financial freedom!” –Peter)

Afterwards we went to 九份, where some 茶館 are! Unfortunately, in the past 茶館 was basically synonymous with prostitution, because after the gold miners in the area would find gold, they would “go to a 茶館” to celebrate with beautiful women… But that’s of course not at all what they’re used for now, and my experience there was just some really nice tea and some lil sweets to accompany my sips! Zoe and I went together and the view was honestly something straight out of a movie. I’m still in disbelief that I’m fortunate enough to go on a trip like this and experience everything I have so far!

But unfortunately, the 茶館服務員 assumed I didn’t speak Chinese probs because I’m a foreigner and so she only spoke to Zoe at first ;--; but that’s okay (I’m not hurt, YOU’RE hurt ;__;)

While leaving the teahouse (btw, after we paid they gave us each a 明��片 for free!), we did some shopping and I got the CUTEST pair of earrings! Zoe got a matching set but in purple (mine are pink)!!! I also got to eat a tasty bowl of some vegan pork over rice (which I think was made from mushroom if my perception of the texture is correct) and it was super tasty!

We later went to 菁桐 (jing1tong2) where we initially were supposed to go to another museum, but instead we ended up 放天燈 (releasing sky lanterns) because the museum was closed. Jasmine, Iris, Austin, and I did one together and we used calligraphy brushes to write our wishes in black ink before releasing it to the sky! I’m a little worried about the environmental impact, so I’m just hoping it lands near someone who will be able to dispose of it properly. But I’m really, really happy I got to do that, it’s been something I’ve always wanted to try because of how pretty the lanterns look in the sky, and it was just as cool as I thought it’d be!!!

The only shame is that everyone kept messing with the lanterns and writing “GO GATORS” on them but oh well, it’s funny I guess, and this way UF stays leaving its mark on Taiwan lol.

Academic Reflection

If I’m being completely honest, I had no idea that Taiwan also went through a gold mining period until today. It was so interesting to get the opportunity to not only go to the old area where it took place, but to also get to see the surrounding towns/villages that developed in the area because of it. While we were exploring the area, I came across the statue of two men carrying another man, who I just learned from the reading was actually a corpse. The statue is supposed to honor the men who died at Jinguashi while mining, and that makes me look back to it and the picture I took of it with a lot more sadness. Learning that during the Japanese rule of Taiwan, that Japan used the site as a Prisoner of War campsite, forcing its prisoners to risk their lives in the mine for its profit just places the area into an even darker, cumbersome light.

While looking over the Gold Museum’s website, I learned that the Jinguashi was the largest gold mine in East Asia! All this information helps explain why the Japanese traditional home is in the near vicinity. The home was certainly owned by upper class Japanese families (four, as I mentioned earlier), and the area makes sense as it was an area of tons of potential wealth because of the mines and the location of a prisoner camp where high-ranking Japanese officials would have to be to oversee it. It’s always strange whenever I visit such dark areas with dark pasts, and seeing that it’s been turned into a tourist attraction. But Taiwan has a very dark, sad past, and the museums are a good way to not only remind Taiwanese citizens of what happened, but to also inform visiting foreigners about Taiwanese history as well.

On a slightly lighter note, the name Jianguashi (金瓜石) is very cute, literally translating to “Gold Melon Rock” if 石 means rock here. Although it might be based off Japanese, in which case I have no idea if the cuteness holds.

#somewherethereisagoldmelon,evenifit’sonlywithinthedarkrecessesofmylittleminecraftlovingheart

[girltravelfactor]

The waterfall gets its name from the golden hue of the water, which is caused by the presence of heavy metals, such as iron and copper, in the surrounding rocks. As the water flows over the rocks, it picks up these minerals, giving it a shimmering, golden appearance. The waterfall is not particularly high, but its unique color and the surrounding scenery make it a popular tourist destination.

[chyi-lifestyle]

[leicafan]

老屋的味道@祁堂老街 這家位於祁堂老街的老屋， 民宿兼咖啡廳，只有一間房間。 如果有人住宿時，咖啡廳就不開， 所以去要碰運氣，挑對時間才不會白跑一趟。 如果你想體會老屋悠閒的感覺，想要消磨一個下午，放空一下。 推薦這裡。 Phone X, 1/5, F1.8, ISO 100. #每日一圖 #dailyphoto #iphonex #jinguashi #taiwan （在 祈堂老街） https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNPHPBnaeT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=jga7sswhqb3l

[nando-on-the-road]

Jinguashi Shinto Shrine gate by Fernando Olguin

[viajesdefernando]

Puerta del Santuario Shinto de Jinguashi por Fernando Olguin

[nikekidliem]

The Japan’s #influence over Taiwanese #mining industry when the Imperial Empire reserved exclusive right for Japanese people in gold mining. #jinguashigoldecopark #japaneseera #taiwantravel #formosa🇹🇼 #đảođàiloan #xinbei #tânbắc #jinguashi #kimquathạch #goldmining⛏️ #historiccommunity #touristspot (at 金瓜石 黃金瀑布) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtABGBigTvh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1aldwjca1lhbn

[tinyclovers]

Are you really lost if you had no destination? #travelling #travel_sketches #pleinair #alleyways #taiwan #jinguashi #gouache (at 金瓜石 祈堂小巷 CAFE 民宿)

[jobim1983]

⠀ ⠀⠀ 水金九 ⠀ Photo by @lovelo_cycling ⠀ #vsco #vscocam #pns #pasnormalstudios #calfee #calfeedesign #lovemycalfee #jinguashi #jiufen #corimawheels #corimamcc #corimamccwsplus47mm #northamericanhandmadebicycle #calfeedragonflypro #sweetprotection #standcollection #106clubhouse #lovelo_cycling https://www.instagram.com/p/CF9A4yBn7I7/?igshid=1juz17ix79zz3

[morsartwork]