A loosely formed coalition of 200 Taiwanese bloggers say that the local mainstream media have failed to convey to the public why the 78 year-old Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium should not be razed to make way for a new mass rapid transit (MRT) station.
An online appeal for funds to raise awareness on this issue raised NT$200,000 in less than 24 hours.
"There's no hierarchy, no leader, no real organization," said blogger Piglet (豬小草). "We are all doing what we can to help preserve Losheng."
Piglet has produced four podcasts on the Losheng issue, which he said have been downloaded more than 4,000 times.
Piglet has also produced a video demonstrating the difficulties wheelchair-bound Losheng residents may have getting in and out of a high-rise.
Other online efforts to preserve Losheng include a petition started by a medical students' association from National Taiwan University that has collected almost a thousand signatures.
Online petition
Blogger Rubble (
"This issue has gained momentum as we keep producing fresh content," said Tung Fu-hsing (
Losheng Sanatorium's inhabitants are reminders of a past era, when leprosy was a dreaded, incurable disease. Those infected were removed from their families to isolated communities such as Losheng, which in time became home as decades passed.
Having become used to life at Losheng where they enjoy an autonomous existence, residents fear that moving to a new, high-rise complex recommended by the government would strip them of their mobility and sense of community. The sanatorium has been in the news as student protesters and residents clashed with police over the facility's impending closure.
"The media covered the issue by focusing on the altercations, which they contrasted with the government officials giving their side of the story. But the case for preserving Losheng and how it could be done was not covered in a substantive way at all," Tung said.
Just a few month ago, blogger Wenli mostly wrote gushing posts about Nintendo's hit videogame console Wii on his blog -- "The diary of an unemployed youth."
Now instead of breathless speculation about when the eagerly anticipated machine would finally make its official appearance in Taiwan, his recent posts have all focused on the issue of preserving Losheng for its aging residents.
"The government has deliberately hidden the fact that there is an alternate proposal -- a proposal that would preserve 90 percent of the remaining Losheng buildings as well as allow the MRT construction to continue on schedule," Wenli wrote on his blog.
Drawn meticulously in pencil, Wenli painstakingly illustrated the two proposals for Losheng -- the Taipei City Government's Department of Rapid Transit System's proposal that would leave only 41 percent of the buildings standing and a Council of Cultural Affairs proposal that would preserve 90 percent of what's left of Losheng and keep it as a functional community.
Seventy percent of the original sanatorium complex has been demolished already to make way for future development.
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