Former residents of Dacukeng (大粗坑) village in New Taipei City’s Jiufen District (九份), along with teachers and students from Soochow University and the local Suiyuenchu Research Institute of Culture and History, have joined hands to preserve the memories of the village.
Dacukeng made its name between the 1960s and the 1970s, during the gold rush in the Jiufen and Jinguashih (金瓜石) areas of New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), and was at one point one of the most prosperous villages in the nation, the institute said.
However, the village’s fortunes have slowly withered along with the decline of gold mined in the area, and eventually the village was officially abandoned with its residents relocated to other towns and villages in the area, it said.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
The remaining buildings in the village, such as Dashan Elementary School and Da Te Temple (大德宮), remain more or less intact, while other buildings have already collapsed or are covered with vines, the institute said.
“We hope that by letting our students learn about the past they would be moved to think about preserving local culture and history,” institute member Lin Wen-hsiu (林玟秀) said.
Soochow University associate professor Cheng Te-hsing (鄭得興) said the collective memories of Dacukeng residents should not be allowed to go silently into the night.
“We should lead efforts to help young people understand the history of this land,” Cheng said, adding that through the combined efforts of academics and former Dacukeng residents, the village’s legacy and contributions could be preserved.
Many of the former residents, only teens when they left the village and now middle-aged, return to their hometown whenever they have the time, planting flowers or cleaning up the vines and other overgrowth, the institute said.
A metalworker last week delivered a batch of steel to the village which he said was to be used to repair Dashan Elementary School.
According to the institute, the villagers are very willing to regale hikers or visitors with the village’s history and show them the site of the original mine shafts.
History researcher Tang Yu (唐羽) said he remembers seeing children play in ponds, adding that he thought he had seen a glimpse of the utopian Peach Garden (桃花源) after he went to a place where he thought he saw children playing, but could not see anyone.
The Peach Garden is a story written by East Jin era poet Tao Yuanming (陶淵明), describing a utopian society unfettered by social classes, reflecting the thought that social class was at the root of chaos and upheaval.
Dacukeng is also the hometown of director Wu Nien-jen (吳念真), who portrayed his memories of the village in the 1994 movie A Borrowed Life (多桑), saying that “the village and its collective memory have been and will always be a topic whenever former residents gather.”
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