Once littered with trash, the coast of Potou Village (坡頭) in Hsinchu County’s Sinfeng Township (新豐) has been transformed by years of cleanup efforts led by local residents.
Sinfeng’s coast stretches about 7km, making it the longest in Hsinchu County. While the southern part of the township is famous for its scenic sites, the northern coast along Potou had been inundated with trash, as garbage carried downstream or washed ashore became trapped among rocks and breakwaters.
Since 2003, local volunteers have worked to restore the coast, forming patrol teams, protecting local rivers and founding two civic associations.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
Led by Wu Chuan-chan (吳傳鋋), the team steadily grew, expanding their patrols from rivers to the coast and reaching Potou Fishing Harbor (坡頭漁港) by 2017.
Potou Village Warden Chu Chin-chang (朱錦常) said that the early days of beach cleanups were difficult, with many volunteers twisting their ankles or being injured by sharp objects.
“At its worst, I once hauled 700 discarded tires by myself,” Chu said.
After years of weekly cleanups, the rivers and coast improved, allowing volunteers to scale back their efforts, while growing environmental awareness encouraged schools and businesses to join in.
In January last year, a new coastal bike path linking Sinfeng and Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋) was completed, along with an embankment road along Potou’s coast.
The improved access has drawn cyclists and joggers to the area, connecting the once-overlooked coast to the broader Taoyuan-Hsinchu tourism area.
Volunteers are also restoring traditional stone weirs and turning driftwood into art installations, with one featuring marine debris from Japan’s Yonaguni Island.
The Sinfeng Township Stone Weir Cultural Development Association has 60 volunteers who conduct monthly beach cleanups and repurpose marine debris and driftwood collected along the way.
One piece of driftwood shaped like a heart was named “Heart of Potou” (坡頭之心) and another, resembling two hearts joined together, was dubbed “Love of the Stone Weirs” (石滬之愛), association chairman Yeh Chi-chung (葉期忠) said.
The most remarkable find was a piece of fishing gear that drifted about 150km from Yonaguni before washing up on Potou.
Volunteers turned it into a bench with a solar-powered light along the Sinfeng-Sinwu bike path.
The Potou coast, which features eight traditional stone weirs at ancestral fishing grounds, is now listed as a cultural asset by Hsinchu County.
Yeh said the weirs are still used by fishers, but years of neglect and shifting shorelines have damaged them and created hidden hazards for visitors.
With support from the local government, the association has launched a year-long restoration project to preserve stone weir fishing culture and promote marine ecology education.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS