A Tainan railway project recently unearthed roads in the city made partially with sugar dating back to the 19th century, the Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage said on Thursday.
The remains of the roads, built into the ground and made of a plethora of materials, including sugar, were discovered around the area under Tainan’s Sin-Lau Hospital (新樓醫院), on Dongmen Road in Tainan’s East District (東區), the agency said on its Web site.
Archeologists determined that the ruins were parts of important roads in Tainan built during the first half of the 19th century, when Taiwan was loosely controlled by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) as a prefecture of Fujian Province.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government
While the main materials used for the roads were mixed-mud mortar, its crevices were filled with a mixture made from mortar and broken ceramic and tiles, as well as pieces of sugar, the agency said.
Additionally, referencing a map of Tainan from 1875, archeologists said the location of the ruin closely resembled that of the “Bullock Cart Road” (牛車路) that once served the area of the discovery.
They concluded that either the construction or renovation of the roads in question took place in about 1836, the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Daoguang (道光, 1821-1850).
Archeologists hypothesized that the workers constructing the roads used materials they could easily access, which was why sugar and broken pieces of ceramics and tiles were used, the agency said.
Historically, the area was once the heart of the sugar-making industry in old Tainan, which was known at the time as a major sugar center.
According to the Account on Visiting Taiwan (臺灣采訪冊), a historical work by officials from the Qing Dynasty who visited and evaluated Taiwan, the sugar-making industry was so robust that pieces of sugar could be found scattered all around the location.
The account also documented that during one summer, steam rose from the roads of the area, which reacted with the sugar mixed into the roads and other scattered sugar to fill the air with a sweet aroma.
The administration said the archeological team working on the site has completed documenting the location, and temporarily relocated the artifacts and ruins to allow for the project to move the railway line underground to continue.
Once the railway project is completed, the ruins and artifacts would become a part of a parkway cultural project to return the history and heritage of Qing-era Tainan to its people, the agency cited Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) as saying.
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