"Taiwan Seven Days" series:
Military Village: A former hometown in a foreign land
Photo/text: Gao Jiansheng
In the late summer of 2015, he was invited to participate in the 60th anniversary event of the founding of the Taichung Photo Society. He spent seven days in Taiwan, and lived in Taichung and Taipei. In his spare time, I asked the locals about the "military villages". Two places were found in Taichung City, but they have been demolished and built. The surrounding counties and towns may still be retained. Due to the limited itinerary, they cannot go far away. I feel disappointed.
Back to Taipei, continue to search, and find it not far from the Taipei 101 building in the city without any effort. It can be reached by subway from our station.
Taipei Sisi Nan Village - Taiwan's first military village
"Military village" is a product of Taiwan's specific historical period and is to arrange houses built by Kuomintang soldiers and their relatives from the mainland. According to statistics, from 1949 to 1960, the number of people coming to Taiwan from mainland China was about 600,000 soldiers and people from all walks of life in politics and business, totaling about 1.5 million.
Taiwan’s military villages were generally built during this period, when there were nearly 800 military villages in Taiwan. Except for the Japanese barracks left over from the Japanese occupation period, most military villages are built on government public land. Due to the arduous conditions in the early days and the fantasy of returning to the mainland within a few years, most houses were straw roofs and bamboo mud walls, called "difficulty-fighting houses". It was not until the 1960s and 1970s that the Taiwan military repaired it and changed most of the main bodies of the houses to bricks.
Because the residents of military villages are military and political personnel from other provinces, due to the requirements of security and confidentiality, the military villages are isolated from the outside world and become independent communities. Living in a small space for a long time and other factors such as the xenophobic sentiment of Taiwanese locals has gradually formed the unique characteristics of military villages: convergence in cultural character, strong patriotism, sensitive blood ethics, and firm political tendencies. The military village is the "iron ticket warehouse" of Taiwan's blue camp.
Old house outside the old window of the military village
In recent years, a phenomenon of "military village culture" has emerged on the island. Among them, the drama "Treasure Island One Village" co-directed by Taiwanese director Lai Shengchuan and famous TV man Wang Weizhong has a great influence in the mainland. Lai Shengchuan said: "Treasure Island One Village" is a play written for Taiwanese audiences, and also a play written for mainland audiences. It is an unknown history and a history of homesickness."
A large military village is a small China. I have watched a Phoenix TV interview with Wang Weizhong, which broadcast a video of the aunts in the military village. Several aunts from Beijing, Tianjin, Henan and Sichuan discussed the use of different dialects to make noodles.
Wang Weizhong's mother went to Taiwan with her fiancé. After the ban was lifted, she returned to the mainland and knelt at the feet of her old mother. The old man said, "Didn't you say you'll play for a few days? Why did you spend for forty years?!" Who are you blaming?
In the military village, someone has been sleeping on the ground for ten years. Every morning, he will slam the bedding and prepare to return to the mainland. It took him ten years to start making a bed, while nailing nails and crying. Every nail is smashed into my heart!
In the military village, there are so many miserable and helpless...
In Taiwan, I also saw a few veterans. I heard that I came from the mainland and always showed my enthusiasm. I won't ask about their experience, it hurts too much.
The Tang Dynasty poet Cen Shen wrote a poem "Meeting the Envoy to the Capital": "Looking east of my hometown, the road is long, and my sleeves are long and my tears are not dry. I meet you right away without paper and pen, and I can report my peace with your slogans." In the frontiers of the Tang Dynasty, I can still "Meet immediately, my slogans", and the villagers of the military have no chance. Of course, there are no families in the mainland, and whoever is unlucky.
Report to safety
Full be changed into a toilet, history is garbage
With the development of society and the reconstruction of military villages, people living here have also begun to differentiate. Many people have left military villages, and their descendants have also left military villages, either going to school, working or starting their own businesses. The main promoter of "junior village culture" is the "second generation of military villages".Many celebrities in Taiwan come from military villages, such as Song Chuyu, Long Yingtai, Guo Taiming, Teresa Teng, Ang Lee, Brigitte Lin...
Writer Zhu Tianxin has a stream of consciousness-like text jump in the article "Brothers Who Miss My Military Village":
"Don't be surprised. The first one to practice weightlifting seriously in the backyard is sure that, yes, Li Liqun... He didn't make any sound except gasping, so he didn't make any noise in Gao Xijun, who was studying under the lamp next door, and Chen Changwen, Jin Weichun, Zhao Shaokang, who were opposite the door... We passed by quietly. These are more interesting. The one wearing a brother dressed in her English costume was Ouyang Feifei. She is sixteen years old but has a good figure. She is still not satisfied with herself. I hope her head can Like Bai Jiali next door... The little girl who came to the fifth house to peek at the novel under the little light bulb was also very cute. She seemed to be Zhang Xiaofeng, or Aiya, or Han Han, or Yuan Qiongqiong, or Feng Qing, or Su Weizhen, or Jiang Xiaoyun, or Zhu Tianwen... The couple of boys and girls who just finished their homework next door were concentrating on playing with each family. I can't tell it, it was Cai Qin and Li Chuanwei. Of course, it could also be Zhao Chuan and Yi Nengjing..."
Just a few windows reveal Taiwan for half a century.
The military village is the bloody scar in the heart of the first generation, the proud tattoo and blood seal on the forehead of the second generation.
After decades of urban development and changes, most military villages have been converted into "national house buildings", but a small number of them have been preserved, and Taipei's "Si Si Nan Village" is one of them.
According to the report of the "Si Si Nan Village National Monument Promotion Alliance", the village was built in 1948 and should be the first military village established by the National Government in Taiwan. Sisi Nan Village is the area where employees and families of the former Lianquan 44 Arsenal lived. The Forty-four Arsenal was in Guizhou during the Anti-Japanese War. After victory, it moved to Qingdao, Shandong, and then came to Taiwan. The village was located south of the Sisi Nan Village, so it is also known as Sisi Nan Village. There are Sisi Dong Village and Sisi West Village around it.
Taipei Building 101 and the giant light stand on the square of Sisi Nan Village, facing each other from afar, taking care of the original hometown.
In the early days of Sisi Nan Village, there were no tap water facilities in the village, and residents used public toilets. The lane was narrow. Open the window to borrow oil bottles. It turned out that your window was my window.
The village was originally planned to be demolished with the plan to renovate the military village in 1999, but since the residents in the village were factory workers and had no military positions or ranks, it was in conflict with the military village reconstruction regulations of the Taiwan Ministry of Defense. Moreover, the residents in the Nan Village were mixed, and compensation for demolition and reconstruction could not be reached. In addition, many Taiwanese cultural figures required the preservation of some representative buildings as the physical memory of the military village culture. Therefore, Sisi Nan Village was finally listed as a "historical building" by the Taipei Municipal Government and changed to the "Xinyi District Citizen Hall" with a built-in "Junior Village Cultural Relics Museum" to reproduce the life scenes of the military village.
70-year-old Zhang Lichang
In Sisi Nan Village, I met Zhang Tianzhi, a village chief in Jingxinli, Xinyi District, Taipei City, where I work here. The village chief in Taiwan is equivalent to the director of the street neighborhood committee in mainland China. Lichang Zhang is already 70 years old and is in good spirits. He grew up in Sisi Nan Village. I heard that we are very excited from the mainland, "If you come from the mainland, please come in and sit down." This means that you will not let us enter if you are not from the mainland. So I lit a cigarette and poured tea. Li Yuan Zhang was originally from Hubei and came to Taiwan with his parents in 1949. The old people in the factory are mainly from Henan and Shandong. He said: "I was deceived by Henan people since I was a child and beaten by Shandong people." It seems that the regional jokes in mainland China have also spread to Taiwan.
Zhang Lichang was once the major of the Kuomintang army. "Chengdu is going to counterattack the mainland. We practice landing every day. The landing site is Guangdong. In 1960, we boarded the warships with full arms and prepared to set off. The Americans did not allow them to go, and everyone retreated in tears."
As the "second generation of military villages", he was an activist who advocated the retention of Sisi Nan Village. He said that at that time, there were 25 bungalows in Sisi Nan Village, with an area of 11,300 square meters, 720 households with household registration and more than 4,500 people, with an average housing area of 0.36 square meters (about 1 square meter). After demolition and construction, 4 bungalows were preserved.
"I am in my 70s and still work?", "The people choose."His business card is printed with "Sincerity, enthusiasm, responsibility, professional" and "Never Closed 24 Hours" and all contact numbers, and surprisingly his home address.
During his time in Taiwan, it was the Taiwan election season. "Blue" Zhang Lichang scolded Tsai Ing-wen and Ma Ying-jeou. Seeing that the blue camp was in danger, he was disappointed.
Some parts of the village are now transformed into cultural and creative shops, restaurants and parent-child gardens.
The cultural and creative shop contains some old objects from that time and souvenirs for sale. On a T-shirt, there is no way to go, "Strive forever, and be calm in the face of changes". The word "tolerance" is printed on it.
The name of the restaurant is "Hao, Qiu". I don't know what I thought about when I was naming it. When I saw the word "Qiu", I thought of the word "Bing", the word "Bing", the word "Bing", the word "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing", the "Bing",
s in mottled old houses
T-shirts are printed with the slogan of the year "Strive forever and not be surprised when changes are changed"
"Okay, Qiu" restaurant
In the empty field in the village, two girls sat on benches and took selfies on their mobile phones. When they heard our accent, they asked where they came from the mainland? During the conversation, I learned that they were from Taipei. I said, "If you had lived here before, you might have been the officer's wife." They were puzzled, "Why?" It seems that they don't know what the military village is. After chatting for a few more words, they found that they really didn’t know, they only knew that there were good cultural and creative arts and "good" food "Qiu". They don’t need to remember the mistakes of the older generation. It’s no wonder they can turn a sword into a plow.
Young people don’t need to remember the mistakes of the older generation. The window says “good”
Turn the sword into a plow, and the parent-child garden in the military village
In Taiwan, in addition to the regular military villages, there are many informal military villages. They are "illegal buildings" built by veterans or grassroots officials from Taiwan. Among them, Baozangyan Village near Taipei University is one of the most distinctive attractions. In 2006, the New York Times listed Baozangyan Village as one of the most distinctive attractions in Taipei, as famous as the "Taipei 101" building, the world's tallest building.
Treasure Rock Village Current Situation
In order to find it, we braved the heavy rain, the taxi driver turned around and asked many people to find it. He was really famous and low-key and restrained.
The rain is getting heavier and heavier. There is an iron gate at the entrance of the village, but it is closed and there is no one on duty. The taxi throws us outside the village. We hide under the overpass in the rain. A stinking smell comes to our noses. When we look around, it turns out that it is the place where passers-by "out of respect".
There is a Baozangyan Temple in Baozangyan. The village is named after the temple. The village is located behind the temple and is built against the mountain. It was originally a barren mountain. People who have no place to live or do not want to live in the military village have built their own houses here, so there is no plan. They just built along the mountain road. Decades have passed, and most of the elderly living here have moved out, but there are still a few left.
Wherever people go, where are their homes? A snail crawls on the ruins. When Long Yingtai was the head of Taipei Culture, he advocated the preservation of the cultural heritage of the military village of Baozangyan Village and transformed the village into an "art village", just like the "798" in Beijing, so an artist moved in. Under the bridge hiding from the rain, traces of art have appeared. The piers of the elevated bridge are full of modern graffiti. Before entering the village, you know that the smell has changed, and you do smell the "unusual smell".
Graffiti under the viaduct outside the village
Since the transformation of Baozangyan Village into an art village, I heard that the authorities have been providing funding and have not found a way to survive on their own. The day I went there, it may be because it was raining and there were not many tourists.
There is a small shop at the entrance of the village selling some drinks and snacks. Several old men took noodles from the big pot into their bowls under the pergola. I remembered Wang Weizhong's "brown noodles".
beat noodles?
Up the road, half of the houses were dilapidated, and some didn't even have roofs. There may be artists' studios and coffee shops, with Apple computers placed in the old houses, and unkempt people sitting in front of the computers.Some houses have nameplates nailed in front of them, and the surnames and resumes of the elderly in the military village who once or still live here. One piece says: "Xu's House: No. 4, Lane 14. Uncle Xu is from Shandong Province. The Army Major retired and rented a house for a lifetime for a long time tenant in the Baozangyan settlement. He originally lived at No. 38, Lane 203, and was relocated after the renovation. "Going out for a walk" is Uncle Xu's daily exercise, so the supplies he wants to buy will be purchased in batches. From morning to night, you can walk back and forth several times." The writing is straightforward and telling the story, but it even more loneliness.
Uncle Xu can walk several times from morning to night
A house on the mountainside, with the door open and no one, and several benches were placed. The TV on the wall was playing a documentary about Baozangyan Village "The Invisible Village". The beginning of the film reads: "Baozangyan is a place with only one nun and one temple before the restoration of the liberation, and six families. Later, the government moved to Taiwan, and the single officers of the Ministry of National Defense did not live in a house..."
The video reproduces the past and present of the village, interviewing some former and current residents. Everyone has stories, and the tone of the telling is very calm. Although there is no regret, there is a grudge.
Back at the village entrance store, I asked the owner if there was a CD of "Invisible Village". He said that this film can only be seen here, and it has never been sold in VCD, and it can't be found online.
"Invisible Village" ends with a poem from Tagore's "Bird Collection": "The woodcutter's axe asked the tree for the handle, and the tree gave it to him."
Who is whose sorrow?
Children in the rain
There are some places in the village with various colors of flags in it. The 2015 "Taipei Fring Festival" is being held here. What does the "Fring Festival" mean? If you look closely at the foreign text "Taibei Fringe Festival" on the flag, it turned out to be the "Taibei Fringe Festival". In addition to "edge", Fringe also means "tasseled". Tassel is a spike-like edge decoration, so it is "fringe". Damn, brain teasers!
"Fringe Festival" is full of graffiti, and the spray-painted graffiti around the world have the same style, but the content is different. Here are "big monks" and Jiang's people.
Treasure Rock Village is holding the "Taipei Fringe Festival"
"Taipei Fringe Festival" work
"Taipei Fringe Festival" work
The truth on the wall is also reasonable
On the wall there is also reasonable
On the wall there is a poem about "Taoism": "Dreams have no taste, the sea is the salt-producing person, it speaks silent jokes and waits for itself to fade away." When speaking, the clever homophonic use also reflects the witty characteristics of Taiwanese Mandarin, and Taiwanese people who have been dating are good at this.
Facing the sea, dreams are salty.
When you walk out of the village, it’s dark and the rain is still falling...
Military Village: A group of huge and diverse ethnic groups from leaving home to missing home to identifying here is home.
trailer: The "Taiwan Seven Days" series will also launch other special topics to share with you.
But don’t worry, let me tell you slowly.
Thanks to Chairman Lin Haoran, Taichung Photo Society,
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