“Herbal Urbanism: Beitou·Pingpu Tribe” series of activities｜Highlights of the documentary “Sulfur is in the Mountains” – The relationship between aboriginal people in northern Taiwan and sulfur
Sulfur created the hot spring Beitou that everyone knows today, but more than 300 years ago, as an important resource for modern industry and war, sulfur also brought Beitou’s prosperous foreign trade. The demand for sulfur from the Qing Empire and Western countries made Keda The Beitou Society of the Gelan ethnic group became the richest tribe that year. In 1697, Yu Yonghe, an official of the Qing Dynasty, came to Beitou from Fujian to mine sulfur in order to make gunpowder. For this purpose, he wrote a “Journey to Pihai”, recording his negotiations with the aboriginal people and the process of sulfur mining. Today in Beitou You can also see a monument erected to commemorate this in Sulfur Valley.
The best version of the documentary “Sulfur is in this Mountain” was shot by Bronze Visual Arts Co., Ltd. The film takes sulfur as the theme and takes us to explore the historical traces of sulfur mining by the northern aboriginal people, and interviews people who used to mine sulfur in the Bayan settlement. The elders talked about their sulfur mining work at that time. After the film, teacher Lu Li-chang, who was very familiar with every stone in Yangmingshan, was invited to talk about the historical materials and opinions he provided during the filming of this film.
Lecture text summary
Host/Planner | Introduction by Xu Wenrui (excerpt)
The video I watched today is a condensed version of the essence, but in fact there are many stories and details in the history of aborigines mining and preserving sulfur. During the development of Taiwan’s sulfur industry, the aboriginal people in the north had the dual role of sulfur mining and sulfur conservation. Due to their geographical proximity, they engaged in sulfur mining and used sulfur minerals as commodities for trade and sale. When the Qing government began to attach importance to the military use of sulfur and regulated the sulfur industry with a mining ban, the aborigines became the emperor’s spokesperson and helped the Qing emperor guard the sulfur mines. Whether they are caretakers or sulfur miners, they all prove that the development of northern aboriginal industries and the cultural and historical context are inextricably linked to the mineral sulfur.
Today, we specially invite Mr. Lu Richang, who has a deep understanding of the history of northern sulfur, to give us a post-screening discussion.
Speaker｜Lu Richang (excerpt)
Thank you, Director Su and Teacher Xu of Fengjia Art Museum, for organizing this series of activities and giving us the opportunity to share our stories with you here.
This film was made when the director came to me one day and said that he had received a case to do this, so I took him to visit some elders, walked around and photographed some places, and also provided him with some historical photos. . Sulfur is very important to the industrial development in northern Taiwan, and it is also closely related to the Pingpu people, because the people who mine sulfur are all Pingpu people. Yu Yonghe came to Taiwan just to collect sulfur. He landed in Tainan and went all the way north to Beitou to collect sulfur. This is how he wrote “Diary of Sulfur Mining” (Pi Hai Ji Yu). Many historical sites and place names on our north coast are also related to the sulfur mining industry.
From the ancient map of the Yongzheng period, we can see that Wuxi River flows through Beitou and Shilin, and exits from Suli’an, which was a port at that time. From the ancient map, we can see that there is a sulfur port on the east and west sides of Yangmingshan, one side is the sulfur port of Jinshan, and the other is at the location of Suli’an, where the Beitou Incinerator is now. Why is it called Sulfur Port? Of course it has something to do with Sulfur. The businessmen at that time came to Sulfur Port to do business with the aboriginals of Beitou Society and Mao Shaoweng Society. The origin of sulfur is in the area that is now Sulfur Valley, Longfeng Valley, and Dunxu High-tech Industry. The Suangang River flows down through the Beitou market, through the streets of Xinbeitou, and out to sea next to the Beitou incinerator. The water from Longfeng Valley flows through the Xingyi Road Hot Spring Area, passes through Rongzong, Tianmu, and the Academy of Chinese Opera, is connected to the old Shuangxi River, and finally flows out from the stunning Guandu (Zhoumei Xiangang Park) on the 6th section of Chengde Road. . In fact, this area is the alluvial fan of Suangang River and Old Shuangxi. Even warships and ships from the Japanese era can sail there. The sulfur in the entire Taipei area comes out from these places.
Sulfur is a very important natural resource for both civilian and military purposes. Most of the medicinal materials in the “Compendium of Materia Medica” need to be brewed and steamed with sulfur, so they are very important daily necessities. After the invention of gunpowder, their value became even more valuable. Controlling sulfur is equivalent to controlling military and economic resources. Therefore, no matter which colonist or ruler they are, they attach great importance to the sulfur industry. In fact, the Han people came to the northern region to do business very early, but they did not stay here to settle. From the Ming and Qing Dynasties, more and more Han people settled in the Beitou area. The first land reclamation number at that time was in Guandu Pingyuan and Suli’an next to Suangang, and the first Han temple was Cisheng Palace located in Suli’an. Because of the sulfur industry, the Han settlement here was formed and settled in Yanjian.
The settlement of the Han people also brought disputes and armed fighting. Various civil unrest and civil unrest prompted the Qing government to issue a ban on sulfur mining and dispatched the Hunan Army (Hunan Army, also known as the Dutch Brave and the Dutch Army because of the similar pronunciation). Army) came to Taiwan to station. However, the stationing of the Hunan Army was only temporary. As soon as the army left, the gentry in the north began to secretly mine sulfur and sell it. Therefore, the Qing government had to find the local aborigines of the Mao Shaoweng Society to supervise and guard it. This also caused conflicts between the aboriginal people and Disputes and casualties among the Han people who illegally mined sulfur. The ancient map of the Qing Dynasty in the Tamsui Department Chronicles contains a note on the camp of “Shaoweng Tun”. The Hunan Army and the local aborigines were given the responsibility of guarding sulfur by the Qing Dynasty. Whenever there was trouble, sealing up sulfur became the most common way for the rulers to deal with Taiwan’s sulfur minerals.
The Han Chinese who secretly mined sulfur could not go out to the sea from Sulfur Port openly, so they had to sneak across other small streams and estuaries in the north. Therefore, there are many ancient roads and old roads in the mountains of Beitou area that were created for smuggling sulfur. These ancient roads are very important historical and cultural resources. We should pay attention to them, find out the stories of each ancient road, and understand the relationship between our ancestors and the land. How did they live here? What is your connection to this land? What kind of life wisdom and life experience do they have? We are the people of Taiwan. Even if we have abundant material resources, our souls will be empty if we do not understand the land we step on. We need to understand the rivers and land here, and let our children touch and see how our ancestors survived on this land for thousands of years. We live to make this land better. Through the story of sulfur, we hope to provide everyone with a starting point so that everyone can pay attention to the land next to them and under their feet. Taipei is actually a very beautiful place with very rich products, but we don’t know it now.
QA time
Question: Are there old sulfur refinery buildings near Sulfur Port? Are there any archaeological finds or sites?
Answer: Keelung Road used to be a river, but now there is no trace of water. Reconstruction and demolition projects in the Juli’an area have been carried out for many years, and the remains may no longer be accessible. Moreover, the later sulfur processing procedures were mostly carried out at the mining site, and the sulfur mining procedures during the Japanese colonial period were mostly processed near the pit mouths. Therefore, many factories and relics have been lost.
Question: You just mentioned that there was a trail during the Qing-France War. Was it exploited for the war or why did it appear?
Answer: During the Qing-France War, the French blocked the sea routes and ports in northern Taiwan, which prompted the Qing government to decide after the war to develop a land-based war-ready plank road. Hence the Tanlan Ancient Road, which was completed in 1892. It saves nearly half the time compared to walking along the north coast. It saves time and is far away from the harassment of artillery fire. In addition to the Tamlan Ancient Trail, there is also a plank road in the middle that leads to the east (back mountain) – the Batongguan Ancient Trail. During the Japanese colonial period, these ancient roads also became routes for marching and hiking.
Question: So how long does it take for an average person to walk this distance?
Answer: About four days (laughing at the scene). It will take about four days to walk slowly and explain. The scenery along the way is very beautiful, and you will pass many historical sites, battlefield trenches and spectacular fumaroles. It is really worth planning and developing the revitalization of ancient trails. Ancient roads are traces of history. Ancient roads exist because of events and stories. We really need to leave something for this land. Not only the ancient roads but also many historical relics are all things that need to be left behind. Especially the things belonging to the indigenous people are more valuable and should be preserved well. Then it is really important to let young people enter the field. The future really depends on young people to continue to work hard.
Question: The number on the Deji Mining Boundary Monument near Shousuang Camp is not number 1. Does it mean there are other boundary monuments? Because it is a relic that is very important for mining activities, where is the Qing army’s camp roughly located?
Answer: Lin Wenren, a British businessman from Deji, actually gave Yangmingshan National Park a lot of old photos and videos when he left Taiwan. However, after I left the interpretation class, the videotapes were placed in the visitor center, and later they became moldy and were thrown away. , a lot of very precious old photos and video materials were lost. The Deji is very big. In fact, the entire circle of the monument should be there, but many of them have collapsed and been damaged. There should be more than one boundary monument, because there are actually quite a few mine mouths there, but I didn’t find any other stone monuments nearby. Maybe I need to explore further up there where there are fewer. The so-called Shaowengtun and Holland Camp are now grasslands, which is the grassland on the other side of Jixinlun when you walk inside the Lengshuikeng Observation Deck on the Yulu Ancient Road.
Question: Beitou is a place rich in natural resources and has many sulfur-related industries. Does Beitou’s local industry have any other role besides military and gunpowder? Because in previous interviews, I heard that when building bathing pools in Beitou, in order to prevent hot spring water from leaking through the pores of the stones, a special construction method of “sulfur filling” is used to dissolve sulfur into the gaps of the stones, making the bathing pool Stronger and more durable. I would like to know if there is any similar industry related to sulfur?
Answer: I have never heard of the practice you mentioned before, but there is an iron fertilizer factory near Bayan, and there is Deji’s office next to it. Because iron sulfide is produced locally and can be used as fertilizer, the iron fertilizer factory was established. In addition, Beitou also has a lot of Datun pottery, glass sand and mineral veins. There is a lot of pottery clay and porcelain clay that can be used. There should be a lot of information on it, so you can look for it again.
Q: Is this video a series about sulfur mining? I think there are some problems with some of the words used in it, because he directly said that Taiwan is a land outside the law. I think there are some problems with this colonialist narrative.
Answer: “Sulfur in This Mountain” is a complete documentary, but it will be broadcast in separate episodes. When we deal with this kind of historical and colonial issues today, we really need to consider the transformation of different perspectives. The entire film actually starts from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, connecting the writing of Taiwan’s history with the context of ocean expansion, and discussing the existence and possibility of sulfur in it. The film uses multiple perspectives to discuss the significance of sulfur to Taiwan and the world. Just like the current discussion of global history, we must try to use different perspectives to cut through and switch. What I saw today is only a fragment of it, so it feels relatively one-sided. I hope I can have the opportunity to show you a more complete film in the future.