Small Town Trips The Revival of Liouguei, Kaohsiung: Lishan evolved from forest to agricultural and is reclaiming its life and ecology

Here in Liouguei, the serene Laonong River flows year round as always. Pedestrians stroll in haphazardly along Taiping Road. You never hear the hustle and bustle noise of people and cars here. Instead, sedate and peaceful rural street scenes are the norm. Time moves slowly like the movies of Mingliang Tsai - the locals call this place their urban area, but it is difficult to imagine from this scene that this used to be a lively town. 

"Now, most stores are closed after 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening. But this place used to be very lively until midnight." said Yiping Wu, President of Laonong River Environmental Art Promotion Association and a long-time fieldworker of Liouguei  Forestry. That was the golden era of Liouguei.

During the Japan colonial period, camphor was in great demand. Initially, it was exploited only in northern Taiwan before people started to slowly move south to Liouguei. That was when "camphor workers", who possessed camphor refining  knowledge, and "camphor foremen", who mastered the initial capital, migrated here with their families.  Most of these immigrants came from Hakka villages in the north. At the same time, in response to the wartime demand for malaria medicines, Liouguei also acted as a cinchona tree breeding base.

Abundant forestry resources brought the town population and prosperity to its peak during the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to Hakka immigrants from the north, merchants from Chiayi, textile merchants from Tainan, and hardware and department store owners from Qishan all migrated to Liouguei as well.

The bus terminal station, remodeled from Ikeda Hotel of the Japan colonial period, serves as a transportation hub. Kunyuan Hong Company, across the street, engaged in grocery trading. At that time, there were two movie theaters in the market. The hardware store, Yongguanghang, offered an even more complete assortment of products than the now Showba Department Store -stationery, clothing, salted fish, tobacco and alcohol products, and even medicine were readily available. The stores were open from as early as 5 o'clock in the morning to as late as midnight. A constant stream of customers throughout all day proved that it was the golden age of Liouguei.

Nonetheless, the government announced a total logging ban in 1989. Thus, job opportunities in the mountain forestry plummeted rapidly, driving many people into planting fruit trees, such as mango, bell fruit, papayas, dates, plums and innumerable others. Chunyi Zheng came to Liouguei for work. He said, “Liouguei provides an unbelievable assortment of produce.  Since I came here, I have been fed with various fruits spanning all seasons.”

Camellia formosensis, which has been embracing sudden popularity recently, is the "new blue sea" of Liouguei produce. As the second and third generations of local farmers come back to their hometown and take over their traditional family business, more and more farms are attempting to return the favor of this nurturing mother earth with eco-friendly farming approaches — opening their doors, hoping to bring people closer to the land through food and agriculture education and farming experiences.

These changes are more or less associated with the Morakot disaster from ten years ago. That was the turning point for Liouguei, which urged the locals to reevaluate their relationship with their  environment. (Extended Reading Texts: Ten years after the August Eighth Disaster, Is Everything Alright with SCIH?)

Therefore, in Baolai, the northernmost tip of Liouguei , a group of people accompanied each other and went through the reconstruction period. Nowadays, a field filled with natural wisdom has been constructed for people to indulge themselves with pottery and dyeing. The mysterious veil of The 18 Arhats Mountain, a nature reserve, has been lifted recently as well. A tour-guiding team composed of locals are operating and patrolling this area with a goal of sustainable management. 

It is quietly uncovering the mystery, operated and patrolled by an interpretive team composed of local people, moving towards sustainable development. (Extended Reading Texts: The Story of Liouguei: Walk Through The Darkness and See The Light)

Lishan Liouguei has walked out of its shadow of reconstruction. As long as there are people staying in Liouguei, the pages of its legend will continue.

* Author: Chia-Lin Kao, excerpted from Crazy Cool Festival, Summer Issue, 2019 Smile Quarterly. Click here to read more.

Log Into Liouguei :

Bus: Take Kaohsiung E25 GaoQi Liouguei Express  from Kaohsiung Railway Station or Zuoying Station of High Speed Rail to Qishan Terminal Station and transfer to Liouguei . The bus departs at 6:20 every day at 60 minute intervals.

Highway: Go south on National Highway No.1 or No.3, and then go to National Highway No. 10 before switching to Provincial Highway No.28, No.27A or No. 27 to Liouguei.

Wander in Liouguei:

Tetsuo No.1 Farm → 10 minutes by car, 18 Arhats Mountain Nature Reserve→ 5 minutes by car, Wish Bakery→ 10 minutes by car, Xin Yuan Tea Posts → 3 minutes by car, Camellia  Found→ 10 minutes by car, Chinpo Aiyu Farm→ 20 minutes by car Minutes, Suaiaka  Culture Sharing Space

Side trip in Liouguei:

▶Set out in Baolai Hot Spring: A One-Day Tour in Liouguei, Kaohsiung
▶Top 2 in the Number of Religious Building in Taiwan: Religious Trips to Kaohsiung
▶Traveling Vendors and Moving Marketplaces: Connecting Supplies and Bonding Across Villages

Smile Spot:

Laonong River Environmental Art Promotion Association
No. 47-2 , Wei Chuang, Zhongxing Village, Liouguei  District, Kaohsiung City
07-6894230
Formerly Ikeda House in Liouguei (Liouguei  Station, Kaohsiung Bus)
No.30, Huanan Street, Liouguei District, Kaohsiung City

Kunyuan Hong Company
Intersection of Huanan Street and Shinmin Street, Liouguei  District, Kaohsiung City
Camellia  Found
No.271 , Heping Road, Liouguei  District, Kaohsiung City
0989-558187

Xin Yuan Tea Posts
No.43 , Heping Road, Liouguei  District, Kaohsiung City
0927-387170

Tetsuo No.1 Farm
0939-169536
Please search on Facebook : Tetsuo No.1 Farm

Chinpo Aiyu Farm 
07-6892450

Suaiaka Culture Sharing Space
No. 32-8 , Shezaijiao, Baolai Village, Liouguei  District, Kaohsiung City
07-6883651
18 Arhat Mountain Nature Reserve Environmental Protection and Interpretation Service Group
0905-635652

Wish Bakery
No.183, Guangfu Road, Liouguei District, Kaohsiung City
0955-655639