Taipei, not too far back in time

20 August 2010

Si Si Nan Village 四四南村

The most memorable part of the trip was visiting the military village 四四南村 (Translate: 44 South Military Community) at Xinyi 信义. I didn't read much about it other than hearing from the friendly grandpa whom I met at Taipei 101 earlier that morning.

"The villages to house the workers and dependents of the military factory were divided into four areas, North, South, East and West. Living quarters were allocated to the workers according to their rank. The one in the South that was for the lowest level factory operators. During wartime, these people from the 44th military factory in Yantai, Qingdao, came to Taiwan by boat." He seemed to know exactly what this place was about.

"There won't be anyone there (in the village). No one stays there anymore."

"It's too hot today... Don't go there..."

As stubborn as a mule, and already set on going there since the day before, I walked out from the cool air-conditioned Taipei 101 mall to look for the village at 50 Songqin Road with a city map in my hand.

It wasn't easy to find the place. I walked round Xinyi Elementary School many times, but still missed it. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant walk, capturing these along the way:

Taxi-drivers meet for a puff under the banyan tree (榕树）.

Squirrels admiring music played by a lovely young cellist.

Nursing mum with toddler.

Facade at the entrance of the cultural museum.

Si Si Nan village was made up of three rows of preserved houses. All of them were locked, except for the first row which was converted to a little 'showroom'. True enough, like what the old grandpa said, it was just me and the curator inside the exhibition hall. There were collage displays of old life made by the ex-residents as well as some mock-up displays of a typical home.

The words on the red banners read “我舍不得离开四四南村 ~史荣高 ”
(translate: I can't bear to leave Si Si Nan Village. ~ Mr Shi Rong Gao)

"Memory treasure box"

记忆百宝箱

"Memory treasure box"

记忆百宝箱

One exhibition wall had a poem on it. This poem was made into a song and a famous veteran singer, 齐豫 (translate: Qi Yu), sang it. The title of the song is <橄榄树> (translate: Olive Tree):

        不要问我从那里来
        我的故乡在远方
      为什么流浪
      流浪远方流浪...    (poem by 三毛)

It reminded me of my own situation and I became a little teary.

Here are the remaining photographs of the visit.