Home Is Where the Heart Is Community Activism in a Small Hakka Town

"Donations and volunteers came flooding in immediately after the earthquake," says Shihkang mayor Hsieh Chen-ying, "but we all knew that it wouldn't last for long. The task of rebuilding is the hard part. It's going to take a long time."

The city of Taipei "adopted" Shihkang after the earthquake, assigning personnel from its various ward offices to stay on long-term in Shihkang and assist with earthquake recovery. Mighty Taipei, however, is joined in this task by Peipu's TCAC, which is among the few organizations that have provided continuous assistance ever since the quake.

Peipu lends a helping hand

Says Shu Shih-wei, director of TCAC, "There is just so much to do after a disaster of this magnitude. TCAC and the people of Peipu have only got so many resources." In the little community of Peipu, TCAC managed to collect three truckloads of relief supplies and overNT$400,000 after the earthquake. In order to put it to the best possible use, they toured the disaster area several times and decided to devote all their energies to help the recovery effort in the township of Shihkang in Taichung County.

The two towns are not so far apart-about two hours by car. Besides their common ethnicity, the seriousness of the damage in Shihkang was a major reason why TCAC chose to concentrate on Shihkang.

Shihkang is located on the banks of the Tachia River, and was one of the areas most heavily hit by the quake, with 178 deaths, over 1,200 buildings totally destroyed, more than 500 homes partially destroyed, and dozens of historic old structures demolished.

TCAC had already been active in community development efforts in Peipu, and its members knew from this experience that rebuilding from the earthquake would take a long time, so they set up Shihkang Work Station at Tuniu Elementary School in late October and made plans to stay for a year.

Shihkang Newsletter

The main task of the Work Station is to publish the fortnightly Shihkang Newsletter. The first edition of this one-page newsletter went out last November 8th. It reports on everyday life in the disaster area and matters related to the recovery effort. TCAC's Li Chieh-ying has been working full-time at the Shihkang Work Station since November. According to Li, the newsletter is extremely important to people in the disaster area for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it enables people to share information. People can see that they are not alone in their suffering, and that they must address their situation from a collective standpoint instead of chasing after individual problems one at a time. Secondly, people in the disaster area need information from the outside world, and now that the news media have shifted their attention to other matters, the local people need an avenue by which to get their message out to the rest of the world. The newsletter is just the thing to accomplish these objectives.

This newsletter has also helped to spur increased contact between the people of Peipu and Shihkang. According to Li Chieh-ying, they distribute 3,000 copies of the Shihkang Newsletter in Shihkang, 500 in Tungshih and Shinshe, and 1,000 in Peipu, which enables the people of Peipu to truly get a feel for what is needed in the disaster area.

By sending a person to serve full-time at the Shihkang Work Station, TCAC has managed to quickly integrate itself into the local community in Shihkang, and to see where assistance is most urgently needed. The children of Shihkang, for example, are in especially great need of psychological counseling, so TCAC asked the Hsiuh-li Liuh Memorial Foundation to provide therapy for children and teachers.

In addition, the Shihkang Work Station is also helping to build prefab shelters. The Far Eastern group only donated 50 prefab units, and people in less than privileged situations (such as renters and those living in illegally constructed residences) were not even eligible to apply for them, so TCAC has been working hard to put up prefab units for the residents of Tzu-yun Lane. Several old residences collapsed there, causing numerous deaths and injuries.

The work on the prefab units has been a race against time, for as Shu Shih-wei points out, some people in the disaster area have died of cold over the winter. To survive the great earthquake only to die because of an inadequate relief effort seems the height of injustice.

A non-Hakka in Peipu

How has TCAC managed to deliver such steady assistance to people in the disaster area? What do they have that sets them apart? It all has to do with their experience with community activism in Peipu.

You won't find the name Ta Ai on a map of Hsinchu County, for it is an administrative division not of the ROC government, but of the famous Yimin Temple of northern Hsinchu. The Ta Ai area encompasses the three townships of Peipu, Paoshan, and Omei. Yimin Temple commands the allegiance of Hakka faithful in 15 different temple districts, of which the Ta Ai district is one.

Peipu Township lies immediately southwest of the town of Chutung, and is surrounded by mountains. Over 95% of its roughly 12,000 residents are Hakka. Located in the center of Peipu is Tzu-tien Temple, the town's main landmark, and the bustling streets that run past the temple offer the best shopping and eating in town. TCAC operates out of an office in the middle of town. The traditional architecture of the building is a very pleasant sight.

Shu Shih-wei, the key mover and shaker at TCAC, was born to parents from the mainland and grew up in Kaohsiung. Formerly a professor at Chung Yuan Christian University, he first came to Peipu ago to help a colleague study the local architecture. Shu's role in the project was to study the sociology of Peipu and gain a clear understanding of life in a small Hakka town. Shu ended up staying on in Peipu after the project came to an end, and today he serves as director of TCAC. Says Shu, "Now I can understand about 60-70% of what people say in Hakka!"

How it all started

TCAC was established almost by accident. After settling in Peipu, Shu gradually put down roots in the local community and made friends. In the summer of 1996, Shu and a few women got to talking about education and they hatched an idea to set up an after-school study center. The local Catholic church donated space for the center, and the project was soon launched. They also set up a small library, and local residents generously donated many books.

Thanks to the center, a group of concerned local citizens started seeing each other quite frequently, and they ended up establishing Ta Ai Community Affairs Center in March 1997. They chose Chiang Yi-sen, the owner of a local dry goods store, as the chairman, and selected Shu as director.

The new organization resolved to work toward the achievement of four goals: "A better standard of living, in both the material and spiritual sense. Preservation and development of Hakka culture. Preservation of the environment and development of local industry. Development of community education for people of all ages."

After TCAC was officially established, its main project was the publication of a bimonthly newsletter. The TCAC Newsletter provided the people of Peipu with an opportunity to speak their minds on such issues as preservation of local streams, their love for their hometown, and various local affairs.

Pitching in

A young man wrote in the TCAC Newsletter, "I used to have a job in another town, and every time I came back to Peipu I would go straight to the noodle shop and wolf down a bowl of bantiao noodles even before stopping to say hello to my parents. Until I had eaten a bowl of bantiao, I didn't feel like I was back home yet."

According to Shu Shih-wei, keeping the newsletter in print for two or three years has been no small accomplishment. "These people don't write for a living. A person might spend four or five hours writing up a short little article."

In addition to the newsletter, TCAC has also been involved in many local activities. "A lot of interesting stuff goes on in a small Hakka town," says Shu, adding that when help is needed the locals are likely to contribute not just money but something even more valuable-their time and energy. When TCAC puts on an activity, for example, if someone notices that an event organizer is getting thirsty they will immediately bring him a bottle of mineral water. When a musical performance is scheduled, someone will always take it upon themselves to set out seats for the audience. "If the local residents agree with what you're doing, they're sure to pitch in and help," says Shu, who considers this spirit of volunteerism much more valuable than monetary donations.

That is why TCAC has been able to carry out so many activities over the past three years without spending any money. Peipu residents have taken part enthusiastically in recycling campaigns, flea markets, and post-harvest yam roasts, and events of this nature have even drawn participants from out of town. According to Chiang Yi-sen, when TCAC organized a camping trip last year, participants from Chutung, Toufen, and elsewhere actually outnumbered the locals.

We miss our walkways!

Thanks to the energy and dedication of nine regular staff and many enthusiastic volunteers, TCAC has managed to make a difference in this small Hakka township over the past three years. Most notably, the people of Peipu have begun to sense the value of what they've got in their community.

The campaign to beautify Peipu's Hsia Street is an excellent case in point. Seven years ago, in order to ease the problem of increasing traffic congestion, the township widened Hsia Street. The project required demolition of all the covered walkways that used to stand outside the stores there. It seemed like a laudable move toward modernization at the time, but people living along the street came to rue the loss of their covered walkways. Cars came roaring down in great numbers along the widened street, while the residents lost the space in front of their homes where they had once enjoyed many a leisurely hour.

According to Chiang Yi-sen, whose store is located on Hsia Street, everybody used to congregate in the cool shade of the walkways in the summer. Neighbors were more involved with each other, and his two children always had a place to play. Now that the covered walkways have been replaced by parking spaces, people scarcely leave their homes. The old folks stay inside watching television, while the young people only emerge briefly on their way to work. People rarely have a chance to speak to each other anymore.

Fortunately, the people of Peipu quickly realized their mistake. Last year TCAC applied to the Council for Cultural Affairs for authorization to carry out a campaign to beautify Hsia Street. The residents did everything they could to restore something of their former neighborhood. They erected street lamps and put out benches where people could sit and chat, and have succeeded in creating a very friendly atmosphere. The gaily lit Hsia Street seems almost to have returned to an earlier time.

It might be impossible for Hsia Street to ever be exactly the same as it once was, but the beautification campaign taught the people of Peipu the value of what they have. When the town hall made plans to rip up the stone steps on the long pathway leading up the mountainside at Hsiuluan Park and replace them with imported stone, local citizens protested, asking the town hall to leave the steps as they were. In the end they succeeded in keeping part of the steps untouched. States Chiang with a sigh, "There's not much left that's really worth passing on to our grandchildren. We can't keep destroying things."

Do you remember?

The scope of TCAC activities is not limited to improving the quality of old neighborhoods. The organization is also active in the effort to preserve the local environment.

Shu Shih-wei points out that for an agricultural community like Peipu, streams are an indispensable resource. Aquatic life on Taping River, however, is dwindling due to destruction of the surrounding environment and excessive gravel mining on the river bed.

Last April, over 50 people from the townships of Peipu and Omei organized the TCAC Taping River Preservation Team. In addition to holding meetings throughout the local area to show slides and publicize the river's plight, the River Preservation Team also posted notices on the riverbank in May asking locals and out-of-town visitors not to poison or electrocute fish or catch them in nets. The team also goes out occasionally to pick up trash and patrol the river.

Besides these activities, TCAC also offers regularly scheduled classes for both children and adults. Current offerings include a class on environmental preservation for children, while for both children and adults there are classes on calligraphy, traditional Hakka folk songs, and local history.

Every Wednesday evening you can hear the strains of Hakka folk songs coming from TCAC. The youngest participants in the class are just seven or eight, while the oldest range on up to 70 or 80. Every one of the lilting melodies carries with it a nugget of Hakka culture. Even more interestingly, the teacher makes up lyrics about the river preservation campaign and sets them to traditional folk melodies, thus melding the old and the new.

In the class on local history, the participants themselves do all the talking. They exchange stories about the past and talk about places whose names no longer even appear on the maps. Everyone works in this way to call up a collective memory of local history. Says Shu Shih-wei, "By sharing our experiences we can get everybody to take an active interest in the changes that are taking place in the local community." Outgrowths of the class include the river preservation campaign and a guidebook for tourists interested in learning about environmental issues and local history.

Says Shu, "Forget about all the high-falutin' talk about 'urban redevelopment' and whatnot-everyone cares about what goes on in their town. But you've got to find a way to get everybody working together so you can actually get something done, otherwise all talk about local affairs won't amount to anything more than people doing a bit of idle chatting and complaining around the dinner table."

Hard times, warm hearts

With such a vigorous network of local volunteers already in place, TCAC was prepared to act quickly when the earthquake hit central Taiwan last September. After zeroing in on Shihkang as the beneficiary of its assistance, TCAC wasted no time in sending relief supplies, establishing a newsletter, and building prefab shelters. In working together on the recovery effort, the people of Peipu and Shihkang have built up close personal ties.

At a New Year's celebration in Peipu, Shihkang mayor Hsieh Chen-ying gave the people of Peipu a gift as a token of gratitude for their generous assistance, and when TCAC board members traveled to Shihkang to inspect the progress on the prefab shelters, they took advantage of the occasion to exchange views with local residents.

"I'm very excited about the two-way channel of communication that we've established," says Li Chieh-ying, and he adds that this communication is a source of strength that has enabled the Shihkang Work Station to keep going.

The prefab units that TCAC helped build at Tuniu Elementary School were completed on February 28th, and Li Chieh-ying reports that the Shihkang Work Station is now concentrating primarily on gaining a clear picture of what is needed to get people back to work.

Although the original plan only calls for the Shihkang Work Station to operate for one year, Li Chieh-ying opines, "I have my doubts about whether we'll actually be able to leave after a year." He feels that the cooperative relationship and emotional ties that have been forged between Peipu and Shihkang ought to be kept alive, and he hopes that the people of Ta Ai will be able to share their know-how in community activism with other localities so that Taiwan can recover the vibrant communities that it lost in the earthquake.

p.100

Peipu's Ta Ai Community Affairs Center built 11 prefab shelters at Tuniu Elementary School in Shihkang. Performers of traditional Hakka music came from both Peipu and Shihkang to celebrate the completion of the shelters.

p.102

The sight of the river spilling over a newly created drop-off in the formerly flat riverbed at Shihkang Dam gives stunning testimony to the power of last year's earthquake. The bridge is being left as is to serve as a monument to the quake.

p.102

In a perverse twist of fate, the terrible destruction wrought by the earthquake has left Shihkang with a lot of valuable new "tourist attractions." This enterprising shop owner is selling photos of the disaster area.

p.105

Located in the center of Peipu, Tzu-tien Temple is the town's main landmark and features a big open area that is excellent for holding various activities. The musical performance pictured here has attracted a big crowd of both locals and out-of-town visitors. (courtesy of Ku Cheng-chien)

p.106

The people of Peipu have come to understand the value of their heritage, and have begun working to preserve old buildings. In restoring old residences, they are eschewing modern building materials and using the methods of the past. A man is shown here mixing mud to daub over the brick walls. (courtesy of Ku Cheng-chien)

p.107

Shop signs everywhere advertise such typical Hakka items as bantiao noodles, lei tea (which has peanut powder and other high-calorie ingredients mixed into it), and dried persimmons. Peipu's distinctly Hakka atmosphere is perhaps the town's most striking feature.

The sight of the river spilling over a newly created drop-off in the formerly flat riverbed at Shihkang Dam gives stunning testimony to the power of last year's earthquake. The bridge is being left as is to serve as a monument to the quake.

In a perverse twist of fate, the terrible destruction wrought by the earthquake has left Shihkang with a lot of valuable new "tourist attractions." This enterprising shop owner is selling photos of the disaster area.

Located in the center of Peipu, Tzu-tien Temple is the town's main landmark and features a big open area that is excellent for holding various activities. The musical performance pictured here has attracted a big crowd of both locals and out-of-town visitors. （courtesy of Ku Cheng-chien）

The people of Peipu have come to understand the value of their heritage, and have begun working to preserve old buildings. In restoring old residences, they are eschewing modern building materials and using the methods of the past. A man is shown here mixing mud to daub over the brick walls. （courtesy of Ku Cheng-chien）

Shop signs everywhere advertise such typical Hakka items as bantiao noodles, lei tea （which has peanut powder and other high-calorie ingredients mixed into it）, and dried persimmons. Peipu's distinctly Hakka atmosphere is perhaps the town's most striking feature.

Shop signs everywhere advertise such typical Hakka items as bantiao noodles.

lei tea （which has peanut powder and other high-calorie ingredients mixed into it）