Yet this powerful waterway that is here 24/7 next to the 6 million of us who live in the Taipei metropolitan area, is in many respects a stranger to most of us.
How many Taipei residents can tell you where the headwaters of the Danshui River are? What tributaries are upstream? What cities and towns they flow through? How many people can say what river or rivers are on the other side of the dikes on which the heavily trafficked Huanhe Expressway was built in the 1980s-the Danshui? The Keelung? The Xindian? Tens of kilometers of dikes may do their job holding back floodwaters, but they also have cut the people of Taipei off from an understanding and direct experience of this river system that has nurtured the city where they live.
Fortunately, the opening in recent years of a continuous network of bicycle trails running all along the Keelung and Danshui rivers has reopened the gates to allow people to once again get to know the rivers. Moreover, a group of environmental activists has, after a year of arduous effort, completed a "green map" as a major step toward linking the five major wetlands areas in the Taipei area into an "ecological corridor." This will allow Taipei's human residents to follow in the wake of migratory birds and explore the many wondrous facets of the Danshui River system.
Viewed from the air, the Danshui River system looks a lot like a runner, bent over at the waist, heading westward. The Dahan River is the front foot, while the Xindian River follows close behind. The confluence of these two rivers at Banqiao-where the Danshui River proper begins-is the torso. The right arm extending forward from the chest is the Erchong Flood Diversion Channel, and the left arm bent behind the body is the Keelung River. Guandu is located right at the neck of the runner, adorned with the shiny necklace of the Guandu Bridge.
The section of the Danshui River that Taipei residents are most familiar with is that part north of Guandu, running to the town of Danshui along the right (east) bank, with the Bali scenic area on the left bank. In fact, this 158-kilometer-long watercourse, the third-largest river by volume in Taiwan, can be tracked upstream all way to Taoyuan and Hsinchu. The most important part of the river, moreover, is woven like a thread through all regions of greater Taipei. The hinterland behind the "waist" is downtown Taipei; the torso and right arm embrace Luzhou and Sanchong; between the legs are the densely populated suburbs of Zhonghe, Yonghe, and Banqiao; just above the left arm are Neihu, Dazhi, and Shilin; and below the left arm is Shezi Island; while one foot is stepping on Gongguan and Jingmei.
When Han Chinese first settled Taiwan, the Danshui was still navigable; indeed it was Taiwan's only river to be navigable by seagoing ships. Foreign trading ships could sail all the way up to Banka (today's Wanhua) or Xinzhuang, and from there cargo could be loaded onto riverine craft and carried as far as Daxi. A century ago, the busy coming and going of vessels made boomtowns out of riverside settlements like Banka, Dadaocheng, and Xinzhuang. Even 50 years ago, when the navigable channels had become silted up and the glory days had gone, local residents still lived cheek by jowl with the river and their lives were closely intertwined with it.
"How long ago was it that when people on Shezi Island were thirsty and needed water to make tea, they just drew it from the Danshui River? How long ago was it that the people of Luzhou grew and washed their vegetables right on the banks of the Danshui River? How long ago was it that there was a custom in Shilin whereby infants, on reaching their first birthday, would be taken down and bathed in the Keelung River?"
In The Story of the Danshui River, author Lin Mingyu evokes the days when the rivers were packed with fish, eels, shrimp, crabs, and mussels, and he traces the steady decline of production and eventual extinction of river life. Yet, though the "good old days" that Lin nostalgically laments will never return, there may be good days ahead too: After half a century of estrangement, a last there is a new blueprint to rebuild the sentimental ties between residents and their waterways.
Seen from the Guandu Bridge, the Danshui River appears majestic and powerful. This beautiful waterway, rich in human heritage and natural resources, has many buried treasures that are worth a little extra digging to find.