Two years ago the audience at a popular Taiwan TV quiz show was asked to name the local specialties of Hsinchu, a city in northwest Taiwan. "Kungwan," they answered, "vermicelli, the Hsinchu wind . . ."
Today, another answer would likely be forthcoming: "Lee Yuan-tseh."
When Lee Yuan-tseh, one of the winners of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, returned for a visit to his hometown last December, Hsinchu was hit by a veritable whirlwind of reporters, officials, and well-wishers who poured into the normally quiet little city for the big event.
"Hsinchu has never been so stirred up since it became a city administered at the provincial level five years ago," an employee in the municipal news department said.
Lee Yuan-tseh remained a hot topic even after he had left. On December 25th, when Lee was already back in the U.S., a local newspaper carried an article comparing him with a famous native son of two centuries ago: Cheng Yung-hsi, Taiwan's first chin-shih, or successful candidate in the highest imperial examination. Today, Cheng Yung-hsi's old home, ancestral temple, and gravesite are noted historical attractions.
"Two famous 'Taiwan firsts,' and both of them are from Hsinchu," local folks say.
"So what about the other three previous Nobel Prize winners, Lee Cheng-tao, Yang Chen-ning, and Ting Chao-chung?" an outsider might ask.
"Only Lee Yuan-tseh was born and raised in Taiwan!" would be the prompt reply.
"Big names" have lent Hsinchu a glory of a kind. In fact, the city is quintessentially "small town," and has long had the image of being old-fashioned, slow-paced, and unsophisticated.
Hsinchu covers an area of 104 square kilometers and has a population of 300,000. Among cities administered at the provincial level, only Chiayi is smaller.
Geographically, Hsinchu is situated in the northwest of Taiwan, halfway between the important cities of Taipei and Taichung. Before the opening of the North-South Freeway, Hsinchu was a major stopover for trucks and busses making their way between the two cities. But when the freeway cut down the traveling time to two hours, Hsinchu became just another spot along the route. And since it is still too far from Taipei to become a satellite city like Chungli or Taoyuan, Hsinchu gradually fell behind.
Another typical impression that outsiders have of Hsinchu is that almost everyone there is a Hakka.
"Actually, Hsinchu is a genuine Fukienese city," says Chuang Chao-chi, director of the municipal news department. "There are many Hakka in the surrounding towns-maybe that's why Hsinchu people are mistaken for Hakka."
Hsinchu was founded during the 17th century by settlers from Chuanchow in Fukien Province under the leadership of a Ming Dynasty general. Before the Retrocession of Taiwan to the Republic of China in 1945, Hsinchu had always been north Taiwan's political center. The many historical landmarks still preserved in the city, such as the East Gate City Wall, the Confucian Temple, the old business street, and the Cheng Family Ancestral Temple, are living testimony to its proud heritage.
Historically, Hsinchu was once an important location; climatically, however, the place is not particularly appealing.
The well-known Hsinchu winds, which blow in from the Chinese mainland between December and March, often exceed force eight in intensity, enough to blow a child off a bicycle. According to regulations, elementary school students should stay home under such conditions. But even though winds like this hit the city once a week during the winter, the kids have yet to get a day off!
In addition, Hsinchu has recorded the highest single-day temperatures in Taiwan each year for the past three years.
Known as Taiwan's "Windy City," Hsinchu does have several typical local products that are said to benefit from the wind, however. Mifen, a kind of vermicelli made from rice, is dried in the wind after steaming. The wind is also used to dry hsiangfen, a fragrant women's make-up powder exported to Thailand. And kungwan, a kind of pork meatball, are said to be chewier and better tasting when exposed to the wind.
For sampling kungwan and mifen the best place to go is in front of Ch'eng-huang Miao, the temple of the city god. The food stands, fortune-tellers, Chinese opera shows, vendors, jugglers, and pious faithful found there make up an interesting traditional temple scene.
On the map, Hsinchu is bisected by the North-South Railway into two areas completely different in their directions of development. "On one side are century-old streets, and on the other Taiwan's 'Silicon Valley' of the '80s," a local businessman has remarked.
In addition to Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, the city is home to two universities, three colleges, nine public and private high schools, and 36 junior high schools, making it academically "if not number one in the country, then certainly third or fourth," according to Mayor Jen Fu-yung. Besides Lee Yuan-tseh, Hsinchu High School has produced such notable figures as novelist/scientist Chang Hsi-kuo, literary authority Lee Ou-fan, poet K'u Ling, and film directors Wang T'ung and Liu Chia-ch'ang.
Drawn by the universities and research organizations there, talented people, especially scientifically trained people, have continually flowed into Hsinchu over the past ten or twenty years. But because transportation is so convenient, Taipei and Taichung being just an hour's drive away, much of the inflow is for working hours only; not many have put down roots to stay.
How to keep the people there has remained a focus of interest for successive Hsinchu mayors. The Hsinchu government and various local institutions have drawn up a ten-year plan to cope with the needs of the new population that is expected to be drawn to this technological cradle over the next decade.
"Over the next ten years, the population in the science park alone will increase from 6,000 to 70,000," Mayor Jen foresees.
Objectively considered, Hsinchu does indeed appear to have the best qualifications of any place in the country for playing the "technology card."
Said Mayor Jen during the excitement over Lee Yuan-tseh's return visit: "I hope that when people talk about scientific and technological personnel in the future, they'll think of Hsinchu."
(Jackie Chen/photos by Chien Yung-pin/tr. by Peter Eberly)
[Picture Caption]
What kind of wind blows trees about like this?
Hsinchu as seen from Shihpa Chien Mountain.
Hsinchu's East Gate City Wall is one of Taiwan's best preserved Ching Dynasty city gates.
Hsinchu is proud of its native sons Nobel Prize winner Lee Yuan-tseh and Ching Dynasty scholar Cheng Yung-hsi.
Above is a ninth-generation descendant of Cheng Yung-hsi holding the family's genealogy book in front of the ancestral temple. Below are Lee Yuan-tseh's parents. Lee's father is an accomplished painter.
Puppet figures from Hsinchu's Ch'eng-huang Miao.
Offerings inside the century-old temple.
Traditional opera performances at the temple never lack for an audience.
Hsinchu's Hsuehfu Road is home to many schools and colleges. (photo from Sinorama files)
Old men enjoying the warm winter sunlight make an interesting scene.
Mifen drying in the sun.
Children in front of the Confucian Temple show off in front of the camera. What will their city be like ten years hence?
Hsinchu as seen from Shihpa Chien Mountain.
Hsinchu as seen from Shihpa Chien Mountain.
Hsinchu's East Gate City Wall is one of Taiwan's best preserved Ching Dynasty city gates.
Above is a ninth-generation descendant of Cheng Yung-hsi holding the family's genealogy book in front of the ancestral temple. Below are Lee Yuan-tseh's parents. Lee's father is an accomplished painter.
Lee's father is an accomplished painter.
Puppet figures from Hsinchu's Ch'eng-huang Miao.
Offerings inside the century-old temple.
Traditional opera performances at the temple never lack for an audience.
Hsinchu's Hsuehfu Road is home to many schools and colleges. （photo from Sinorama files）
Old men enjoying the warm winter sunlight make an interesting scene.
Mifen drying in the sun.
Children in front of the Confucian Temple show off in front of the camera. What will their city be like ten years hence?
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