Winding mountain roads lead to the Gold Ecological Park. Silvergrass sways in the wind, clearly marking the passage of time, and attempting to awaken people's memories of the old glories of Chinkuashih that have dissipated like smoke. Peering at the rushing Neichiufen Creek, one is transported back to more than a century ago. Back in the Qing Dynasty, when Taiwan's first provincial governor Liu Mingchuan was building the railroad between Keelung and Taipei in 1889, by chance workers discovered gold sediment on the banks of the Keelung River, in the area between modern Chitu and Patu. From then on, gold prospecting activity spread from the mouth of the Keelung River upstream.

The third floor of the Gold Ecological Park's main building includes an open-air hands-on workshop, where visitors can try gold panning, and pursue their own golden dreams.

A key source of precious metals

According to accounts of the time, in 1892 more than 3000 people at a time could be seen panning for gold along the banks of the Keelung River. That year, the Qing government set up a bureau to oversee prospectors and levy a tax for access. In 1894, a vein of gold deposits was discovered in "Little Pumpkin Hill" (Chiufen's Tatsukeng), and with gold also found in the adjacent Chiufen, this sparked a new gold rush. Unexpectedly, the next year Taiwan was annexed by Japan under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed by China and Japan.

Departing from a reliance on riverbank gold panning or excavation mining, the Japanese set up smelting plants, using modern methods to extract gold. They introduced advanced mechanical equipment and specialized technologies, while hiring locals as company employees. After 1905, when enargite was discovered, and gold and copper were produced in tandem, the large volumes produced made the area known as Asia's most valuable source of precious metals. At the time, the prosperity of the area was unmatched in Taiwan, so it was called "Little Shanghai."

Seventy-eight-year-old former miner Chang Kao-yung, who began working in the mines after graduating from elementary school, relates that based on statistics from 1937, there were more than 8,400 people working in the area at the time. Including workers' family members, Chinkuashih residents numbered between 20,000 and 30,000.

At the time, there were three clubs in the mining area. The clubs normally concentrated on film showings, and on occasion there would be performances of Taiwanese Opera. To provide discounts to employees, the company clubs would charge only ¥0.30 for movie tickets, where the normal admission was ¥0.50. Because the showings were not restricted to local residents and often featured new films, residents of the surrounding area spanning Chiufen, Jueifang, and Keelung came to Chinkuashih to watch movies, and as a result the theaters were usually packed.

Miners enjoyed a relatively affluent lifestyle, but work was extremely arduous.

"The environment inside the mines was harsh. Copper deposits usually lie deeper than gold deposits, and copper ore oxidizes on contact with air, producing heat. Thus the average temperature in gold mines was around 18oC, but could be over 40oC in copper mines. The changes in temperature when moving about in the mine were like a sauna. In addition, collapses within the mines had to be guarded against, as well as the effect on the lungs of dust from excavation with explosives and drilling," recalls Chang, who retired from Taiwan Metal Mining Company in 1986 and suffers from mild pneumoconiosis.

Nearly 70 years old, the Environmental Building now houses an exhibition of precious minerals.

A trio finds a way

After World War II, administration of Chinkuashih's mining industry was taken over by the Nationalist government's Taiwan Gold and Copper Mining Bureau. In 1955, the bureau was reorganized as the Taiwan Metal Mining Company. That marked the start of an era when the Taiwan Metal Mining Company played a dominant role. The gold deposits in the area began to run out in the 1970s, and exacerbated by depressed international gold prices and an incident in which sulfuric acid was leaked from a copper smelting plant, this led to the cessation of the Taiwan Metal Mining Company's business operations in 1987, also bringing Chinkuashih's golden age to an end.

Close by the Shuinantung parking lot is the original site of a copper smelting plant as spectacular in its way as the ruins of Pompeii. Built under Japanese rule, the plant was a refining and smelting plant for processing ore. The old ore washing and refining equipment still stands on the mountain slopes, and the commercial production lines for copper and gold interweaved in an enormous mesh that make it easy to imagine the scene when gold mining hit its peak in the area. After the mine tunnels were sealed, the mine water gushed out from the face of the mountain. Iron in the water becomes oxidized once exposed to the air, turning the earth rust-colored and forming Taiwan's only "gold waterfall," evoking a lost splendor.

Although there were calls ten years ago in cultural circles to build a museum at Chinkuashih, because the land in the area was owned by different public-sector institutions and there were numerous restrictions that applied to mining areas, plans never got off the drawing board. In 2002, on the invitation of Tchen Yu-chiou, then chairwoman of the Council for Cultural Affairs, the Taipei County Government, Taiwan Power Company and Taiwan Sugar Corporation came to an agreement to jointly develop Chinkuashih. The concept of the Gold Ecological Park finally took shape and began becoming a reality.

In May of the same year, the Yingge Ceramics Museum was given charge of organizing the Gold Ecological Park in Chinkuashih, and made conceptual plans for Taiwan's first ecological museum.

Intact, and in place

Unlike traditional museums, which are housed in a single building, an "ecological museum" takes the natural environment and cultural resources of the area itself its as subject, with local people participating in promotion, preservation, and maintenance on their own initiative.

Park director Chiang Ming-chin, who participated in monitoring and vendor coordination in the initial stages of construction, observes, "The attitude behind an ecological park is one of cherishing and carefully protecting a natural and cultural heritage. So the aim of the teams working on the Gold Ecological Park is absolutely not to create an amusement park. They also want to avoid huge crowds of visitors or allowing free market principles to operate at the expense of preserving the cultural characteristics of the place."

The biggest difference between the park and traditional museums is its transcending of the public's stereotype of a museum corresponding to a single building. Chiang stresses that the responsibility of a traditional museum is to preserve its collection and to provide visitors with opportunities for personal growth. Therefore, exhibited items, along with experts and scholars working in relevant fields, are their main assets. In an ecological park, on the other hand, the protected natural environment and historical and cultural assets are the true subjects. How much importance area residents attach to local assets is key to sustained development of an ecological park.

Therefore, besides specific exhibitions staged within the park, it focuses on drawing on community resources to preserve intact Chinkuashih's precious natural scenery, original mining industry sites and historic buildings, while also aiming to give them new life.

"It was only through many years of talking with locals that I realized every place in Chinkuashih has a story to tell, and every place has its charm," says Chiang, his young face seeming to glow with the gentle brilliance of the gold-rush town itself.

During the Japanese colonial period, society in the mining area was stratified. Whether in the division of labor, the arrangement of the residential areas, or simply in daily life, "Japanese" and "Taiwanese" were clearly differentiated, with upper and lower classes created within each of these broad classes. In work, Japanese mostly served in higher-level positions such as specialized technician or manager. Taiwanese, on the other hand, were usually miners, with only a minority serving as machine operators or handling repairs.

"The stories told by members of different classes are not at all alike, making it hard to imagine that they were living in the same time and place," says Chiang. Like the scenes in the Taiwanese film Hill of No Return, the children of highly placed employees dressed in bright clothes and sat in orderly arrangements in a classroom, while miners' children went to school barefoot and wearing pants with holes in them. As WWII was drawing to a close, around 400 or 500 British and Commonwealth POWs captured in the South Pacific were sent here to work in the copper mines, with many of them dying and being buried here. It is only many years after the events, when the divisions and antipathies of ethnicity and class have faded, that the oral histories compiled by the park are providing an opportunity for local residents to share the memories and stories that they have hidden away from each other for so long.

Near the Shuinantung parking lot are the remnants of a smelting plant built under Japanese rule. Various types of gold and copper extraction equipment are strewn across the slopes, making it easy to imagine the bustle of mining activity that once took place here.

The Prince Hotel

The Gold Ecological Park covers five hectares. Walking along the Chingshui brick street on Chinkuang Road from the visitor center into the park's grounds, the first sight that greets a visitor is neatly arranged Japanese-style dormitories. This was a residential area arranged especially for high-ranking Japanese employees. After the park performs renovations designed to preserve the original appearance of the buildings, it is projected that next year the buildings will be opened to the public as spaces for exploring lifestyle aesthetics, and a venue for activities for local residents.

Ascending the stone steps, one can see the Environmental Building. Nearly 70 years old, during the Japanese colonial period it served as a transformer station. After WWII, it variously housed the offices of the Taiwan Metal Mining Company and Taiwan Power Company, and the Jueifang Visitor Center. It is an old building with a profound commemorative significance, and an excellent starting point for getting acquainted with Chinkuashih.

Viewing the 3D model in the park, one gets a sense of the pocket-like layout of the area, with Chinkuashih surrounded on three sides by mountains. On the east are "Handleless Teapot Mountain" and Mt. Panping, while on the west stands Mt. Keelung and to the east Penshan, which is infiltrated by numerous mineral veins. One can also clearly make out Neichiufen Creek and Waichiufen Creek flowing into each other to become Chinkuashih Creek. This stream then flows into the "two-colored sea," which presents visitors with a peculiar scene created by water flowing out of the gold and copper mines.

Various types of minerals are displayed at the site. Besides precious natural gold ore, there is also pyrite, also known as "fool's gold" because its color is similar to gold's. The lustrous black columnar crystals are enargite, one of the major sources of copper. One can also view quartz, reputedly having magical powers, and calcite, which fizzes when it comes into contact with acids. Some minerals, while themselves inconspicuous, serve as useful indicators during prospecting. For example, when barite and pyrite are found, it is a clue that gold veins are nearby.

Up the stairs is the Prince Hotel, which was specially built in 1922 for an anticipated visit by Crown Prince Showa, who subsequently became Emperor Hirohito. Occupying 1200 square meters of land, the building was constructed so that the form of wild geese was created in tandem with the outside garden. The building uses large amounts of hinoki wood and items considered premium at the time, such as glass windows. It also had a concrete miniature golf course and an archery field. Although Crown Prince Showa later changed his itinerary and did not make the visit, the Prince Hotel became Taiwan's primary example of a classic Japanese-style wood building.

Occupying 1200 square meters of land, the Prince Hotel is Taiwan's prime example and best preserved specimen of a Japanese-style wooden building.

Penshan Fifth Tunnel

Moving along Cherry Blossom Road, one arrives at Penshan Fifth Tunnel. The vein of ore excavated by this tunnel was called the Penshan Vein. Because this area in the mountains once showed exposed mineral veins in a way that made it resemble a pumpkin, it gradually came to be known as Chinkuashih, which in Taiwanese translates as "pumpkin stone." Over time, the name stuck and became the official name of the area.

During the Japanese colonial period, Penshan had nine mine tunnels, with the underground passages intersecting with each other and forming a network of more than 600 kilometers of tunnels. Penshan Fifth Tunnel was a mining tunnel for excavating pure gold, and is the only tunnel that is still passable today. To allow visitors to experience for themselves the conditions inside the pitch-dark tunnels, the park dug a new 110-meter-long tunnel up from one of the original tunnels. Realistic mockups of the equipment used were installed, and a spoken guide added. Visitors can take a shift assignment card, wear a safety helmet, and experience for themselves what mining work was like as they pass through 180 meters of mining tunnel.

Beside Penshan Fifth Tunnel is the Gold Ecological park. The entrance is adorned with a portrait of a group of miners fashioned out of gold leaf. From the model of the Penshan Vein under the transparent glass path, one can directly observe the distribution of mineral veins found over a century of the mining industry's development, Chinkuashih's distinctive mineral formations, and the topological effects that resulted from them. Cabinets display mining tools, daily life articles, and models of individuals smelting gold.

The second floor houses the aptly named Gold Pavilion, where exhibits on technological applications for gold, as well as gold sculpture works, are displayed. The headliner is undoubtedly the pride of the locals--a 99.99% pure gold ingot weighing 220 kilograms. Its hefty dimensions made the Guinness Book of World Records. At the time, the park had to send eight strong men to carry the ingot to its exhibition site. Members of the public can touch the ingot. And if feeling the gold is not enough, the third floor's open-air gold panning workshop awaits. Visitors can pan for gold dust, and pursue their own golden dreams.

From brilliance to obscurity, Chinkuahshih was fading from people's memories until the establishment of the Gold Ecological Park created a new golden legend there (photo by Pu Hua-chi). Pictured at right is a wax figure of an old miner.

Creating a new legend

In order to highlight Chinkuashih's special characteristics and create local employment opportunities, the park has jointly organized a goldworking course with the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute, and given official residents of Jueifang Township free tuition to learn associated design and marketing skills. They also plan to establish a metalworking crafts research center after the site of the abandoned gold smelting works is renovated. In the future, Chinkuashih's historic street will be turned into a metalworking crafts street, and metals design competitions with international participation may be held.

Walking into the Gold Ecological Park is like walking back into history and another way of life. For a break, a visit to the Chiupaokou bazaar--to sample traditional local snacks and listen to old miners talk about the short-lived delight when finding fool's gold for the first time--is worthwhile.

The setting sun shines on Chinkuashih, where dreams live on. In the Gold Ecological Park, a new kind of golden legend is being conjured up.

Former miner Chang Kao-yung, now aged 78, began working in the mines after graduating from elementary school. As he recalls the vast toil and toll on life that was needed to create this world-famous Asian city of gold, his voice barely conceals his emotion.

From brilliance to obscurity, Chinkuahshih was fading from people's memories until the establishment of the Gold Ecological Park created a new golden legend there (photo by Pu Hua-chi). Pictured at right is a wax figure of an old miner.

In the Gold Ecological Park, a 110-meter tunnel now runs up from the Penshan Fifth Tunnel, which was once used for gold mining and is the only old mine tunnel still passable. Visitors can experience for themselves what it must have been like to work in the darkness of the mine.

This giant gold ingot weighing 220 kilograms is the pride of locals. Not only did it set a record that made the Guinness Book of World Records, but the process of its casting was unprecedented. Members of the public can touch the ingot, hoping the "golden touch" will thereby be conferred on them.

The second floor of the Gold Ecological Park's main building is the aptly named Gold Pavilion, where exhibits on technological applications for gold, as well as gold art, are displayed.