Monotonous no more
Caijia Village is located on Lower Guirou Mountain, and its history stretches back over 180 years. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Ketagalan tribe, the mountain is named after the guirou plant (Zelkova) which grows in abundance there and is the source of an excellent mosquito repellent. In the waning years of the Qing Dynasty a large farming clan by the surname of Cai, originally from Qionglin in Kinmen, moved into the area. Because of their presence, Caijia Village ("the Cai family village") gradually caught on as a new place name. Some 30 families and 200 people live there today, and over 90% of them are surnamed Cai.
The focal point of local religious worship, Qifu Baosheng Shrine, was established during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor (1871-1908) as an offshoot of Bao'an Shrine in Taipei.
Though Caijia Village is way off the beaten path, it nevertheless played a key historical role once upon a time. After China lost the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and the Qing court ceded Taiwan to Japan, Cai Bai and his son Cai Chi of Caijia Village joined forces with Liu Yongfu, an army general who had scored celebrated victories with his Black Flag Army during the Sino-French War some 10 years before, to form a volunteer resistance force. Though they did not succeed in keeping the Japanese out, the father and son nevertheless managed to help Tang Jingsong, president of the short-lived Republic of Taiwan, to escape via the Danshui River to mainland China.
From the late Qing Dynasty and continuing through Japanese rule and beyond, most of the residents of Caijia Village engaged in farming, but rapid economic growth in the latter half of the last century led a generation of youth to abandon the countryside throughout Taiwan, and Caijia Village was no exception. Persons aged 65 and over currently account for a very high 13% of the residents of Caijia Village.
Fortunately, however, traditions have deep, strong roots here. Clan members look out for each other. Local residents are also fortunate to own their own land and homes, so they are comfortably off and usually able to keep at least one child around the homestead to care for them in their old age. If all the children in a family were to leave the local area, family and friends would criticize them for abandoning their parents, which is why it is so common to see three, four, and even five generations living under a single roof in Caijia Village.
Even so, working-age adults have always been gone during the day at their jobs, leaving the old folks behind to nap, watch TV, look after the grandchildren, and visit with neighbors. Apart from that, there was hardly anything meaningful for them to do with their time.
The situation began changing five years ago when Cai Ying left his job at the Taichung office of the Commons Daily newspaper and returned to Caijia Village to take over as head administrator of Qifu Baosheng Shrine. At age 58, senior citizen status was beginning to appear on the horizon for Cai, so he began thinking of ways to arrange for senior care so that he might someday avoid becoming yet another old geezer complaining of boredom.
As Cai Ying himself laughingly admits, "All this work I've been doing is also a way of preparing for my own old age!"
Eighty-seven-year-old Wu-Li Man (front right) graduated this July from the Caijia Village junior college program along with six other family members. She is shown here with a daughter, two sons, and a daughter-in-law. The beaming smiles speak volumes about their happy family.