A Trip Through Hakka Country

Construction of a branch rail line from Hsinchu to Zhu­dong began under Japanese rule, but was interrupted by World War II. After the Nationalist government arrived in Taiwan, in order to access resources such as coal, cement, and timber in the mountain forests, the Zhudong Line was completed and then extended to Neiwan. Finished in 1951, the Neiwan Line drove the development of towns along its route. However, since the 1980s, with the rise of environmental consciousness, the energy-­intensive coal mining and cement making industries have shut down. In recent years the line’s operations have been reoriented toward tourism, enabling people not only to come and appreciate fine Hakka cuisine, but also to walk nearby historic trails and reimagine the pioneer­ing spirit and hard work of the early settlers.

The “Big Hill North Moon” restaurant uses a variety of local ingredients in its dishes. Recently it has put out a “citrus flavor wheel” to help people get to know the various citrus fruits grown in the Dashanbei Mountains of Hengshan Township.

Bo Gong, protector of hearth and home

As we ride from Zhudong to Hengshan on the Neiwan Line, the scenery changes from urban views to mist-shrouded mountains, signaling our arrival in what was once a major economic bastion of pre-1980s Taiwan.

“The changes in the products transported on the Neiwan Line are a microcosm of Taiwan’s industrial history.” Chen Chih-chung, CEO of the Hengshan Studio, explains that before the Neiwan Line was completed, the main industries in the area were camphor processing and tea farming. After these came logging, coal mining, and cement making, and now development of tourism is the trend. “Many visitors go to see the old part of Neiwan, but if you get off at Hengshan you can observe the way of life of local Hakka residents,” says Chen.

On alighting at Hengshan Station, if you cross the main road and head into Zhanqian Street opposite the station, you soon come to a maze of lanes known as Bagua Xiang—the “Eight Trigrams” district. When the first Hakkas arrived in this area, they fought the local indigenous people for land, and for this reason they built their houses in a pattern somewhat like the Taoist Eight Trigrams symbol, so that if strangers entered the settlement they would become confused and lose their way, and would not be able to escape.

Looking into the distance from Bagua Xiang, you can see a tall mountain. “When our ancestors looked toward this area from Zhudong, they saw how the Da­shanbei Mountains are oriented north to south, cutting across the area, which is why this place is named ‘Hengshan’ [‘crosswise mountains’].” Chen points to a high mountain nearby and says the Hakkas set up a watch post on the mountain­side. If they saw indigenous people coming down to attack, they would make smoke signals to alert residents to prepare to defend the village. “Kids would climb this tree to watch the mountain for warning signals.” The tree Chen is referring to is a 300-year-old camphor tree growing beside a temple to Bo Gong, so it is called the Bo Gong Tree. (Bo Gong, or Bag Gung in Hakka, is the Hakka version of Tudi Gong, the Earth God, who protects the land.)

You can see a variety of different Bo Gong shrines in Hengshan Village. There is the simple “Tiantou Bo Gong” shrine next to the fields (tiantou: “head of the fields”) that is made of three slabs of stone. Meanwhile, next to a pond there is the “Fangniu Bo Gong” shrine (fangniu: “to put cattle out to graze”), with an opening shaped like a bao­ping (a vase-like vessel used in religious ceremonies). In earlier times, when local people watching over their grazing cattle or water buffalo grew tired, they would tie the animals up by the pond and ask Bo Gong to protect them, which is how the shrine got its name.

Bo Gong not only protected the land, he was also venerated by Hakkas who mined coal in the period from the 1950s to the 1980s. “The early Hakka settlers who came here believed the mountains and forests were protected by Bo Gong, so when they began mining in the mountains they had to show respect for him.” Chern Ban, presid­ent of the Hakka Public Communications Foundation, recalls that while doing fieldwork for an exhibition about the Neiwan Line, he was deeply impressed by the adventurous spirit shown by Hakkas. “Each miner had a name plate that was hung on the wall outside the mine. When miners went into the mine they would carry their name plates with them, and when they came out they would hang them up again, showing they had come out alive.”

This “Fangniu Bo Gong” shrine located in Hengshan Village has an opening shaped like a baoping (a vessel used in religious ceremonies), symbolizing peace and safety.

Natural resources and industries

Near Hengshan Station there are a number of old trails that are worth exploring, from which one can get an understanding of how early residents transported materials. The Qilong Trail and the Nanping Trail were routes used by Hakka settlers to transport camphor. “After cutting down camphor trees, they would shave them into thin chips and produce crude camphor by distilling these in workshops, then carry the camphor along mountain trails to collection points,” explains local historian Miao Mei-chin.

Before Provincial Highway 3 was built, the Cha­ting Trail (Teahouse Trail) was an important route for transporting tea, which tea carriers carried on shoulder poles. The carriers would set out at 2:30 in the morning, and after eating breakfast in Guanxi and passing through Longtan, they would have to load the tea onto boats on the Dahan River before 11 o’clock. It had to arrive in Taipei’s Dadaocheng by two in the afternoon,” says Miao. She states that according to customs records from Tamsui, between 1866 and 1892 the quantity of tea exported from Taiwan increased a hundredfold. It was sold into many countries, in particular the USA, the UK and countries in Southeast Asia.

Traveling along Hengshan Street Section 1 in autumn you can see the beautifully contrasting colors of the Dashanbei Mountains and the golden rice fields.

Neiwan’s glory days

On leaving Hexing Station, trains start heading up­slope. “The gradient of this section is 2.5%,” says Chern Ban, “and in the past steam engines didn’t have enough power, so the train had to reverse into a stub track while still on the flat and unload some goods to lighten the load. Then it would switch back to the main track and continue on upward. This is one of the few ‘switchback ­stations’ in Taiwan.” Today the engines used on the Neiwan Line are adequately powered and can go dir­ectly up the slope, but the two sections of rail line and cars from the steam train are still preserved at Hexing Station for tourists to see.

With the rise of the forestry and mining industries, back in the day more than 5000 workers relocated to Neiwan Village. To cater to residents’ daily needs, businesses including a movie theater, a clinic, bars, and barber shops opened one after another.

Walking along Neiwan Old Street (Zhongzheng Road), although tourist businesses have replaced the old small-town shops, nonetheless one can get a glimpse of the past from the old buildings. In days gone by the Neiwan Forestry Exhibition Hall was a warehouse for camphor oil and camphor granules. ­Today, devices for transporting timber are still ­preserved outside the hall. “In the past, for trees like camphor that grow at low elevations, they used log sleds [called muma—‘wooden horses’ in Chinese] to move the logs. Any accident with a log sled was likely to result in ser­ious injury or death. That is why in those days there was a saying, ‘In China there are tigers, but in Taiwan there are wooden horses,’” explains the guide at the ­exhibition hall.

Chen Yi-szu, who returned to her hometown after working in the city, learned how to make Hakka rice dishes from her grandmother, and founded an eatery named Noon Turnip Cake to keep traditional flavors alive.

The spirit of Hakka cuisine

Walking along Neiwan Old Street, one can see many shops selling pickled foods and ban dishes (various foods made from rice). This traditional Hakka cuisine reflects the dietary choices made by early settlers in difficult circumstances. “Farmers working the land would get very hungry by the afternoon, and they used to eat ‘water ban’ [also known as ‘savory rice pudding’], made from rice, with a lot of liquid content, and with pickled daikon radish and other ingredients placed on top. This was very filling.” Chen Yi-szu, who grew up in Jiuzantou, three train stops from Neiwan, returned to her hometown after working in the city. She learned how to make ban foods from her grandmother, at which time she discovered that every Hakka area has its own special ban styles. For example, from an old neighbor, originally from Beipu, who had married into a family in Jiuzantou, she found out that there is peanut flavored ban.

Besides “water ban,” Hakkas also make “red tortoise rice cakes” for weddings, and “mugwort rice cake” at Tomb Sweeping Festival. There is also qiba (similar to mochi) which is served at all kinds of events including weddings and funerals, and used for temple offerings.

Hakka pickles were created as a way to extend the storage life of foods. Fucai, often used to make soup, is made from mustard greens by adding salt and kneading to remove water, pickling them in an earthen­ware vat, then drying them in the sun. Depending on the pickling time, different pickles can be made from the same kind of vegetable. For ­example, mustard greens can be made into fucai, xuelihong, and mei­­cai. “Mustard greens start with an astringent taste, but they take on a unique fragrance after being pickled.” Another returnee from the city, Chen Mu Chan, who grew up in Hengshan Village, recalls how when she was small every family had a big vat and stones. The adults would press the vegetables down with their feet until they had squeezed out all the air from between them, and then place large stones in the top of the vat.

“Even though every family would pickle vegetables, every individual produced a different flavor, so they would all give each other gifts of the pickled vegetables they had made themselves.” Chen Mu Chan feels that Hakka cuisine represents certain emotions and memor­ies. She remembers that at family gatherings when she was small, her elders would give her boiled chicken that was very fatty and had been soaked in kumquat sauce. Having eaten this food until she was tired of it, she only found out after working away from home that it was a uniquely Hakka dish.

In order to get adequate nutrition, the early Hakka settlers insisted on oily, salty foods that stimulate the appetite and go well with large servings of rice. Strong-­flavored meat dishes such as braised pork belly with pickled vege­tables, stir-fried pork intestine with shredded ginger, pickled cabbage and pork tripe soup, or cabbage and sparerib soup are the kinds of foods that Hakka elders consider to be genu­ine home cooking. This is another special experience you can get by riding the Neiwan Line.          

Pickled mustard greens are dried in the sun to make meigancai, which is widely used in Hakka cuisine.

Chen Mu Chan, a young woman who returned to the countryside from the city, founded the “Just Good” brand to supply pickled vegetarian foods made using local ingredients.

The Neiwan Suspension Bridge, which spans the Youluo River, was once an important crossing point on the Nanping Trail.

Neiwan Old Street has a movie theater that was built in 1950, and many vendors selling Hakka cuisine.