So where am I on the map?

To better understand this place that I lived in, I agree to help out in this mini tour around Sanxia, which was organized to introduce to kids in grade 2 the historical origin of their homeland.

Similar to the heritage tours we used to have back when we were young (to chinatown, kampong glam, little india etc), it was a platform (haha!) for the local children to discover the history of their home. And a chance for me to get out of the school!

Previously known as 三角湧, Sanxia used to refer to the meeting point of the Tahan River, Sanxia River, and Horizontal River. The name was changed to Sankyo (三峽 or "Three Gorges") in 1920 when the Taiwan's Japanese government designated it an administrative area at that time.

The first stop was Qingshui Master Temple which was first built in 1769. The temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 1833 and was rebuilt in 1867. However, during 1895, it was burned down by the Japanese army. After World War II, the restoration was led by the renowned artist Li Mei Shu. Till today, restoration work is still in progress following the outline left behind by the late artist. The kids address him as "Ah Gong", which means grandfather in taiwanese.

Then we visted the Sanxia museum which houses artifacts that brought me even closer to the history of this little town. There were a lot of boring things and my brain went offline in the museum.

I 'woke up' when we got to Sanxia Old Street. The most obvious point of differentiation from the normal streets is the elaborated shop fronts. In fact these shophouses were once owned by the rich who were able to afford them at that time (long long ago). They were destroyed during wars and such but was restored to preserve its heritage value in recent times. The shops along the Old Street now sell mainly local products like golden bull horn and tea soap to tourists.

Waiting 1hr for the bus back to school, the kids were still so full of energy. I was already half dead from all the shouting to maintain order for that entire morning.

Labels: josh