Return to Losheng Sanatorium (樂生療養院)

February 18, 2018 in Photo Post, New Taipei City, Urban Exploration, Taoyuan

Since I opened this website a few years back, one of my most consistently popular blog posts is the one I wrote about the abandoned Losheng Sanatorium in New Taipei City.

The Japanese-era sanatorium is one of the most accessible abandoned buildings in northern Taiwan and is one where beginner Urban Explorers are able to get their feet wet with an expansive hospital complex with a considerable amount of left bedding historic materials.

Even though the Sanatorium has been abandoned for several decades and offers easy access, it is important to remember that the area is still home to a community of people who suffered from leprosy and never felt like they were able to fully rejoin society.

The popularity of the abandoned hospital has become somewhat invasive into the lives of the people of the close-knit community that surrounds it and I’ve heard from friends that they have had to get guards to block access to large groups of people who show up on weekends to check it out.

When I took the photos for my first post about the hospital, I visited alone and made sure to take time to become acquainted with a few of the residents of the community. I think the fact that I showed interest in the hospitals history and made an attempt to get to know the story of the residents of the community helped out quite a bit.

It helped not only with my writing and understanding of its history but by becoming a recognizable face to some of the residents of the community, which made it easier to enter the building. If you plan on visiting, why not spend some time getting to know some of the people that it originally served and try to understand the history of the building a little better? I guarantee that you’ll feel better if you do and it is also helping out a group of people who have been marginalized by society due to the negative physical effects of leprosy.

So what was the reason for my most recent visit to the Sanatorium? Well its quite simple - I’m in the process of updating quite a few of my blog posts and as I’ve heard that things are changing at the hospital, I decided to go back and check it out to see what’s new and if I needed to update any of the information I’ve provided.

With the renewed interest on the national level for preserving historic buildings from the Japanese Colonial Era, it seems that the efforts of civic activists over the past decade to have the abandoned hospital preserved for future generations has met with a bit of success as of late. That success however is not fully decided yet and discussions are ongoing about what course of action the government will take to preserve the building and what is best for the community around it.

Unfortunately information about all of the most recent developments are only in Chinese and as nothing is yet concrete, I’m not going to spend a lot of time translating what is going on - Here are a few links however that explain current events with regard to the preservation of the community and the MRT depot that is encroaching on its space as well as (in my opinion) one of the best English blog posts about the place.

Since my last visit a large canopy has been constructed above the building which is meant to help preserve the original building and its beautiful Japanese-style roof from the elements until the restoration efforts commence. The interior of the hospital has also been cleaned up with several rooms being emptied - most notably the former library - with quite a lot of the original historic documents being removed.

My photos this time focused on aspects of the hospital that I may have missed in my previous visits, so if you want to see the full set of photos from the hospital, make sure to click the Flickr link below that has both my older photos as well as these new ones.

I’ll continue to update the original blog post as planned, but I won’t make another visit to the hospital until it is fully restored which I hope is sooner rather than later considering the condition of the roof in some areas of the building.

If you plan on visiting, make sure to be respectful of the residents of the community and be reminded that if you visit on a weekend with a large group that you may be denied access

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

Featured

Mar 18, 2023

Abandoned Tea Factory

Mar 18, 2023

Nov 19, 2022

Abandoned Church (廢棄的教堂)

Nov 19, 2022

Jul 23, 2022

Abandoned Resort (廢棄的俱樂部)

Jul 23, 2022

Jul 9, 2022

Agenna Shipyard Relics (阿根納造船廠遺址)

Jul 9, 2022

Jun 25, 2022

Khóo Tsú-song Mansion (許梓桑古厝)

Jun 25, 2022

Feb 26, 2022

Baiyun Police Station (白雲派出所)

Feb 26, 2022

Jul 13, 2019

Abandoned Railway Dorms (台鐵安東街宿舍案)

Jul 13, 2019

Jun 22, 2019

Abandoned Chiang Kai-Shek Temple (廢棄蔣公廟)

Jun 22, 2019

Dec 29, 2018

Taipei Railway Workshop (臺北機廠)

Dec 29, 2018

Sep 1, 2018

Mazu Art Village (馬祖新村眷村文創園區)

Sep 1, 2018

Youling Waterfall (幽靈瀑布之水簾洞)

October 14, 2017 in Taoyuan, Mountains, Photo Post, Waterfalls, Landscape

One of my favourite summer activities in Taiwan is getting myself to some of the various waterfalls and swimming holes around the country for not only some photos but also some much needed exercise and swimming.

The cold mountain spring water in these waterfalls often makes for a perfect place to cool off during Taiwan’s sweltering summer days. Unfortunately not all of them are ideal for swimming and in some cases it takes quite a bit of time to get to them. Visiting a Waterfall however is always a great experience and taking photos of them always makes for a some pretty photography.

Last summer I blogged about quite a few waterfalls but so far this year I’ve been a bit quiet, despite having revisited a few of my favourites on several different occasions more for swimming than actual photography.

When it comes to waterfalls and blogging in Taiwan, I feel like I don’t really have a whole lot to add to the equation (save for my photos) with my blog posts as there already a couple of excellent resources with the Taiwan Waterfalls blog as well as the Follow Xiaofei blog.

Both bloggers do amazing work introducing Taiwan’s natural beauty to both the people of the country as well as foreigners. Their work not only includes blogging and photography but also a lot of logistic information that includes mapping them out and offering practical information freely to the public so that everyone can enjoy them.

Having valuable resources like this reduces the need for myself to go into too much detail when I blog about waterfalls while at the same time providing me with future locations to visit and take photos - As you can tell I’m a big fan of both of these bloggers and if you are unfamiliar with both of them, I recommend checking out both of their websites and spending more time out in nature!

The waterfalls I’m blogging about today are located here in Taoyuan and are two that I have wanted to visit for quite some time but have never found the time. Recently however they have become a bit popular on social media and seeing photos of them so often on Instagram and Facebook sort of forced my hand making me want to visit as soon as I could find the chance.

Part of the reason that held me back from visiting the waterfalls is that they are over a two-hour drive up the Northern Cross-Highway (北橫公路) meaning that a visit will require at least a four hour ride up into the mountains which usually wreaks havoc on your bum - That pain however is often soothed by the absolutely breathtaking beautiful mountain scenery that you get to see on the long winding road.

The two waterfalls are part of the same mountain river stream that flows directly into the larger Dahan River (大漢溪) that supplies fresh water to most of Northern Taiwan. The two waterfalls are of ten referred to in English as “The Water-Curtain Waterfall” (水簾洞) and the “Spirit Waterfall” (幽靈瀑布) but I’ll refer to them as “Shuiliandong Waterfall” and “Youling Waterfall” respectively and will introduce them briefly below:

Youling Waterfall (幽靈瀑布)

Youling Waterfall is the most difficult of the two waterfalls in the group to gain access to - Getting to the waterfall requires a bit of a river trace and I don't actually recommend most people even attempt it unless they are prepared to get wet and do a bit of dangerous tracing and rock climbing.

If you do decide to do the trace up the river you are rewarded with a large and beautiful waterfall in a beautiful gorge. Youling waterfall isn’t really a waterfall where you can do any swimming due to the small and shallow pool of water next to the falls but if you wanted to do some swimming you could easily do it in some of the pools on the way up to the falls.

Taking photos from the bottom of the waterfall can be a bit difficult as the amount of mist created by the falls in the small enclosed gorge creates a bit of difficultly for camera lenses that constantly have to be wiped off which is why whenever you see photos of these falls that there are always water spots all over the lenses. Photographers try their best but sometimes the forces of nature can be a bit difficult to control!

The falls can be viewed either from the bottom or the top, viewing from the bottom takes a bit of hard work but is extremely enjoyable. Viewing from the top is much easier and you are able to do it from the trail that takes you to Shuiliandong - Looking down however might make you feel a bit of vertigo if you try.

To be truthful, I wasn't really prepared for the river trace to the bottom of this waterfall. I figured it would be easy enough so I just dropped my camera bag and started heading up the river with my camera and tripod in hand. I almost lost my camera because of it when I slipped off of a rock and went barreling into a deep pool of water below me. Luckily my camera was saved thanks to some quick thinking!

Shuiliandong Waterfall (水簾洞瀑布)

Shuiliandong is probably the most popular of the two waterfalls and is the one that has become popular on social media lately. The “waterfall” isn’t actually a natural waterfall but a man-made structure that allows water to flow down the mountain in a controlled manner that doesn’t destroy the valley below - The water that flows over however is actually quite beautiful and makes for some great photos.

The trail that takes you from the parking lot above to the stream below Shuiliandong is quite easy to follow but if you want to get yourself up next to the falls you'll have to get your feet wet and cross the river and then climb over some rocks.

There is a small pool in front of the falls that could allow for people to get wet and enjoy some water, but it isn’t a place where you could actually do much swimming.

I’d personally just want to use it to cool off if I was visiting on a hot summer day.

Despite being man-made, Shuiliandong is actually quite beautiful and photogenic. It is easy to understand why the waterfall has become popular on social media lately - The photos turned out to be quite pretty which made the long trip up the mountains worthwhile.

If you find yourself on a trip along the Northern Cross Highway between Taoyuan and Yilan or if you're just up in the area visiting the beautiful Lalashan Mountain Reserve (拉拉山風景特定區) it is quite easy to stop off near the entrance of the park and go check out these waterfalls. They are however quite far up in the mountains and not the most accessible waterfalls to get to, so make sure you plan well in advance if you are taking a trip to see these!

Map Location

Getting to the waterfalls is quite easy - Just follow the Northern Cross Highway until you get to Lalashan. When you are close to the entrance there is a small road that veers off to the right. Follow it until you reach a small indigenous village where you will find signage leading you to the trailhead. For a much more detailed explanation and interactive map click the links below.

Follow Xiaofei's Blog Post / Map

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

Featured

Dec 18, 2022

Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Park (滿月圓國家森林遊樂區)

Dec 18, 2022

Jun 8, 2019

Goðafoss

Jun 8, 2019

May 18, 2019

Dettifoss

May 18, 2019

Apr 27, 2019

Hengifoss

Apr 27, 2019

Mar 30, 2019

Skaftafell National Park

Mar 30, 2019

Jan 26, 2019

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

Jan 26, 2019

Jan 12, 2019

Iceland’s Golden Circle

Jan 12, 2019

Dec 15, 2018

Faxi Waterfall

Dec 15, 2018

Dec 8, 2018

Gullfoss

Dec 8, 2018

Nov 11, 2017

Guyan Waterfall (谷燕瀑布)

Nov 11, 2017

Pigs of God 2017 (義民節神豬)

September 16, 2017 in Hakka, Photo Post, Taoyuan

Strangely enough, living in Taoyuan for the past decade, one of the most popular occasions of the year takes place at the end of the summer in the middle of Ghost Month when night markets pop up out of nowhere and the city comes alive with local culture and tradition.

The Mid-Summer Ghost Festival (中元慶典藝術節) seems to me a bit comparable to our 'Canada Day' festivities back at home when the whole community gets together to celebrate, enjoy a carnival-like atmosphere and eat some great food.

Like local people here in Taoyuan, I have found that after all these years of living here I have made it a tradition of my own to take part in the yearly festivities. The festival always end up being a great time and allows for me to get out with friends, take some photos, enjoy some local culture and good food and meet up with people that I might not have seen for quite a while.

Despite what I see as a great time, there is a dark shadow cast over the entire event thanks to the inclusion of the "Pigs of God Competition" which is viewed both as a cruel form of animal abuse and also as an important historic, cultural and religious activity that should be protected.

This is my third time to blog about this event and I’m sure that if you have read my previous posts you’ll likely notice a change in the tone for which I've presented it. The reasons for this are simply that my view has ultimately evolved with the times and as I've become more experienced as a blogger, my apprehension to discuss these aspects of culture and religion has started to fade.

I don’t like to criticize 'culture' and I don’t feel that it is my place as an outsider to actually criticize what the people of Taiwan do in their own country - but a tradition that in normal circumstances (without religion) would not be acceptable to most people has become a horrible spectacle of animal cruelty and has brought Taiwan quite a bit of unfair international condemnation and has also numbed onlookers to the needless animal suffering that takes place in order to celebrate a single night of 'culture' and 'folk-religion'.

My coverage of the 'Pigs of God' event as a photographer and also as a blogger over the past few years is not because I want to drive traffic to my blog or write about something sensational - I want to help people understand that this event is not indicative of Taiwan as a whole and if you educate yourself more about this beautiful island nation that you'd find that its an amazing place to live, study and work and that the people who live here are some of the kindest and friendliest people you'll ever have the chance to meet.

Pigs of God 2015 | Pigs of God 2016

Disclaimer

I just want to remind readers that as this blog moves on, there will be photos that you may not feel comfortable looking at. There is nothing particularly gruesome but I'm just warning you beforehand!

This year's winning pig - considerably smaller than years past.

The event is often described by the international media as being ‘mired in controversy’ but locally it has the strange ability to arouse the curiosity of society at large who yearn for a bit of tradition in their hectic lives and is often perceived as a way to connect people to their heritage.

This means that while there are quite a few people who oppose it, there are others who make sure to visit and do their best to experience the ‘vibrance’ of Taiwanese culture while strangely taking family photos beside the carcass of dead animals stretched out and painted for the world to see.

The arguments for and against the festival go a little bit like this: Animal Rights Activists argue that this practice is not in line with modern Taiwanese society and that the tradition should cease to exist while supporters insist that it is a traditional aspect of Hakka culture and therefore it should be preserved.

Taiwan is a highly developed country where modernity and tradition are often at odds with each other, so when it comes to events like this groups who support these cultural traditions are often just as vocal as the opposition when their traditions are being targeted.

See: EAST - Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (台灣動物社會研究會)

When I first came to Taiwan there were around five-ten giant pigs put on display per year. Friends tell me that when they were younger there were at least twenty or more. That number has slowly decreased with only three showing the year before last, two last year and two smaller ones this year as well.

I spoke to the director of the Taoyuan Yimin Temple (桃園市平鎮市褒忠祠) and he explained that there are fewer pigs this year due to "environmental concerns" (環保的關係) and the fact that fewer people are willing to raise the pigs nor do they have the space to keep them.

As the conversation about the ‘Pigs of God’ progresses and society learns more and more about the unnecessary suffering these animals endure during their short lives more and more people have started to oppose it - This opposition has put pressure on religious and cultural organizations to come up with new ideas and start making plans to eventually phase out the practice altogether.

Thus far over twelve temples have already stopped the contest and there are future plans for more to eventually put an end to it.

The problem however is that while some temples have 'promised' to put an end to the practice, it seems like they may be backtracking on these promises and ultimately may just keep practicing it until they’re forced to stop.

Preparing a normal sized pig for sacrifice.

Before I focus on the negatives of this years event, I think its best to look at the positives and how things have improved over previous years:

The Pigs of God this year were considerably smaller than years past which shows that a little more care was taken not to abuse the animals and overfeed them as much as in years past.
The Taoyuan City Government promoted the usage of “Environmentally Friendly Pigs of God" (環保神豬) which were art displays made to look like pigs and constructed out of recycled products and paraded around town in the same way that the real pigs would be.
The event organizers planned an alternate activity where local people as well as dignitaries as high up as President Tsai Ying-Wen would come and release water lanterns on the eve of the event.

As for the negatives, one of the things that bothers me most about all of this is how much local politicians have latched onto this event as a way to promote themselves. The event was attended by local and national level politicians from each party who mingled with the people.

The winning pig that was on display was either supported or promoted by a local DPP politician who had his flag next to the dead animal and office employees acting as a type of security in front of the pig.

When support for this event not only comes from local cultural and religious organizations but from politicians as well, it means that it is not likely that things are going to change very quickly and that is likely a sour spot for the animal rights activists who have worked tirelessly to help educate society about what is actually going on here.

At this point it seems like there has been a bit of progress and things have been changing for the better - I know that last year I seemed a little more optimistic that the practice would be ending after this year’s festivities, but right now, I can’t really see that happening.

There will be Pigs of God at the Mid-Summer celebrations next year as well.

If you are interested in watching some live video from the event in Hsinchu, check out this video from Far East Adventure Travel or this video from Taiwan Live.

The Pigs of God (神豬)

The practice of putting giant carcasses of dead pigs known as the "Pigs of God" (神豬) on display as a form of animal sacrifice is a tradition that started with the Hakka people a few hundred years ago here in Taiwan.

I should add however that animal sacrifice is something that has traditionally been common throughout almost all of the different Chinese ethnic groups.

While there are valid historic reasons why the Hakka people of Taiwan created such a tradition, the contest that has evolved out of it has become one of those traditional cultural practices that has struggled to stay relevant in modern times due to to societal changes and attitudes towards animal welfare.

To become a “Pig of God”, the animal is typically raised for anywhere between two to four years during which time they are force-fed in much the same way as a goose or duck in France is fed in order to make foie-gras. This allows for the pigs to grow to abnormal proportions with some reaching a final weight nearing almost a thousand kilograms before being slaughtered.

For a bit of clarity - market sized hogs sell when they are at about 250 - 270 pounds (113-122kg) meaning that a “Pig of God” grows to at least 5-6 times the normal size while winning pigs of the past have reached anywhere between 800-900 kilograms making them almost ten times the size of a normal healthy pig.

To achieve such a result the pigs are raised in a way that they are constantly overfed which eventually forces them to become immobile. This lifestyle is extremely unhealthy for the animals as they develop painful bed sores and often suffer from organ failure and various other ailments.

To add to the cruelty involved in raising an over-sized animal like this, Animal Rights groups claim that farmers often force-feed the animals heavy-metals or stones days before the contest takes place in order to achieve a higher final weight.

In the past the pigs would be taken out into the public square in front of the temples to be weighed and publicly slaughtered. This was a gruesome sight and one that I'm glad I've never had to experience.

Foreign media outlets however continue to falsely report that this is still a common practice as the pigs are brought out on forklifts, weighted and they slaughtered in front of cheering crowds.

Pigs of God History

The Pigs of God always attract a huge crowd.

The origin of the event is a bit difficult to explain, but it is one that coincides with the creation of the original Yimin Temple (義民廟) which was constructed as a place to memorialize Hakka militiamen and patriots who worked together to protect their homes and their families.

The spirit plaque (神位) that was placed in the temple to memorialize the fallen soldiers became known as "Yìmín Yé" (義民爺) and quickly became a community symbol that brought together Hakka people of all walks of life to celebrate their culture, identity and history.

Every year in order to celebrate Hakka culture and the sacrifice of the young soldiers, the Yimin Cultural Festival (義民節) is held in conjunction with Ghost Month festivities (中元節) to honour Hakka ancestors as well as celebrate and promote Hakka culture throughout Taiwan.

The festival, like the Pigs of God has ultimately evolved into something quite different over the years, but the general purpose remains the same.

In the early days of the festival, the community in Hsinpu got together and put on a huge feast to honour Yìmín Yé.

As pork (in addition to chicken and duck) has been one of the most important animals to sacrifice to the gods and has always has been one of the most widely ingredients in Hakka dishes, it was always one of the most predominate features of the feast.

Each year one of the local families would have to raise a pig in order to both offer it up as a sacrifice to the Hakka ancestors and to help feed the community during the feast.

As “Yimin worship” became more predominant and ‘good luck’ was being attributed to paying respect in the temple, the annual feasts gradually became larger as a way to not only show gratitude but to also show off a families wealth and status in the community.

As mentioned above, the responsibility for raising the pig would ultimately rotate between the prominent Hakka families in order to ensure that each family did its part and that people wouldn't foolishly waste their money when they had such an important responsibility to the community.

This rotation went on for quite some time but soon a competition (of sorts) started between families as the pigs raised for the festival became larger and larger.

Ultimately the size of the pig that was offered up each year started to symbolize the wealth and power of a family meaning that as the years went by the pigs gradually became larger and larger as a show of “face” and local power.

When the problem of "face" comes into these kinds of things in Taiwan, a competition is bound to happen, and in this case, despite the tradition of rotating year-by-year it became expected that even in off-years people would still raise a pig to submit to the competition while at the same time offering gratitude to Yimin Ye.

Thus the Pigs of God competition became a thing.

With this history in mind we can likely agree that the 'Pigs of God Contest' was one that was born out of simple human vanity. This has nothing to do with culture or religion and that is why I believe that aspects of this tradition can continue while the contest should absolutely be put to an end.

As I mentioned in my introduction, the weekend of this festival is one of my favourite times of the year and is one that I’ve attended pretty much every year since I’ve come to Taiwan.

As the years have passed I stopped looking forward to the ‘sensational’ aspects of the festival and more so towards the coming-together of the local community to celebrate their culture and their heritage.

There are many ways to improve amazing festival while at the same time celebrating Hakka culture and history - I have seen with my own eyes that a lot of these changes are already taking place and that while the ‘Pigs of God' were an important aspect of the past, they are not an important part of the future.

I realize that this is a touchy topic and although its not my first time to blog about it, if you have any questions, comments, corrections or more importantly criticisms, don’t be shy - Comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!