TAIWAN
Remains of the former coal mines in the Pixie area (Kuang-Chung Lee eds., 2015)
Hsiao-Wei Lin, Assistant professor, Chung Yuan Christian University, Department of Architecture, No.200, Zhongbei Rd., Zhongli Dist., Taoyuan City 320, Taiwan (R.O.C.), linhw23@cycu.edu.tw
INTRODUCTION The conservation of industrial heritage in Taiwan has explored the contextual conservation, cultural landscape and serial heritage in the past three years by re-addressing and reconfirming the importance of the natural setting as well as industrial heritage to human society. The crucial act was that the cultural landscape was added into the amendment of the Taiwan’s Cultural Property Act in 2005, including industrial heritage in the new category of cultural landscapes. Among the listed categories of cultural heritage prosperity, 32 out of 61 Cultural Landscape sites were industrial heritage sites related to mining, sugar, salt fields, tea, fishery, forestry, oil, wine, transport infrastructure (railways and bridges), and hydraulic facilities, such as waterworks, reservoirs and irrigation waterways. Since 2016, the second amendment of the Taiwan’s Cultural Property Act added “serial cultural heritage”. This is an important movement for the conservation of industrial heritage during 2015-2018 as it is often involved with a complex system of “industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific value,” and thus several projects are progressing..
1. THE APPLICATION OF SERIAL HERITAGE AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: PIXIE COAL MINING SITES In 2018, the Cultural Bureau of Cultural Heritage authorized research projects regarding the application of the serial heritage. One is focused on the definition and application of the serial heritage on Pingxi Coal Mining Landscape of Taiwan which is focused on the Pingxi Line. The reasons to use serial heritage and cultural landscape for industrial sites are due to their topographical characters and distinguishing common features. These industrial heritage sites are identified with characteristics of cultural landscape. Take the Pingxi Coal Mining Landscape for example. Elements of the coal mining cultural landscape here are mining resources and mines (coal tips, coal mines), production of coal (dumping station, coal washing mill, coal preparation plant), workers’ settlements, rail transport of industrial and passenger service, administration buildings and religion culture. They are evidence of the coal mining history in Taiwan dating from 1876 to 2001. Pixie railway line was built for mining transportation. The railway runs through steep mountains, and there are 14 bridges and six tunnels along the way. In the 1960s, there were 500 active mining companies in Taiwan. Thousands of miners made their living in the sweltering, cramped tunnels. After the 1970s, coal production gradually decreased and the population dropped in this area. Hence the Pingxi Line was transformed from a product transportation and passenger railway
NATIONAL REPORTS 2016 - 2018
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