interview with the elders

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interviewee：Mr.Shee              

interviewer: Mr.Hsu, Ms.Tung

Q : Some say that the south gate in above 120 steps; some say it is in the middle. Which is true? Why tear it down?
A : It's about in the middle.  They tore it down because both of its old age, and also because 120 steps was under reconstruction at the time.
Q : Japanese was originally taught in Hway Jee Temple; then it changed to teaching Chinese.  How many students attended?  What were their teachings? 
A : Actually, the Japanese didn't strictly enforce students to learn Japanese.  They also held Chinese classes, and later other courses such as Physical Education and music as well.

Q : "Mr.Six" were just six grade school teachers.  Why did they earn such respect from the Japanese government?
A : They were college professors with a purpose to compile teaching materials.

       It wasn't easy to recruit teacher to Taiwan at first, and their accident may have made it even tougher, so they needed to be very careful with their deaths; also, the Japanese respect education to begin with.  In addition the temple not only worshipped Japanese teachers, but Taiwanese educators as well.  ( Mr.Shee's grandfather was a student of Mr.Six's. He taught him Japanese, while Shee's grandfather taught him Taiwanese.)

Q : What is now Yu-Nong Road was a trail in the past, and you mentioned in your book that fifth and six graders built it, and kids today are very curious about that,could you tell us more？
A : Yes, it used to be called the Chee-Shan Temple Trail; after the road was bought, there was no budget, and thus students took turns cleaning and building it.

　　I was a six grader then, and I participated in the engineering.  I remember it was a pebble road.

　　In my days, it was important to participate in public affairs, and we must clean, farm, build roads, something that seems almost impossible to students today, but it was actually quite common in my days.

Q : Is the old street of Chin Shan Rock near what is now the God of Farmers' Temple?  Because it's a long distance between the two, and students must walk to school, is it too far?
A : Yes, it is close.  People nowadays have cars as a means of transportation, and can't stand even a little walk.  But in the Japanese era, people did not have so many cars, so it's quite nothing for them to walk like that.

Q :  We heard that in this area many scholars were born.  Is that true?
A : It's a fact. There once lived a Mr.Pan who built school and offered free classes for everybody, thus many scholars came from this area.

Later, Mr.Yang continued his legacy.  This tells us the importance of education in a community or even country, I think.

Q : Mr.Shee, you lived under both the Japanese reign and the current government, what is the difference in Chee-Shan Rock in these two periods?
A :  In the Japanese era, they set up schools here.  It is an undeniable fact that the Japanese really valued education above all others, and because they knew about Mr.Pan and his previous work here, and that's why they chose this place.  For a long time, this area is like a holy place for all educators to come and worship.

   After we defeated the Japanese, they still set up a Shih-Lin organization back in Japan, to memorialize Shih-Lin Elementary School, and students here will also go to Japan to visit their old teachers.  Under the current government, Chee-Shan Rock became a type of military place, and so normal civilians would not come to this place until recent years when it was open to the public.  So I would say that the atmosphere has shifted to a somewhat mysterious type.

Q : Why did they keep the canon and the watch posts?  They look out of place.
A : I supported keeping them.  That way we get to keep a part of history and leave things for future generations to see. 

Q : You mentioned in your book that there is a small trail to East Gate.  Have you seen East Gate?
A : No, but I've been on this trail a couple of times.  It could lead straight to Yang Ming Hospital; I also saw the wooden bars of the old East Gate ( it's probably buried underground now ); the four gates were built about 180 years ago.

Q : Where is the stonehorse?
A : It is right under what is now 120 steps.  You used to be able to see the limbs, but now everything is almost entirely buried underground, so all that's left is a little head and some body.  It used to be farmland, but later on road construction took place, which made what used to be groundlevel seem like it is underground.

Q : Where is the "four treasures of the study"?
A : If you go along the north gate trail, you would see the "book, paper, and pen."  The pen is now in StoneGod Temple.