Sketch of Archilife Study Tour, December 2020
2020年12月份見識之旅縮影 ![]() For the study tour of December 6, 2020, Ms. Lu Ming-yun led 23 ARF interns and their parents on a trip to discover Linkou Plateau, guardian of the Taipei basin. At the start of the day's activities, team leader Ms. Lu Ming-yun reminded everyone about things to note and what to observe, and gave the interns some background knowledge. ![]() Focusing on the Linkou Plateau, the trip was led by Mr. Gao Chuan-chi. The day's itinerary began at Wu Fu Yang Taiwan's Socks Museum. The museum was formerly a sock factory. Museum tour guide brought everyone around the factory to learn the process of sock knitting. According to the tour guide, some socks loosen easily because manufacturers cut costs by using a single-size machine to manufacture socks in one size which are then pulled into different sizes later. Everyone also watched an experiment to differentiate between natural fiber and synthetic fiber – the former curls up when placed near a flame and leaves a dark residue after burning, whereas the latter will produce black smoke and pungent odor and leaves black solid pieces after burning. After leaving the museum, everyone proceeded to the Arts Street at Linkou Road. Both the Arts Street and the adjacent Linkou Old Street were main thoroughfares in the early days of business development and the bulk of trading activities took place there. It is still the location of a bustling morning market today. During the tour, Mr. Gao introduced old-style architectures on the streets and pointed out the transformation over time using Linkou public market as an example. He also said that a temple of Earth God was often found at each end of highly populated streets in the Qing Dynasty. They were not only used to fulfill religious needs but also served as neighborhood watch. In fact, during the Japanese Occupation, police stations were established near these temples to facilitate population management. ![]() In the afternoon, everyone visited Zhulinshan Guanyin Temple, which is the center of faith in Linkou. Built in 1949, its current appearance was the result of an expansion 10 years ago. Some of the exquisite stone carvings in the temple have been donated by believers, which is testimony to the temple's popularity. Everyone then proceeded to the old location of Kancheng Second Village. As it had completed its urban renewal process, most of the tightly packed buildings are new-style residential buildings that are only several years old, which made a quaint contrast to the surrounding sheet metal shacks and farmlands. During the tour, Mr. Gao especially pointed out that Linkou Plateau's vigorous leaching, has resulted in the formation of its unique laterite. Laterite played a pivotal role in Linkou's economic development in the early days due to the proliferation of tea plantations and red brick kilns. However, the traditional brick kiln industry gradually declined due to industrial transformation and other policy factors. The last leg of the tour brought everyone to the historic site of Linkou brick kiln, which has been long neglected and unused for years due to the above reasons. Much of its structure has been demolished this year, leaving only a chimney. Regretfully, there was not enough time to put it under conservation as a cultural asset, making the preservation of local culture a though-worthy issue. At this point, the day's itinerary came to an end. Everyone took a group photo before heading back and looked forward to the next study tour. |