On July 9, the Ministry of Culture announced that Alishan Forest Railway will become Taiwan's first national-level cultural landscape.
The ceremony was held in front of the railway's Zhuqi Station, with Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun handing over copies of the official certificate to Director General of the Forestry Bureau Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶), Chiayi City Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠), and Chiayi County Deputy Magistrate Wu Jung-hui (吳容輝). In her speech, Minister Cheng gave special thanks to the Forestry Bureau and the Chiayi City and County Governments for all they have done to preserve the valuable cultural heritage of Alishan.
In July of 2018, the Forestry Bureau established the Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office and tasked it with the preservation, maintenance, and revitalization of the railway and related pieces of cultural heritage. In light of this, Minister Cheng thanked the bureau for their work and called it a concrete realization of the Ministry of Culture's "Every Agency is a Ministry of Culture" policy. With the event also marking the first anniversary of the management office's establishment, she offered birthday wishes to the office as well.
In 2015, the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act was amended to include "cultural landscapes" as a form of cultural heritage, with further amendments in 2016 that define them as: "Locations or environments formed through longtime interactions between human beings and the natural environments, which are of value from the point of view of history, aesthetics, ethnology, or anthropology." In addition, a review process was set out for the registration of such cultural landscapes, which is aimed at facilitating the thorough preservation of these valuable sites.
The Ministry of Culture received a proposal in 2018 to make the Alishan Forest Railway one such site, immediately setting in motion the processes for cultural heritage review and inspection, along with public hearings. With the process now complete, the Alishan Forest Railway Cultural Landscape is officially crowned as the country’s first national-level cultural landscape.
Boasting a wealth of forest resources, diverse flora and fauna, and a distinctive geography, Alishan has over the centuries played host to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, including the Tsou. The Alishan Forest Railway is also tied to at least 11 officially registered historic sites, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes, making it a tremendously important part of the region's cultural heritage.
The railway began under colonial Japanese authorities, its construction made challenging by the area's treacherous terrain. Trains began running between Kagi (now Chiayi) and Nimanhei (Erwanping) in 1912, extending to Shouhei (Zhaoping) two years later, finalizing the main line as we know it today.
Through a state-run timber plantations initiative, Japanese authorities transformed Alishan's forests into the start of Taiwan's contemporary forestry industry and the premier plantation of the three developed by the colonial government. The railway served as the primary form of transportation for the plantation, and in its preservation it has maintained a record of its development as it ascended the mountain, including how the route was engineered and how the trains made their way up.
Between this and its use of special Shay steam locomotives, the Alishan Forest Railway is the last remaining local testament to early 20th-century mountain rail technology, from a time while it was still maturing both in Taiwan and around the world.
The development of the Alishan Forest Railway was significant in several ways. Not only did it serve as an important transportation tool, the linkage it provided also helped spur development along the line and the creation of urban landscapes build on wood.
This was particularly the case for the area around Beimen Station in Chiayi, which was a hub for timber processing and railway maintenance, and for Fenqihu and other settlements along the line that grew alongside the rising industry, creating a linear trace up the mountain of humanistic and industrial development.
After the plantation at Alishan was established and the industry and forest grew, important figures from Japan, including members of the royal family, made their way to Taiwan to visit it. After the war, the railway began to move from industry to tourism by the 1960s, with Alishan more recently still becoming a forest reserve and a tourist destination.
The beauty of the area has inspired poetry, prose, and photography, and its place in Taiwanese society has only grown with the impact of popular music and cinema, which have further helped cement its status as a landmark synonymous with Taiwan.
The Ministry of Culture will continue working with relevant agencies on the preservation, management, and maintenance of the area in line with the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. In the future, the Ministry also plans to provide subsidies to the Forestry Bureau and the Chiayi City and County Governments at higher than ever levels to help boost the conservation and operations of this important site.
The Ministry is also working on developing "cultural routes" that tie together sites including the Alishan Forest Railway, the Taiwan Sugar Railways, Taiwanese tea culture, and other historical sites. Through this, the Ministry hopes to inspire cooperation across regions to develop themed action plans that are rooted in cultural preservation.
The Ministry is also planning to establish an Alishan Forest Railway Cultural Route (阿里山林業鐵道文化路徑) project office at the Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park to further strengthen cooperation with local government and civic groups.
Read the original press release here.