Want to make a quick estimate of a city's economic health? Take a look at its temples. If the buildings are in disrepair, and the altar gods are wearing old and soiled gowns, times have been bad. But if the temples are coated with fresh paint and the gods shimmer in heavily embroidered silk under the flickering candles, all is well on the economic scene.
The ups and downs of Tali, a township just south of the big-city sprawl of Taichung in central Taiwan, are reflected in the history of its oldest and largest temple. Dedicated to the popular goddess Matsu, Fuhsing temple was built in 1812 when Tali was an important Ching dynasty administrative center. Like most early temples on the island, it was near the heart of the city's commercial center. Over the years, both the temple and Tali residents have survived natural disasters, war, and periods of rugged economic hardship. The temple has been rebuilt four times, and today it is once again undergoing extensive renovation. As in the past, the temple's faithful have provided the necessary funds.
The construction sounds at the temple are in harmony with the activity throughout the twenty villages comprising Tali township: apartment buildings, factories, and roads are being built everywhere. Tali has become one of the richest and most populous townships in Taichung county. Covering an area of roughly 29 square kilometers, approximately half of the land is still devoted to agriculture. The rest is a largely unplanned and unzoned jumble of homes, apartment buildings, factories, and public facilities. Most of the 130,000 residents have family businesses, work in factories, or commute to work in Taichung. Roughly 10,000 people are still engaged in agriculture, primarily rice production.
More than a century old—the Lin Ta-yu home is one of the few remaining old residences in Tali.
The township has paid a price for its prosperity. Congestion, pollution, and the disappearance of open spaces are now recognized as serious problems. But over the next few years, Tali will have another opportunity to transform its appearance and way of life as it becomes more closely integrated with Taichung, Taiwan's third-largest metropolitan area. New, high-speed transportation links will put even more pressure on the township's villages to turn their remaining open spaces into commercial developments or bedroom communities for Taichung's commuter population. In many ways, Tali's history represents what is happening throughout the western plains of the island as population growth and urbanization not only swallow rural communities, but also change their quality of life.
Before the arrival of Han Chinese settlers in the seventeenth century, the Tali plain was inhabited by the indigenous Hoanya people, one of several tribes then living on the western plains. Like other plains peoples, the Hoanya were gradually forced eastward into the central mountain chain, where they lost their tribal identity.
By the early eighteenth century, the Manchu court saw central Taiwan as a potentially rich area for agriculture. The Ching emperor, Kanghsi, therefore encouraged emigration and development of the area, reversing earlier imperial decrees that forbade Chinese from settling in Taiwan because of its long reputation as a place of pirates and anti-Manchu sentiment. Settlement of the Tali area was facilitated by the proximity of the navigable Tali Stream, a tributary of the Tatu River, which empties into the Taiwan Straits. By 1750, Tali had become a key station for Tatu River trade and transportation.
According to a group of old people sunning themselves at Fuhsing temple, Tali was originally known as Khit (杙), as it is pronounced in the Fukien dialect. Meaning 'wooden stake,' the name referred to the mooring stakes along the banks of Tali Stream. When boats from Changhua county, just south of Tali, tied up along its banks, merchants from Taichung, Wufeng, and other nearby towns would bring their agricultural products and other local specialties to exchange for dry goods. At this time, Tali was as prominent an economic center as Tainan, Changhua, and Taipei. "In the past, you could see all kinds of businesses along this street," recalls an old shopkeeper. "There were inns, gambling houses, food shops—everything."
When Tali was the center of the action—Ching Yuan Hall, a large and ornate mansion on Tali street, was built in the nineteenth century.
The prosperity was not to last. Tali suffered a major setback in 1786, when a civil uprising against government regulation of land distribution and trade ended up destroying much of the township. Various prominent pioneering families moved out of the area, to the further detriment of the local economy. Some measure of prosperity was regained in 1869 with the return of one wealthy businessman from the noted Lin family, but nearby Taichung was also growing rapidly. Finally, in 1883, the county government was moved to Taichung, making it the government and transportation center, and Tali declined to a mere peripheral agricultural zone with a population of around 20,000.
Tali remained a primarily agricultural area throughout the Japanese occupation period (1895-1945). Rice, tobacco, and sugar cane were the most important crops. The Japanese added to the township's infrastructure by building a narrow-gauge railway to transport agricultural products, especially sugar cane. After Taiwan was returned to China, Tali continued its gradual development.
The area's industrial development received a boost in the 1970s when Hsieh Tung-min, then the provincial governor of Taiwan, advocated a policy of the "living room as factory," a policy designed to stem the exodus of young people from the countryside to urban areas. Attracted by higher wages for factory work in the big cities, young people had been migrating out of Tali in large numbers. Through government incentives, such as low-interest business loans, many of the youth who had gone to the cities and had acquired skills and a modicum of capital returned to their rural villages. With their knowledge and urban connections, these young entrepreneurs had little trouble setting up manufacturing businesses. Many started as small unregistered operations. The main industries were paper products, printing, plastics, hardware, and machinery. Operating with one or two machines, a family would receive orders from upstream factories and manufacture the products at home.
The uncontrolled and unregulated growth of small industrial enterprises led to a number of problems. Some of the factories expanded so quickly that they took over areas zoned as farmland. "The illegal use of land has become a hindrance to later urban planning," says Lai Chih-chang, a Ph.D. candidate in planning at National Taiwan University. Since the factories are not registered, the government has difficulty taxing them. Because many of the factories are in the midst of residential areas, noise pollution is also a problem.
But other forms of pollution have attracted greater public attention. In the not too distant past, at a time when the concept of environmental protection was still new and largely unknown in the Taiwan countryside, Tali suffered from serious air and water pollution caused by pesticide factories, electroplating plants, and steel refineries. In fact, Tali Stream, once the principal source of irrigation water, is so polluted that it is unfit for drinking water or agricultural use. The township's drinking water now comes from wells.
Balanced development is the key to preserving Tali's rich farmland.
When pollution problems are mentioned, residents invariably bring up the "Sanhuang incident." Sanhuang, the name of a factory in the township, produced highly poisonous pesticides. For a decade it was one of the area's worst polluters. "The gas it released caused vomiting, dizziness, and skin irritation," recalls an old resident. "Waste water from the factory seriously polluted our drinking water and land, and it damaged our crops." In 1986, residents became so fed up with the situation that they organized vehement demonstrations against the factory. Eventually, the company was forced to move out of Tali.
Widespread pollution has had a major impact on Tali's agricultural products. Tobacco has been an important commercial crop since the Japanese occupation, but the increased pollution has forced many tobacco farmers to switch to other businesses, leaving the land fallow or open for industrial use. For example, the Hsieh family has been growing tobacco for a century and owns Tali's largest tobacco business. Hsieh Wen-ming, twenty-eight, the eldest son of the family, is the fourth generation to grow the crop. "Tobacco is a very sensitive plant," he says. "and now we can't find suitable land in Tali."
According to Hsieh, Tali and nearby areas used to be the heart of Taiwan's tobacco industry. But now the family has to look elsewhere to rent land. In spite of the difficulties, Hsieh will continue the business. "We have invested all our resources in buying machinery," he says. "Taking care of tobacco is not an easy job. I respect the efforts of my father and grandfather, and I'll continue to grow tobacco anyway."
As part of the greater Taichung area, Tali will go through another phase of development during the next six years. This time, if it follows balanced and regulated development of residential, commercial, and industrial areas, as well as closer attention to potential pollution problems, Tali may avoid the pitfalls encountered in its earlier phases of growth. The biggest construction project slated is a 190-acre industrial zone in the northeastern edge of the township. It is the first planned industrial zone to be built in Tali. The Taichung county government and the Taipei-based Taiwan Development and Trust Corporation are cooperating on the venture. "The aim of the project is to balance regional development," says Liu Hsien-lai, head of general affairs in the investment promotion section of the Taichung county government. Investors are being attracted by the low cost of land and low-interest loans.
According to Liu, the practical aim of the project is to tackle two serious problems: The highly-polluting nature of Tali's existing industry, and the problem of its existing unregistered factories. With the Sanhuang lesson in mind, the planners are being cautious in their selection of factories. "Only low-polluting industries with adequate environmental protection facilities are welcome," Liu says. Construction began in April 1991 and is scheduled to be completed in July 1992. So far, more than eight hundred factories have applied to operate in the zone, most of them light and low-polluting industries.
Tali's unregistered factories are also targeted for upgrading. The Taichung county government and the Ministry of Economic Affairs have been discussing ways to ensure environmental protection through stiffer regulations and enforcement. The first step will be to register these enterprises and determine their level of environmental safety. Those factories failing to meet standards will be forced to clean up or shut down. It has also been suggested that in order to better regulate the factories, those meeting standards should be moved to the new industrial area. Thus far, upgrading remains in the planning stage.
Tobacco farming in Tali is seriously threatened by widespread pollution.
Tali residents have reason to be optimistic about their future. The construction of ten east-west highways in the island's western plains by 1998, and the scheduled completion of the high-speed railway in 1999, will tie Tali into the rest of the island. For instance, the Taichung-Taipei trip by high-speed rail is expected to take only forty minutes. Transportation will be improved further with a new rapid transit system, also part of the six-year plan, linking Taichung, Tali, and Wufeng (to the south). These transportation links are expected to give an additional boost to local development, as well as turn Tali into a bedroom community for people who work in Taichung.
The proximity of Taichung has always been a factor in Tali's growth. Because of educational and employment opportunities, many Tali residents already commute to Taichung each day. At the same time, for many young people from the neighboring rural counties of Changhua and Nantou, Tali is the door to a more interesting life in the big city. For youth unimpressed with the hard work and low pay for farm labor, Tali factories are a first step to something better in metropolitan areas.
Businesses have also been moving to the township. Because of the soaring land prices in Taichung city in the mid-1980s, many businessmen turned to invest in Tali because the cost of land is about half that of Taichung, and the labor is cheaper as well. The expanding industrial sector has attracted many new residents, forcing Tali's population to grow at a remarkable rate. In 1970 it stood at 34,000; by 1980 the population had reached 70,000, and it nearly doubled again by 1990. To accommodate the growing population, which is expected to continue increasing steadily, developers have begun more urban construction. In 1990, only 321 apartment units were built; last year, the number was close to 3,000. This year, projections are even higher.
Another large construction plan is the US$2 million Tali Stream flood control project, which will solve a problem that has plagued the area since the Ching dynasty. Work on the levees and dikes begins this year, and will be completed in 1994. "Once finished, Tali will be free from the threat of flooding which has long been a nightmare for local people," says Chou fang-tsun, Tali's chief administrator.
Today, on a drive south from Taichung on the new Chunghsing road, which bisects Tali roughly north and south, construction can be seen everywhere. To the west lie fields of rice, sugar cane, and peanuts; to the east, new construction and factories have all but replaced the pastoral landscape. For Tali, the ultimate goal is to balance development in agriculture and industry. But urbanization is already bringing daunting social and political tasks. "Urbanization and industrialization are important," Chou says, "But we are also worried about preserving our farmland. It isn't easy to achieve balanced development."