Flowing Sounds in a Landscape

Sanxia is located at confluence of the Dahan, Sanxia, and Heng Rivers. Its former name, Sanjiaoyong, was a reference to this abundance of water, as well as the topography of the area which slightly resembles a triangle. The area’s earliest inhabitants were the Pingpu Indigenous peoples (Kulon of the Ketagalan). In 1685, immigrants from China arrived in Hai Shan (which today encompasses Shulin, Sanxia, and Yingge) to settle the land. In 1713, following Chen Heyi’s request that the government begin developing the land around Hai Shan, the area was gradually sinofied and local indigenous groups assimilated into the Han culture of the settlers. Historical records show that by the reign of emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu most Indigenous peoples had disappeared from the area.

According to legend, one of the earliest Han settlers in Sanxia was Dong Rixu who hailed from Anxi County in Quanzhou Prefecture. In 1755, he was said to have begun development of huge tracks of land stretching from Yingge to Sanxia. Sanxia’s oldest Zushi Temple and the Xinglong Temple were also constructed during this period. Similar to other areas of northern Taiwan, the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Han settlers was that of cycles of rise and fall, of intermixing, of partial integration, and the cultural repression by more dominant ethnic groups.

This is a sound journey across time and space, one starting from the second half of the 19th century. The poet Lin Chan-Mei, who came from Hsinchu and whose ancestors hailed from Fujian’s Tongan, was traveling through Sanjiaoyong when he left behind a poem describing the unique scenery of the area: one of mountain and river scenery and nearby human habitation.