Xia Yun's record-- an investigation on the sweetness and bitterness of Sugarcane Farmers in Changhua

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"Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I here?" Before entering the field survey, Erlin's partner Chongming asked everyone.

Take history as latitude and longitude, and field tone as measurement

In the summer of August, NLF cooperated with the Zheqing Culture Studio (hereinafter referred to as Zheqing) and led students to conduct field research in Erlingoutou Community. Sugarcane Green specializes in field investigation and cultural writing. After several years of operation, it has rich records and actions on the ground. In addition, they also cooperate with local schools and organizations to plan local courses and lead field adjustment workshops. Knowing the local practice and deep cultivation of sugarcane, after finalizing the cooperation between the second stage of summer cultivation and sugarcane, the agricultural front office has begun to look forward to the arrival of the second forest field adjustment.

To our expectations, under the planning of sugarcane green, this field adjustment is not just a week of rural experience, but a solid training practice. Before entering the community, Chong Ming led the students to discuss "Three Hundred Years of Zhuoshui Creek" written by Teacher Zhang Subin. This book describes the 300-year history of the Chuoshui River, from the irregular flooding of the river, the large-scale cultivation of sugar cane on the floodplain after the regulation, to the current construction of the Jichi dam to change the ecological situation of the Chuoshui River. Although the Chuoshui River is gradually becoming smoother, the lives of the residents along the river are not stable. Sugarcane cultivation became a means for the Japanese to extract farmers, and the Jichi River Weirs restricted irrigation water for farmland and greatly changed coastal ecology.

Night Reading Club of "Three Hundred Years of Zhuoshui Creek"

In addition to history, Chong Ming also spent one morning talking about "basic concepts and methods of field investigation." Zheqing has rich field research teaching experience. In addition to long-term cooperation with junior high schools in Erlin area, Xia Yun just finished the four-day "Xizhou Water Culture Investigation Workshop" before the start of the visit. Chong Ming condensed and extracted his experience, combined with his own experience of Tian Diao stories, making the course a big supplement for beginners to enter quickly. He divided field survey into three steps: literature analysis, field investigation and proposal implementation. In addition to sharing the literature and techniques and precautions of Tian Diao, Chong Ming attaches great importance to the follow-up of Tian Diao."For me, field research is not just a simple understanding and investigation. The focus is on what can be done to meet the needs of a place." Most people know that fieldwork is an important way to know a place, but follow-up care is often forgotten. Such a reminder is undoubtedly important and enlightening for students who have just come into contact with rural and field adjustment.

Chong Ming Lectures on "Basic Concepts and Methods of Field Investigation" Course

Just as Chongming said in the conclusion of the field transfer class,"Starting from the field, learning from the ground", has always been the most important spirit of sugarcane green. Co-organising the fieldwork of Xia Yun, I also hope to pass on the concept of "taking the place as a teacher" to the students. After the historical baptism of "300 years of Zhuoshui River" and the supplement of field investigation courses, students finally entered the Goutou community, the location of Tiandiao.

A hundred years after the event of sugarcane farmers in Erlin

Erlin was the place where the first peasant movement took place in Taiwan. After the Japanese harnessed the Zhuoshui River, they controlled the occurrence of floods, and also allowed a large number of flooded floodplains to be planted in the past. Under the promotion of the Japanese government, sugar cane has been planted in these new flood lands, and Zhangnan area, including Erlin, has become one of the important sugarcane producing areas. In early 1924, farmers responded to the unfair purchase of sugar cane by Lin Sugar (Lin Benyuan Sugar Co., Ltd.) through local elites, and in 1925, they established the "Erlin Sugarcane Farmers Association" to organize members to negotiate with Lin Sugar. In October of the same year, Lintang, assisted by the Japanese police, forcibly harvested sugar cane, triggering violent clashes between sugarcane farmers and officials.

The Erlin sugarcane farmer incident monument standing next to the farmland has been submerged by vines due to neglect.

The Erlin sugarcane farmer incident was special because it was the first peasant movement in Taiwan, and it also reflected the control and exploitation of agriculture during the Japanese occupation. A hundred years later, the sugarcane farming incident gradually disappeared, the extensive sugarcane fields have been replaced by rice, and the labor and situation of sugarcane farmers at that time have been washed away by the flood of history. We can often hear a saying: "The first Han, sugarcane farmers association pounds", in the end how hard the sugarcane farmers at that time? With this question in mind, the Second Forest Group's interviews focused on the experience of sugarcane farmers and went into the ditch to visit.

On Sunday afternoons, the big brothers of Goutou often gather in the empty house in front of the grocery store to barbecue. They picked up the shell oyster and invited the students to join in the fun: "This oyster was bought by Wang Gong this morning!"

A hundred years later, most of the generation that experienced the sugarcane farming incident has passed away. Fortunately, there are still a few elderly people living in the Gulitou community. Several elders, aged eight or nine, provided valuable field information to the students, from their childhood memories of sugar cane (always stealing a few canes from the five-cent cart to taste the sweetness) to being employed on the farm as a heavy and low-paid social worker (all the labor at that time depended on manpower, and everything was done, such as soil preparation, planting sugar cane and harvesting. The sugar cane's sweetness comes from hard work). After the farm was closed, the sugar cane gradually disappeared into Erlin (now the farm has become an inaccessible forest under the flat afforestation policy). The sharing of elders is like a paintbrush, which gradually clarifies the image of sugar cane planting in the past, and also witnesses the rise and fall of sugar industry for a hundred years.