Stone Battalion Optoelectronics protest 01 "important World War II military sites, unexpectedly destroyed to make optoelectronics? The local government angrily controlled Pingtung county government to escort and destroy historical assets.

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The Fangliao Stone Camp Fortress in Pingtung is a military site of the Japanese army in World War II to prevent allied landings. In September last year, there was a dispute over optoelectronic development and destruction of the site. Cultural conservationists bitterly criticized that after the outbreak of controversy in this case, the Pingtung County government failed to designate the site of the case as a proposed monument in accordance with the "Cultural Resources Law" and ordered the operators to stop work, but to connive at the continued construction of the site, and the Pingtung County government could not absolve itself of the blame for the destruction of such a valuable site.

The owner of this case is Shengli Energy, a subsidiary of Xingyao Energy. Xingyao Energy was originally the solar energy division of Youda Optoelectronics and was created by Fubon Financial Holdings and Taiwan Life Insurance under CITIC Gold. Literary professionals point out angrily that the Pingtung county government and enterprises are stalling for time, and the manufacturers have announced that work has been suspended, and the first phase of the actual crime scene has almost been completed. If the second and third phases of development are not stopped in time, it will cause cultural catastrophe.

Chiang Yuehui, a member of the local Pingtung District, lambasted Youda Optoelectronics and Xingyao Energy for using the money of investors and policy holders to "start a mountain to grow electricity and destroy cultural capital." she has no sense of corporate social responsibility at all, and she will join relevant groups and launch a consumer campaign. boycott Youda Optoelectronics, Fubon, CITIC and other related enterprises.

Overlooking from the commanding heights of the Shitouying fortress, over the past half a year, the optoelectronic case site has not only not stopped work for review, but the scope of the first phase is almost completed. (photo by Lin Jiyang)

The Stone Camp is a Japanese fortress, witnessing the history of the second World War in Taiwan.

The "Stone Camp" is located on the north side of Qianliao Township. Its name comes from the barracks stationed by officers and soldiers in the Qing Dynasty. After the Mudan Society incident, the Stone Camp was the starting point of the ancient immersion camp opened up by the Qing government to strengthen its management in the east.

At the end of World War II, the Japanese army was defeated. In order to gain a springboard to attack the Japanese mainland, the allies cut off Taiwan's food supply and the umbilical cord of Nanyang resources, drew up a "road plan" and planned to land in Taiwan from Kuomiao. The Japanese army mobilized a large number of troops to prevent the landing of the allied forces, and the garrison force of the whole island once reached more than 200,000. According to the records in the literature, the 50th division of the Japanese army was ordered to move to Guanliao and urgently constructed fortifications in Yuliao. Because of its proximity to the stone battalion, the fortress got its name.

The stone battalion fortress built by the Japanese army covers an area of 103 hectares, with 36 machine gun fortresses and 10 artillery positions, covered with dense tunnels, witnessing Taiwan's experience of the Japanese army's strategy of "island-wide fortification." like Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Peliliu, it was a key role in the historical stage of World War II.

Cultural groups advocate that the natural environment around the stone camp fortress is part of the cultural landscape, and if only the bunker position is surrounded by optoelectronics, the war sites will also lose their value. (photo by Lin Jiyang)

Lin Xiuyao, a retired intelligence officer, became an underground explorer, and the sleeping fortress came to light again.

After World War II, the national army took over the stone battalion fortress. During the Cold War, the fortress became a national army base again. Then experienced democratization, the situation between the two sides of the strait eased, the national army will be dismantled in 2005, and the stone camp fortress was forgotten after a change in history.

In the summer of 2016, Lin Xianxuan, a military researcher born in Neipu Hakka, reexplored the stone camp fortress amid a stretch of grass. As the various positions in the fortress are connected by tunnels and are in disrepair, the underground tunnels have collapsed in many places, which is dangerous to a certain extent.

Actually walking into the inner tunnel of the fortress, the air is thin and dusty, so you have to bend over to avoid hitting the rocks. bats fly around the cave from time to time, turn left and right in the tunnel, and you may get lost if you are not careful. Piling in the vicinity of the photopower plant makes people even more worried about the collapse of the tunnel, trembling with fear at every step.

The underground tunnels of the Shitouying fortress are connected to each other, just like an underground labyrinth, which is quite dangerous without guidance. (photo by Lin Jiyang)

Lin Xuan-Yao could not extricate himself from falling into the stone camp. As soon as he had time, he drove south from Taipei to explore alone. Without resources, he studied it for as long as four years, and knew exactly what was inside the fortress. Ask him why he insists? He said, "it has its own destiny. The stone camp seems to have predicted that it will be doomed. He called on me to help the outside world understand the importance of the stone camp."

Lin Xuan revealed that perhaps it was the retired military intuition of the captain's intelligence officer that when he explored between tunnels and positions, it was like going to the battlefield, and the shock of the historical scene made him "like time travel back to the 1944 Pacific War."

Through the documents of the Japanese army and the atlas received by the national army, Lin Xiuyao saw Taiwan's important position in the history of the Pacific War and pieced together a complete picture of the history of the stone camp step by step. He came up with the defense plan recorded by the Japanese staff: "in response to the fact that the allies were about to land at Hengliao, 28000 officers and men of the entire regiment leaned against Dawu Mountain and overlooked the Pingtung Plain. After the war began, the division had to resist for more than a year, so the mountain was used to dig fortifications in the face of foreseeable naval guns and air strikes."

"the natural landscape and thorn bamboo forests around the fortress are all cover deliberately planted by the Japanese army, and they are also part of the overall landscape. After the development of the surrounding environment, what is the point of leaving only steel and concrete bunkers?" Lin Xuanyao argued for many times according to reason, demanding a complete shutdown, but there was no specific response from the county government, and the manufacturers continued to develop within half a year. In this regard, he said sadly, "this is the real history. If it is destroyed, how can we face the next generation?"

Lin Xuanyu explored the stone camp fortress alone for many years. Although it was dangerous in the eyes of others, he enjoyed it and regarded it as his duty to answer the literature and history of the stone camp fortress. Photography Lin Jiyang

Experts in literature and history: short-sighted and short-sighted in the ruins, the county government has no sense of cultural protection.

Kuo Chi-ching, director of the Kaohsiung Old City Cultural Association, who came to support the Stone Camp, believes that this fortress bears witness to Taiwan's history of World War II. "Literary capital itself may be in ruins, but the history carried by literary capital is a history textbook that can be seen and touched. It is a part of the historical memory that Taiwan society cannot replicate." To his indignation, as a cultural preservation unit, the Pingtung County Government acted passively, resulting in the continued destruction of precious historical assets.

In Guo Jiqing's eyes, Stone Camp portrays not only the history of Taiwan, but also the history of modern East Asia. Although the Japanese side laid heavy troops in the stone battalion, at that time the allies chose to jump over Taiwan and directly capture Okinawa. The military and civilian mobilization of the whole island of Okinawa killed 200000 people in the war, of which 120000 were innocent people involved in the war, becoming the only campaign during World War II in which civilians were killed and injured more than soldiers. Taiwan is lucky to avoid the ravages of war, but the stone camp fortress is also dusty. He laments that from the perspective of literary resources, the result is "mixed."

Guo Jiqing stressed that Wu Chin-fa explored the Shitouying fortress during his term of office as director of culture three years ago, but the procedures for submitting literary resources came to an end because Wu Chin-fa later stepped down. Unexpectedly, the county government not only did nothing, but also agreed to the development in disregard of the existence of cultural resources when the manufacturers developed the case. Subsequently, cultural and capital organizations launched a rescue, and the county government repeatedly delayed the designation of stone battalions as "proposed monuments" by perfunctorily delaying the suspension of work. Guo Jiqing could not help but rebuke: "the cultural resources of Pingtung County do not have a clear understanding. There is no sense of mission to protect cultural assets."

"once destroyed, there is no compensation for the rarity and integrity of cultural assets." Guo Jiqing laments that optoelectronic development is exempted from EIA, and once the damage is done, there will be no remedy, as evidenced by the stone camp case. He believes that the government must mend and formulate more stringent optoelectronic site review procedures.

(photo by Lin Jiyang)

When Ai Taiyang's son-in-law introduced the stone camp by Youtuber, he lamented that Taiwanese did not attach importance to their own history.

David, a foreign son-in-law living in Taitung, specializes in shooting short films about Taiwan culture and tourism to introduce Taiwan to foreign tourists. For the preservation campaign of the Stone Camp, David has made many trips and made a short film with his partners on YOUTUBE to publicize to the international community that Taiwan has preserved the complete Japanese fortress during World War II.

David believes that the historic sites of World War II are more important to international tourists than chicken steaks and milk tea, and these cultural assets can cross national boundaries and languages. However, he was inevitably disappointed that most Taiwanese did not know that Hengliao had preserved the complete Japanese fortress during World War II, nor did they realize that the fortress represented a precious period of Taiwan's history.

Taiwan's son-in-law David has studied Taiwan's history for many years, and recently made a film about the Stone Camp, making a voice for the historical value of the Stone Camp in the world. (photo by Lin Jiyang

County government: everything is handled in accordance with the law, and literary personnel are urged not to put themselves at risk.

The Pingtung county government is the unit in charge of cultural resources, but in the Shiyingguang electricity case, the county government was repeatedly criticized by literati for deliberately delaying the process, failing to designate the stone camp as a "tentative monument" in accordance with the regulations, and watching the manufacturers continue to carry out construction within half a year. Lin Yangzhu, director of the Cultural Resources Institute, responded that "the county magistrate has instructed to respect the professional advice of the cultural resources committee and follow the legal procedures."

Lin Yang-chu explained that after the submission of literary funds, it is necessary to collate and start the examination procedure in accordance with the procedures, and before the results of the examination are released, it is still necessary to respect the Constitution and protect private property rights. As for the cultural capital people who ask the operators to stop work altogether, he believes that "the cultural capital law does not have so much power."

The public questioned that when Wu Chin-fa was the director of the Department of Culture a few years ago, he would survey the Stone Camp to submit literary funds. in other words, the Culture Department had long known that the Stone Camp had great potential for cultural resources, but it did not list it. Lin Yangzhu responded that it belonged to Wu Jinfa's "personal behavior" at that time, which he did not know, and the legal capital had to be announced in accordance with the law before it would be valid. when the application was developed in this case, the authorities had no relevant information and could not prove the cultural status of the stone camp.

Lin Yangzhu also added that in order to tie in with the time of the whistleblower and excessive public intervention in the process of cultural capital exploration, resulting in the delay of the vetting schedule, he believed that non-governmental organizations should respect the cultural resources committee and the statutory process. He also called on cultural professionals not to lead the public into the fortress for exploration and guided tours at will, as this not only infringes upon private property rights, but also has safety concerns. The fortress tunnel is in disrepair and no one will be held responsible in the event of an accident.