Residents of Dalinpu know that leaving home is inevitable as pollution has spoilt their land, but they question the city government’s motivations and are calling for open discussion of their options.
The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/22
By: Nick Aspinall
Credit: Nick Aspinwall
Last Saturday, thousands of revelers from around Taiwan joined a raucous procession through the streets of Kaohsiung’s village of Dalinpu (大林蒲) as the 320-year-old Fonglin Temple (鳳林宮) concluded a major ritual known as Jiao (醮) for the final time before its closure.
Performers in elaborate costumes pranced past crowds of onlookers as fireworks released colorful plumes of smoke that wafted across the factory-clad skyline. However, this day of elation was bittersweet. Dalinpu’s entire population of 19,000 is slated to be relocated due to unhealthy levels of pollution from nearby steel mills and oil refineries. As residents said goodbye to their longtime spiritual nucleus and community bedrock, many doubted that the government would ever clean up the land they have called home for centuries.
[FULL STORY]