The News Lens
Date: 2017/02/15
By: James Baron

While the towers are unlikely to scoop an award for aesthetics, they provide a glimpse of

Photo Credit: James Baron

a period of Taiwan’s modern history that, like their embrasures, expands to offer a macroscopic view when probed.

Among the paddy fields of Fanpo Village (番婆村) in Fuxing Township (福興鄉), Changhua County (彰化縣), lurks a strange building. At first glance, it’s hard to know exactly what this bell-shaped concrete tower could be. Given its location, those who happen upon it might take it for an old granary or storehouse. A corrugated iron hut sucking the side of the building like an angular, metallic parasite adds to this impression. This is surely a local farmer’s tool shed, added some time later?

The guess as to the tower’s function also makes sense in light of the history of this region of central Taiwan. As evidenced by another local heritage site – the well-preserved Fuxing Barn (福興穀倉) – Changhua was something of a rice basket under the Japanese. Along with neighboring Yunlin County (雲林縣), it was famed for its Zhuoshui Rice.    [FULL  STORY]