From Fangliao in Kaohsiung's Shanlin District to Shennong Temple in Liugui District, the "Houshan South Ridge Ancient Trail" is a secret mountain trail used by "mountain mice" to steal teak trees in the past.

(Photo by reporter Su Funan)

From Shanlin Fangliao to Liugui Shennong Palace 150 years ago, the British photographer recorded the path of Southern Taiwan customs and customs

[Reporter Su Funan/Special Report] The "South Ridge Trail of Back Mountain" from Fangliao, Shanlin District, Kaohsiung to Shennong Palace, Liugui District, was created by British photographer John 150 years ago.

John Thomson's path to record the customs and customs of southern Taiwan in the 19th century is also a secret mountain path where residents of mountain villages who lived in poverty before sixty years ago took risks as "mountain mice" and illegally felled teak trees.

The ancient trail at the southern edge of the Houshan Mountain is about seven kilometers long. The road has to cross valleys, cross shallow mountains, and pass through forests. A hundred years ago, it was the path connecting the two major river systems of Laonong River and Nanzixian River. It is an important hub for goods and materials transactions between the Han and Hakka peoples, and it is currently deserted and sparsely populated.

In Shanlin Xinhe Community, formerly known as "Xiaofenwei", in the 1950s and 1960s of the Republic of China when the economy was struggling, the entire village, regardless of gender, age or age, were "mountain mice". , carry the teak down the mountain and resell it to subsidize the family.

A hundred years ago, the Japanese introduced teak and planted it all over the mountains and valleys

Teak is originally produced in mountainous areas such as Myanmar and Thailand. Because of its hard texture and rich oil, it was introduced to Taiwan by the Japanese for planting a hundred years ago. From the creek to Shanlin Fangliao, Jinxing, Xiaofenwei, and Liugui, there are teak forests all over the mountains and valleys.

Eighty-five-year-old Zhuang Longsheng stood by the Fangliao River, pointed to the opposite mountain and said, "Those two mountains are "Da Lao Teng" and "Small Lao Teng". It was full of "rouge trees" (another name for teak), and was cut down within a few years after the Japanese left."

The main raw material of wooden furniture was almost cut down in the 1960s

Elder Yang Wangu recalled that teak is the main raw material for wooden furniture. At that time, the price of a teak purchased by the timber company was equivalent to dozens of times the salary, which attracted a large number of outsiders to flock to steal the forest; Lai Chunyi, who witnessed the pompous logging, said, Hundreds of people go up the mountain to cut teak every day, and the ancient road was full of people's voices.

Every day before dawn, the children in the village go up the mountain to saw wood, gather wood, and then use the stream to release the wood to the downstream villages, and mark the tree trunks; the adults form the "Mountain Mouse Group" by themselves, bringing axes and saws Going up the mountain to log, he repeatedly yelled and threatened with the Baolin team (the predecessor of the Forest Service) at close range in the mountain area.

In just a few years, teak, which was planted in large quantities by the Japanese, was almost completely felled in the 1960s of the Republic of China.

Xinhe community has conducted oral interviews in recent years, and the elders have written, directed, and acted in the "Willing to Be a Mountain Mouse" community theater, recreating the mountain legends of those years.