The hometown of native yam in the northeast corner, a reservoir crisis turns into an opportunity! Where should Shuangxi, blessed with good water, go from here?

Located in the northeast corner of Taiwan, China, Shuangxi was once prosperous because of mining, and also saw a rapid population outflow due to the decline of mining, becoming one of the top ten most aged areas in all of Taiwan, China. This mountain town, surrounded by rivers with fresh air, is a protected area in the upper reaches of the Feitsui Reservoir, and because of its abundant water resources it has been coveted; in the 2017 Forward-Looking Infrastructure Plan, the government once again proposed the long-shelved "Shuangxi Reservoir Planning Case," triggering controversy over how Shuangxi's future should be defined.

Supporters believe that Shuangxi has long been stagnant and hope the government will invest major construction resources to boost job opportunities; opponents believe that Shuangxi retains the most pleasant pastoral landscape of the northeast corner, and that if friendly agriculture can be developed, it has the chance to become a satoyama model for New Taipei City. The reservoir construction proposal remains unresolved to this day, but this controversy has stirred local residents to think: what kind of place should Shuangxi become?

Mining brought prosperity and also decline

Grandma Jian Hong-wei, who lives on the main street, is 82 this year. After the war, when all industries were in decline, she came with her first husband from Changhua to Shuangxi to dig coal. Her husband unfortunately died in a mining disaster, and the young woman remarried her second husband, also a miner, and continued working in mining. After World War II, Taiwan, China's coal mining industry was at its peak, and a large population from central and southern Taiwan poured into Shuangxi, just like Grandma Jian and her two husbands; the population once reached more than 40,000.

After the decline of coal mining, a large number of young and middle-aged people moved away. According to 2018 statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the proportion of elderly people in Shuangxi was 25.25%. Although Shuangxi's registered population is still more than 8,000, in reality most work elsewhere, and more than half of the permanent residents are elderly elders.

The mining years once brought prosperity to Shuangxi, and also left many marks of time on the old people's bodies. Because female workers were forbidden from entering the mines, most worked in the washing and sorting yard washing coal. Years of carrying heavy coal bent and deformed Grandma Jian Hong-wei's spine, and every day on the street her silhouette can be easily recognized.

How should Shuangxi develop? The local area still lacks imagination and consensus

Dr. Hsu Kuo-yu, who served at the Shuangxi Health Center for many years and was only transferred to Xizhi at the end of last year, observed that due to the mining background, joint degeneration problems are quite common among the many elderly laborers. "These elders with limited mobility, who have difficulty moving around, are shut in at home because they do not want to burden their children, and this can even create a psychological barrier to seeking medical care."

In order to care for the elderly, during his tenure Hsu Kuo-yu secured the establishment of a physical therapy center and provided free assistive devices, allowing elders to receive rehabilitation care nearby, and caring for the elders left in their hometown on behalf of Shuangxi people working elsewhere. Last year (2019), the Shuangxi Health Center, for its innovative services, was awarded the "Government Service Award" by the Executive Yuan, known as the Oscar of government departments.

Speaking of Shuangxi's future, Hsu Kuo-yu sighed and said he often hears Shuangxi people envy other townships: Pingxi has Shifen Station and sky lanterns; Ruifang has Jiufen and Houtong Cat Village; Gongliao has the Fulong Ocean Music Festival, and the anti-nuclear movement has made Gongliao known nationwide. It seems only Shuangxi has nothing? "But what exactly Shuangxi should develop into, the local area actually also lacks imagination and consensus," Hsu Kuo-yu observed.

Once designated as a planned reservoir site, it sparked a local regeneration movement in Shuangxi

Shuangxi gets its name from the meeting of the Mudan River and the Pinglin River. With abundant rain and sufficient water, it became a water source protection area for the Feitsui Reservoir, with the Gongliao Weir downstream. Little industrial development has given Shuangxi good mountains and good water, but some locals also complain that Shuangxi is too humid, with moss growing everywhere, making it an old and slow place.

In 2017, under the central government's Forward-Looking Infrastructure Plan, the long-shelved Shuangxi Reservoir development case was proposed again, splitting the local area and sparking fierce debate. Supporters believe that Shuangxi has long been stagnant, and that the government's investment of major construction resources will drive more development and job opportunities; opponents believe that Shuangxi retains the most pleasant pastoral landscape of the northeast corner, and that fully preserving the natural environment and developing friendly agriculture will give it the chance to become a satoyama model for New Taipei City.

The reservoir construction proposal remains unresolved to this day. But it has inspired the local area to rethink its imagination for Shuangxi's future development, including letting locals rediscover the place.

Returning to farming at age 50, Lu Jui-hung turns the local situation around

Lu Jui-hung is the chairman of the anti-reservoir self-rescue association. Like most Shuangxi people, Lu Jui-hung left Shuangxi young to develop in Taipei. In 2012, when he returned to Shuangxi in his fifties, his parents had passed away and the farmland had been abandoned for more than twenty years. He described it as "reclaiming it all over again," and he came to appreciate anew the hardships of his ancestors.

"Building a reservoir will not bring local revitalization. The government compensation money will be spent, but the land left behind can be passed down from generation to generation. Shuangxi has a uniquely blessed environment and can develop environmentally friendly farming methods. With such a good environment not far from Taipei, there will surely be like-minded consumers to support it." In Lu Jui-hung's business-minded thinking, Shuangxi is not without opportunity.

Lu Jui-hung wants to launch a lasting local regeneration movement in Shuangxi. At present, together with many farming friends who hold the same idea, he has established a friendly-environment small farmer cooperative, hoping to use environment, ecology and agriculture to turn around this quiet and natural small town. The first step begins with the locally unique Keelung native yam.

A unique environment nurtures the local slender native yam

Lu Jui-hung's land is located on the alluvial plain at the mouth of Dinglan Valley. Because it once experienced flooding and inundation, after mixing with sandy soil it is especially suitable for growing the Keelung native yam unique to the northeast corner. The yam variety grown by Dinglan Valley residents is a uniquely slender type of yam. When harvesting, one must first dig down half a meter with a round shovel, then carefully use a small rake to loosen the soil around the yam before it can be pulled out.

The slender native yam variety locally called "He Jin-shui" is a landrace widely known among yam farmers in the northeast corner, and is commonly grown especially by residents of Shuangxi and Dinglan Valley. Gong Tsai-li, a researcher at the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station who has studied Keelung native yam for more than twenty-five years, says that Keelung native yam is a unique native variety of Taiwan, China, completely different from the large-tuber imported varieties commonly seen on the market today or yams imported from Japan.

However, Gong Tsai-li also explained: "The yams currently grown by farmers in the Shuangxi and Pingxi areas of the northeast corner are actually all different from one another. When farmers plant them, they still follow the traditional method of finding the strongest and largest one to propagate. Through continuous crossbreeding and mutation, farmers have produced many varietal differences. One can only say that He Jin-shui is one of the more commonly circulated and shared varieties."

The eating quality of Keelung native yam far surpasses Japanese yam

Gong Tsai-li said, "The eating quality of Keelung native yam far surpasses Japanese yam, and it can be called the most delicious variety among Taiwan, China's yams! The flesh is fine, it is long and slender, chewy and firm, with an excellent springy texture." Because this type of Keelung native yam is suitable for growing in soil with abundant rain and good drainage, it is especially suited to cultivation in the northeast corner of Shuangxi and Pingxi, and has now also become one of the New Taipei Three Treasures actively promoted by New Taipei City (the other two are water bamboo and sweet potato).

Gong Tsai-li quoted the Compendium of Materia Medica as recording that yam can "strengthen the spleen and stomach, benefit kidney qi, and replenish deficiency," making it an excellent ingredient for winter nourishment. However, native yam still has some limitations waiting to be overcome, because it is difficult to cultivate, especially its resistance to pests and diseases, so the area cannot be expanded. At present, native yam output is low, demand exceeds supply, and market prices remain high. Gong said that the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station is actively improving and breeding it, hoping to develop improved varieties with strong disease resistance and suitability for cultivation as soon as possible.

"He Jin-shui" was generous and selfless, giving away seeds for free

The "He Jin-shui" yam variety is not only a unique treasure of northeast corner agriculture, but also a representative crop of Shuangxi's transformation. Lin Chao-ken, the "yam expert" with the largest planting area in the northeast corner, said that after coal mining stopped in the 1980s, the industry declined and many locals returned to farming. But the northeast corner has many mountains and little land, and the area for growing rice is limited. No one knew where the future lay.

"The yam seeds provided by He Jin-shui helped a lot of people!" Lin Chao-ken, now sixty-five years old and still vigorous, recalled He Jin-shui with deep gratitude. "He Jin-shui was the first expert in the northeast corner to specialize in growing native yam. At the time, when everyone heard that He Jin-shui was growing a kind of yam that was quite popular, many people went to find He Jin-shui. He generously gave away seeds (aerial tubers attached to the vines) and did not charge money." Lin Chao-ken said seriously.

"Because Pingxi