Chen Dengqin talks about the value of Yilan, fighting hard and being battered, standing firm is not easy, one small step

Editor's note: After Chen Chin-te took office as acting magistrate of Yilan, he proposed scrapping regulations established during the previous magistrate's term, such as the rule that "farmhouses must face a road or side". Whether this will reignite a frenzy of farmland speculation has drawn nationwide concern. The author of this article is a former director of the Yilan County Environmental Protection Bureau and took part in the process from late 2014 to spring 2015 when the Yilan County Government tightened regulations on farmhouse construction. Looking back on the road traveled, he shares his reflections with readers.

That small step that left us scarred and hard to stand firm - what did you see it accomplish?

By Chen Teng-chin (former director of the Yilan County Environmental Protection Bureau)

The 2014 local elections ended, with Ko P. taking the stage in the capital and a major reshuffle of Taiwan's local leaders. Yilan's Magistrate Lin won re-election; although he set a record for victory, everyone knew the challenges ahead would likely be unprecedented. Because the decade since the Snow Tunnel (Hsuehshan Tunnel) opened to traffic had brought environmental pressure on Yilan, and with the awakening of the younger generation, the clash of values was about to surface.

Around the 2015 Spring Festival, in order to find management measures for the chaos of luxury farmhouses and illegal use of farmland, Magistrate Lin suspended the issuance of farmhouse permits for three months, which everyone should remember clearly. During those three months, the local governance machinery related to agriculture, land administration, construction, environmental protection and taxation - almost everything connected to substantive environmental management - was wound tight. Across people's rights, legal tools, political impact and value concepts, there were repeated back-and-forth shocks. For Taiwan's farmland protection battle and for the sustainable values we believe in, the county government team voluntarily placed Yilan on the altar of resistance against farmland speculation, drawing nationwide attention.

The unwritten rule of building farmhouses in the middle of fields, the absurd "75 cm road"

Let the photo below serve as an illustration. This photo is the prototype of every farmhouse "planted in the middle of a field". Every luxury farmhouse, at the moment it obtained its license, looked like this (this is what a civil servant had to see during an on-site inspection before issuing the use permit. It could only be this way, and no more could be seen.)

The scene is almost invariably the same: a narrow dirt path too small for two people to pass each other, connecting to a strangely expressioned house in the middle of the field, with a door