Civic Groups in New Taipei Seek Protection for Historic Waterways

TaiwanPlus News

Civic groups and residents in New Taipei are calling on authorities to grant official cultural heritage status for the city's bygone canal system. The network of canals and ditches date back nearly three centuries and once crisscrossed the Taipei Basin. Now, the remaining waterways are mostly underground.

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00:00New Taipei residents are fighting to protect one of the few remaining visible and exposed sites of the city's bygone

00:06Irrigation and canal system also known as Liu Guanzun. They want the municipal government to grant cultural heritage status

00:22A rally held today organized by local civic groups falls on the same day as a scheduled government inspection of the site

00:28To determine cultural landscape status, which is given to historically significant man-made environments without this government appointed status

00:37It leaves the remainder of Liu Guanzun and some of its surrounding historic buildings and houses

00:42Vulnerable to demolition something that demonstrators here say would jeopardize the neighborhood's unique character

00:58Liu Guanzun once boasted a vast network of criss-crossing transportation canals and irrigation ditches

01:09They were mostly built in the mid 18th century during Qing rule in Taiwan

01:13But that changed in the 20th century, especially in the 1970s when many of these canals and ditches were filled in for roads

01:22Demonstrators want the city government to provide concrete protections for Liu Guanzun

01:26Their ultimate goal is to ensure modernization doesn't just steamroll over the city's unique history and cultural heritage

01:34Kamishirin Wesley Lewis in New Taipei for Taiwan Plus

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