From Wuppertal's "Floating Tram" Suspended Monorail to Banciao's Moat

從福本塔的電車到板橋的護城河

2003-12-15 / Taiwan News /

Lin Liling 林麗玲

This Friday afternoon the Eslite Bookstore in

這個星期五的下午，誠品書店敦南店很歐洲，也很台灣。在<映像歐洲 歐洲印象>論壇的研討會場中，可以聽到法文、德文和義大利文，同樣的場次中，也能聽到與談人提到乩童、談到板橋的林家花園，這種張力對比， 真的令人打從心裏感到生活的趣意和一種生命力。

I actually have just 10 minutes for my speech at this forum and am, indeed, very surprised at the enthusiastic response from everyone. People should be touched by the feelings people have in their hearts for this piece of land we call Taiwan. I am only the one to put these feelings into words. During the around six years I spent studying and working in Germany, while living in Europe for such a period of time, I actually started to crave for my own culture. At this talk, I want to show how we can find a kind of creativity in European cities that we could also realize in Taiwan to cultivate our roots and develop a vision for the future.

我在論壇與談主講的時間其實只有十分鐘,我真的非常驚訝大家的回應這麼熱烈，感動人的應該是每個人心裏對台灣這片土地的感覺,只是讓我把它說了出來而已。在德國唸書工作前後六年，歐洲住了這麼一段時間，事實上倒是對自己的文化感到很飢渴起來。這次與談，說的是從歐洲城市中尋找創意，落實到台灣的扎根情形與願景。

Banciao Women
板橋查某 

The choo choo train whistles and blows, it arrives in Banciao at 5:10 (read: five point one O).
火車火車吱吱叫 五點十分到板橋

The women of Banciao are pretty and smile doodle doodledee
板橋ㄟ查某是美擱笑

I'll sell my wife back home and let a Banciao woman marry me 
轉來賣某來乎伊招

In the past I've always wondered why there is such a song. Is it because the railway passed through Banciao already at an early date? Or is it because Banciao, as a commercial city, was comparatively wealthy? If this was the case, then why does it say Banciao women and not Mengjia (other name for Wanhua, the commercial center of old Taipei) women? Only much later, after I grew up and got involved in the literary and historic work of my native place, I heard teacher Wu Jirui, the author of the Banciao City history, tell this almost forgotten story. Originally, during the Japanese colonial era, a beauty pageant was once held in the Lin Family Gardens. This is where the song has its origin. The three beauties, who won that contest, were beautiful (literally "black cat," which also depicts a beautiful woman) Yuan, beautiful Cing, and beautiful Bao. The only one among the three who is still alive is beautiful Yuan. Having turned 92 this year, she is as old as the Republic of China. When I visited this nonagenarian for an oral history interview, she had already difficulties walking and had a urine bag strapped to her body. At the time I felt that I was doing the most significant work in the world. The other great beauty named beautiful Cing was married off into a wealthy and influential family that same year.

以前一直在想，為什麼會有這樣的一首歌出現?是不是因為火車很早就經過板橋的緣故?還是因為板橋是商業城比較有富有?如果是這樣,那為什麼不是艋舺查某而是板橋查某呢?後來長這麼大,投入家鄉的文史工作後，才聽板橋市誌的作者吳基瑞老師談起這段快被淹沒的故事。原來日據時代,在板橋的林家花園，曾經舉辦過一場選美，有這麼一個由來的。 當年選出的前三名,分別是黑貓員、黑貓卿、黑貓寶三位美女。唯一還在世上的第一名黑貓員阿嬤，她和民國同大,今年已經九十二歲，拜訪她做耆老口述訪談時，她已行動不便,腰間並繫者一個尿袋，當時我真覺得自己在做一件全世界最有意義的事情。另一位大美女黑貓卿當年則嫁入豪門。

The Maastricht City Wall and Banciao's Old Wall
馬斯垂克的城牆和板橋古城 

The old city wall of my native place Banciao has a history of almost 150 years. It is a pentagonal wall, which almost completely follows the course of the Gongguan ditch. However, if you ask about it, nine in ten Banciao residents won't know it. From childhood on I had my doubts about the wall's existence, since, while there were Banciao street names such as North Gate Street, South Gate Street, East Gate Street and West Gate Street, I never knew where these city gates were, or where the city wall was. Actually, now there still remains a piece of Banciao's original city wall, but it sits dilapidated in a corner. Each time I have friends visit, I like it most to take them to see this wall. In the beginning, they usually cannot believe that such an ancient city wall could be found in the corner of a parking lot. The wall sits there quietly and resignedly, it looks as if it is prepared to face its fate of being torn down at any time. My heart is aching each time I go to see the wall, as everyone ignores it, leaves it unattended. At the time of the clashes between the Jhangjhou and Ciuanjhou people (both immigrants from Jhangjhou (Zhangzhou) and Ciuanjhou (Quanzhou) in China's Fujian Province) this city wall protected us descendant of the Jhangjhou people. I feel that its existence props up many things and that tearing it down would mean tearing off our roots.

我的故鄉板橋的古城牆有將近一百五十年的歷史，它幾乎是沿著公館溝蓋起的五角形城牆，不過你問十個板橋人，有九個不知道。我從小就有這樣的疑問，因為板橋的街名，明明就有北門街、南門街、東門街、西門街，但我從來不知道城門在哪?城牆在哪?其實，現在板橋真的還保留著原始的一段城牆，被荒廢在角落裡.每次有朋友來， 我總喜歡帶他們去看,他們起初也不相信在停車場的角落裏竟有這樣的一道古牆,它靜靜無奈地在那裏,一看就是那種隨時準備要面臨被拆掉的命運。每次看心裏都很心痛,沒有人理它，任它荒廢.當年這座城牆在漳泉械鬥的年代，保住了我們這些漳洲人的後裔，我覺得它的存在，支撐很多事，拆掉它就拆掉我們的根。

Let's take another look at Europe's cultural cities. Maastricht in the Netherlands is a cultured and elegant town. Located close to the border, it has since olden times been a place of strategic importance in times of war. Construction of Maastricht's city wall began in the Middle Ages. But even today sections of that city wall, dating back to various construction periods, have been distinctly preserved, and coffee shops along the old city wall are a favorite tourist attraction. Along the old city wall an ancient walkway has been created and where the city wall is not complete anymore, its remains are covered with lush green grass. The city wall clearly still has its spirit. In addition there is a big, forest park and a pond next to the wall, creating a nice scenery inside the various sections of the city wall from different times. When I went there, I could not help thinking of our neglected old city wall in Banciao, which made me feel deeply ashamed.

再看看歐洲的文化城，荷蘭的馬斯垂克是個精緻優雅的小城，由於地處邊境，自古也是兵家必爭之地。從中古時代開始，不同時期的城牆，現今都還一道一道層次分明的保留著，古城牆旁的咖啡座更是旅人的最愛，沿著城牆也有規劃一條古步道，城牆雖然不完整，然在綠草如茵的鋪蓋下。仍顯的很有精神，而且旁邊連著一大片的森林公園和水池，不同時期的城牆，自也就成了裏頭的一個景觀。我到那裏時也想到我們板橋沒人理睬的古牆，心裡著實很愧疚。

Wuppertal's "Floating Tram" Suspended Monorail and Banciao's Moat
福本塔的風中電車和板橋的護城河 

The city of Wuppertal in Northwestern Germany is the native place of the German philosopher Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) and also renowned for its amazing tram! It is hard to imagine, but the tram is suspended from above, that is its rail is overhead and the tram is suspended from it. Consequently it is called "floating tram" (Note: in German Wuppertal's world-famous unique tram is called "Schwebebahn," which literally translates as "tram/train floating in the air"). It has been built that way to enable tram riders to enjoy the view of their treasured Wupper River, which flows below the tram. Actually, the Wupper does not look very broad, on the contrary it more resembles a small stream. But since the locals have been living with their river for several hundred years, they wanted to first of all preserve the river view (when building the tram). So they asked engineers to come up with a method to realize this idea, which resulted in the design of the present "floating tram." The Wuppertal residents insisted on preserving the Wupper's current riverbed in its entirety and decided not to fill it up to turn it into a road.

位於德國中北部的福本塔市是恩格斯的故鄉，這個城市的電車很炫!一般人可能很難想像,它竟是倒吊著的，意思是它的高架軌道在上面，電車則吊在下面,號稱風中之車，為的就是要能欣賞到底下對他們很有意義的福本河。其實這河面看起來也不寬,倒是比較像溪流的大小規模,但是住在這裏的人們幾百年來都與這條河共生存，所以他們是先有保留河面這樣的想法，然後再請工程師想辦法做到，後來才設計成現在風中之車的模樣。福本塔市的居民堅持要完整保留福本河的現狀，而不是把河面填起來當馬路。

On the contrary, the Banciao city wall was constructed almost entirely along the Gongguan ditch, turning it into a natural moat. The bridges referred to in Banciao's name (the second Chinese character in Banciao "橋" means "bridge") are actually the two wooden bridges across the Gongguan moat and not, as most people think, the Huajiang Bridge and the Guangfu Bridge that link Banciao with Taipei. As a result, it's easy to infer the significance of the Gongguan ditch for Banciao. But later in the 1970s, it was almost entirely filled up and turned into an asphalt road. I would like to use this forum to suggest that we create a walkway along the course of the original city wall and that we mark the positions of the former city gates to make up for their destruction. Mr. Yang Tzu-pao, secretary general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has suggested here that people engaged in the cultural sector now should be a bit more proactive and demand that the original course of the Gongguan ditch be dug up to restore its original waterway so that the Banciao city wall can get onto the international stage. Such remarks are definitely very exciting as the question how we locally can get on track with the world has always been on my mind. Mr. Yang has brought up a very thought-provoking question: Do we really need so many roads?

相對的，板橋城幾乎是沿著公館溝蓋起來的，公館溝成了天然的護城河。板橋地名由來的那座橋，就是蓋在公館溝上的兩節木板橋，而不是像大部份人想的，是通往台北的華江橋或光復橋，公館溝對板橋的意義自不在話下。然而民國六十年代，幾乎都被填平舖成了柏油馬路。於是我在研討會中提出一個構想，可以將原本城牆的路線做成人行道，再分別標出城門的位置作為彌補。而與談的國際合作發展基金會秘書長楊子葆先生則建議，現今文化工作者應更激進些，原本公館溝的位置應重新挖出，呈現河流的原狀，板橋城才能站上國際舞台，這個說法確激進動人，也是心裏一直念茲在茲想的如何讓在地與國際接軌的問題。他並提了一個非常發人深省的問題: 我們真的需要那麼多馬路嗎?

Nanguan Concerts, and Operas Amid Ancient Greek Ruins
江之翠的南管和希臘廢墟中的歌劇

One summer night last year, the Banciao cultural group Gang Ha Tsui Theater performed a Nanguan (ancient Chinese wind instrument) concert at the Lin Family Gardens. The concert was performed in two locations, on the stage of the romantic Fangjian Studio and at the Laicing Hall, which the Lin clan used for entertaining high-ranking guests. The director, a returnee from France, did a great job with the lighting, which combined with the garden's historic scenery, created a really very beautiful setting. You definitely won't have such an earthshaking experience, if you go to the National Concert Hall. This also made me recall my experiences watching an opera performed amid Greek ruins and listening to a concert held at the Colosseum in Rome. All these are examples for very successful revivals of historic sites.

去年板橋林家花園夏夜裏舉行過一場的音樂會，由板橋地方文化團體江之翠劇團表演南管，分別在氣息浪漫的方鑑齋戲台和當年林家招待貴賓的來青閤演出，導演是從法國回來的，燈光打的極好，再配上這些歷史實景，真是美極，是我們到國家音樂廳裏，絕對感受不到的震撼。這也讓我想起，曾去過希臘廢墟聆聽歌劇的經驗和去年在羅馬古競技場辦過的一場音樂會，這些都是古蹟活化很成功的案例。

In closing I would like to tell you a dream. I hope to found a Banciao local history museum, starting by collecting a few old photographs. When entering the museum, you would be able to hear the sound of the Banciao Women song: The choo choo train whistles and blows, it arrives in Banciao at 5:10.

最後，我想告訴大家一個夢想，我希望成立一個板橋的家鄉博物館，從蒐集一些舊照片開始，當你走進去的同時，就可以聽到板橋查某的音樂流洩出來:火車火車吱吱叫，五點十分到枋橋。

Edited by Tina Lee/translated by Susanne Ganz
編輯李美儀/ 英文翻譯全樹曦

Note:Banciao's old name is "Fangciao" (枋橋), which was changed into Banciao (板橋) only during the Japanese colonial era.
注:板橋古地名為枋（音同”方”）橋,日據時代才被改成板橋