Cijin Technician Dormitory - Glossy PET Tape / CIJIN BASE

A Dormitory for Technicians, Almost Demolished Facing the potential demolition of my own home, I've become more attuned to such issues. Recently, I've been dedicating more time to illustrating Cijin, aiming to incorporate these written narratives into my products. My hope is to foster broader recognition and learning about this subject. Deeply grateful for many people and things, Before I could participate, they were already gone. The following text was written by Yi-Chih, the team leader of Cijin Technician Dormitory, on October 1, 2021, as part of a local writing initiative: "Creating a Shared Hub for Artisans and Innovation: The Technician Dormitory" Cijin was the starting point and center of Kaohsiung's development, evolving from an early fishing village to military port planning and commercial port construction. The northern Cihou community, close to the city center, developed into an industry focused on commerce and services. Further south, settlements like Wusong, Dashantou, and Zhongzhou transformed from primary agriculture and fishery into secondary shipbuilding bases and container centers. Within this landscape, public land accounts for nearly 80% of the entire Cijin Island, which has subtly shaped Cijin's development and its geographical features. The "Technician Dormitory," officially known as the "Former Fourth Naval Shipyard Single Technicians' Dormitory," is located at No. 6, Beishanwei Lane, Cijin District, Kaohsiung City. In early times, this area was called "Shazidi" (Sandy Land), situated at the boundary between the Cihou and Wusong areas. As the name suggests, it was a sandy area near the inner harbor. Surrounded by naval bases, military dependents' villages, and the "Dachun Village," it was subject to long-term military control and allocated as public property, making it relatively unfamiliar to local Cijin residents. Looking back at the history of the last century, the "Taiwan Atlas" surveyed and published in the early Japanese colonial period records this area, "Shazidi," as a cemetery for Minnan people. The Japanese government initially intended to develop it into a residential area but was unsuccessful. Instead, the Imperial Japanese Navy acquired the land to establish naval shipbuilding warehouses and a military port. This decision significantly influenced the subsequent land planning and development of the area. Towards the end of World War II, American forces dropped numerous bombs on military facilities and warehouses around Kaohsiung Port, and Cijin's "Shazidi" was not spared, left scarred with bomb craters. At that time, the Nationalist government was embroiled in the Chinese Civil War. A unit and technicians who had previously taken over a Japanese factory in Nanjing were first transferred to Cijin, Kaohsiung, due to the conflict. They merged with the subsequently retreated naval forces to form the "Fourth Naval Shipyard." Relying on these skilled workers and soldiers stationed in Taiwan, they built the "Single Technicians' Dormitory." Around it, four military dependents' villages—Pukou, Changtu, Changfeng, and Dinghai—were successively constructed. After 1950, the farmland in the fishing village of Shazidi became an anti-communist village for nearly a hundred families of Dachun refugees under the US aid policy. Over the decades, the surrounding military dependents' villages were razed, leaving empty land. The "Former Fourth Naval Shipyard Single Technicians' Dormitory," however, maintained its complete 2000-ping scale. The large dormitory and retired technicians gradually became idle and reduced in number due to two phases of the military's streamlining policy. Around 2011, after the remaining two or three elderly technicians were resettled by the Veterans Affairs Council, it gradually became a "haunted house" frequented by stray cats and dogs. By the time demolition loomed around 2015, the "Technician Dormitory" was dilapidated and abandoned, hidden amidst tangled weeds and deadwood. Around 2016, with the willingness of local individuals to preserve it and the assistance of local representatives, the Sociology Department of National Sun Yat-sen University undertook its management and operation, positioning it as the "Cijin Social Innovation Base." They progressively renovated the severely damaged structures and overgrown areas, linking resources from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture's projects, and the Urban Development Bureau. With limited funding, they collaborated with interdisciplinary university departments to promote local issues such as cultural preservation, environmental sustainability, and elderly care. To this day, efforts continue towards revitalizing the "Technician Dormitory" as a "hub for technicians," dedicated to creating a "shared innovation base" for multiple stakeholders. Technician Dormitory Address: No. 6, Beishanwei Lane, Cijin District, Kaohsiung City 805 (Entrance via Lane 374, Zhongzhou 3rd Road) Specifications: Width 5cm / Length 10m / Repeat 98cm Material: Glossy PET Printing: Special Ink + Spot White Ink + With Release Liner Manufacturer: Produced by Taiwan Danian