1. History:
Laiyi was a flood-ravaged area during Japanese Occupation Period, but also fell short of water supply in the dry season, making it difficult for cultivation. In 1912, the Japanese governor’s residence ordered to build a stone embankment--a starting point of underground embankment project--at upstream, in order to protect the cultivated land and villages of Chaozhou and Wanluan against flood disaster.

 
Due to high price and benefit of sugar in the international market, the Japanese government planed to plant sugarcanes on a large scale. At that time, 鳥居信平 of Taito Co., Ltd. made a field investigation about the irrigation of sugarcanes. It was decided that 680ha. sugarcane field should be irrigated one time biweekly, 3-inch every time during the dry season, with the total water supply up to 63 thousand cubic meter per day. During the rainy period, 970ha. paddy field required irrigation, with the water supply up to 200 thousand cubic meter per day. To provide a stable irrigation, 鳥居信平separately set up a water-collecting canal at upstream of Linbian River and Lili River in 1923 and 1925, of which including Erfeng Canal.

2. Geographic Location:

3. Focused Description:
 When you make a tour to Laiyi Township, a man-made “swimming pool”-- Erfeng Canal on the bed of Linbian River nearby Laiyi Elementary School is surely a favorite to you. It resembles like a “ladder” spanning this canal, where many people like to walk along the platform with barefoot, or enjoy themselves under the little waterfall. As an integral part of a 80-year ”underground reservoir”, it’s used to collect underground water from Linbian River, and distribute to the agricultural field and villagers via a canal, i.e. “Erfeng Canal ”.
　

During the rainy period, the water overflows the water-collecting canal, forming a little waterfall and playing platform, which attract the attention of many people as a tourist spot.

There are a few Japanese-style buildings nearby the offices of Taito Co., Ltd., a 10-minute trip away from Linbian River, of which including a bedroom of the designer of Erfeng Canal --鳥居信平. Also, two trees planted by him have grown up like a big umbrella, just like the underground reservoir for the sake of the local people.
 

Since a big portion of Erfeng Canal is buried into the ground, many tourists only find a fun swimming pool there, but know little about the background of the underground reservoir.At present, some civil societies have initiated to set up “鳥居信平Museum”, which may provide a further insight into the structure and operating principle of this reservoir.

copy-editor：Jiao-hsiao Lu、Sheng-wen Hwang、Tze-jie Yanlu
take  pictures：Wu-shiang Shih、 Hao-wei Chian
References：Information on Erfeng Canal, provided by Professor Che-tu Ding, Civil Engineering Department, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology