Your Site﹥﹥homepage﹥Explore the Babao Canal﹥Go Back in Time

Go Back in Time

In November 2011, before the Water Running Festival began, at the auditorium of Changhua County Ershui Junior High School, near Babao Canal and Linsiansheng Temple, the “Go Back in Time and Encounter Lin Siansheng Exhibition” was held. Like the opening the Water Running Festival, it introduced to the tourists participating in the Water Running Festival detailed information about Babao Canal, Lin Siansheng, and hydraulic engineering.

	“Go Back in Time and Encounter Lin Siansheng Exhibition”.	“Go Back in Time and Encounter Lin Siansheng Exhibition” display board.

At the same time, Ershui Junior High School also trained a group of “young guides.” They are only 13 or 14 years old (first and second year students in junior high), but they can fluently and comprehensively guide the tourists and explain issues to them on the weekend of the Water Running Festival. Their guidance is factual, amiable, and calm. The following is the text of their guidance in the exhibition:

* Guide/Pei-hsin Cheng:

Hello everyone, welcome to the Ershui Junior High School exhibition for Encountering Lin Siansheng.

Display area 1:

Now I want to tell you about why the plants grown in Ershui Township are all so tasty? It is because Ershui Township uses Jhuoshuei River water from Babao Canal to irrigate the fields. Jhuoshuei River is rich in minerals that are absorbed by the plants. This makes plants of Ershui Township very delicious.

	Display area 1: Introduce the Jhuoshuei River.	Display area 1: Introduce the Jhuoshuei River.

Display area 2:

When we think of Babao Canal, we know that it was completed by Shih-bang Shih and Lin Siansheng together. This story goes back to the Kangxi period. In the reign of Kangxi, a man named Shih-bang Shih came to Taiwan with his father. He saw that there are many tall mountains in central Taiwan with significant differences in water flow and drop; there is so much water that there are many floods. However, there were also shortages in the dry seasons. Thus, Shih-bang Shih started constructing a canal in 1709 to resolve the problem of irrigation. They decided to construct one end of the canal in Bitsaitou, or in present-day Changhua County Ershui Township. They dug a channel here, preparing to guide the water of Jhuoshuei River to irrigate the fields. It took ten years, and finally, the canel construction was complete in Ershui; it was named “Babao Canal.” But many instances of water guiding failed. When no one knew what to do, one day, suddenly an old man came and taught the local residents two methods; the first was the water-guiding method, and the other was the soil engineer method. The soil engineer method arranges bamboo into a cone shape, fill it with stones, then place it in the river water to change direction of flow. It was successful in guiding the water of Jhuoshuei River. Seeing the results, the residents were ecstatic. When the people brought presents to thank the old man, he had disappeared, and they could only find his shoes neatly placed between two trees. Thus, the people guessed that the old man may have “Lin” as his surname, so they built a temple where the shoes were dropped to worship him, naming the temple “Linsiansheng Temple,” to express their gratitude and commemoration of him.

	Display area 2: Introduce Shih-bang Shih who began work on the canal.	Billboard in the display area.

Display area 3: Trivia area

Now we want to see if the tourists have been carefully listening to the stories from the guides. Now, there are some questions here. If you want to know the answer, press the button and the answer will appear.

	Display area 3: Trivia area.	Billboard in the display area.

Display area 4: Photo area

There are some life-sized cardboard cutouts, with the cute versions of Shih-bang Shih, Lin Siansheng et al. but without their faces. You can take photos with them, and experience what it is like to turn yourself into an ancient person, and have a memento for this experience!

	Display area 4: Photo area.	Rest area in the exhibition area.

Display area 5:

On display here is the “soil method” just mentioned. We usually call it “shih-gou,” or “long-zai-ong,” and there are also people who call it “dao-sun,” because it looks like an upside-down bamboo shoot. This is used to block the water of Jhuoshuei River. Legend has it that Lin Siansheng taught this method, leading to the successful diversion of water by Babao Canal.

Display area 6:

Here we see the distribution of fruit in all of Changhua County, we can see the agricultural produce of Ershui Township, primarily white shaddock and guava. When you go out, you should buy some Ershui Township produce home for a taste!

Exit: Tree of Blessings

This is the Tree of Blessings. After you see a series of displays about our ancestors, you can also think forward to the future and write down your hopes or your blessing. The table has small cards with three different leaf patterns, you can write on them. After you write, have one of the workers nearby hang it up for you to finish the blessing! 

	Tree of Blessings	After you write,  hang it up to finish the blessing!

At the same time, thank you for listening!

	Tourist spots	Banners of “Go Back in Time”

Back to Explore the Babao Canal
　

homepage