Research Results
I. What the students know about Si-Si Nan Cun
We designed a questionnaire for the Wuxing Elementary School students in order to find out how much they knew about Si-Si Nan Cun. The statistic figures showed that there were approximately 60% students had heard of Si-Si Nan Cun and had been there as visitors. But when the students were asked what they know about the Village, except for the answers that they didn’t know or have forgotten, one misconception for Si-Si Nan Cun was that it used to be a battlefield. However, more students answered that there's a lot of triangles (the hills). When some other teachers heard that we were going to do the research about Si-Si Nan Cun, their only response was to ask for a favor to buy them bagels fromGood Cho’s, the famous Restaurant in the village. As to the history of the Village, all they knew was that Si-Si Nan Cun was one of the military dependents' villages.
II. Studying the transition of the village
At first we wanted to research into the village houses from the only remained four buildings. However, we heard later from the elders who had lived in the village that the existing four houses had been reformed and beautified, and the view of the past, including the narrow alleys and the crowded space, are completely gone.The eye-catching hills outside the park of military dependents ' village give the impression of village constructed monuments of military bases or the mystery of what is left over. Few people knew that these hills are the landscape designed for reflecting the capped roofs and the skylights of the village houses.
III. What we concern about
The cultural and historic relics of Si-Si Nan Cun we are introducing here is named the Museum of Military Dependents' Villages, and Si-Si Nan Cun is so-called a “microcosm” of all military dependents' villages. However, it doesn’t mean that all military dependents' villages are just like it. In fact, each one of them has its own style. And what we are worrying about is that the visitors, especially children, might mistake Si-Si Nan Cun as the only military dependents' village in Taiwan because everything displayed inside the museum is merely related to Si-Si Nan Cun. But what is more worrying is that the most popular or attractive things around the Xinyi Public Assembly Hall hardly have any connection with the history of the Village. Currently, people are familiar with the Good Cho’s Restaurant, the holiday market, and the hillside landscaping of the Military Dependents ' Village Park, which has turned out to be children’s favorite place for their climbing adventures. Visitors flock in and crowd the square, which is also the best location to watch the Taipei 101 Cross-Year Fireworks. But how many people know of the historic significance and feelings behind the Forty-fourth South Village? A couple of years later, who's going to remember that the place used to be Si-Si Nan Cun? Who else will be able to understand why the village people willingly crowded into the temporary accommodation and refused to buy themselves land or houses as permanent assets?
IV. Our Suggestions
1. Rectification of the “Museum of Military Dependents' Villages”
We hope the authorities concerned would add “Forty-fourth South Village” into the title of the museum in order to make the name match the reality. The Forty-fourth South Village has its own cultural rationality and uniqueness, and by doing this, it will be easier for visitors to clearly understand and identify the culture of the “Forty-fourth South Village” and other military dependents' villages.
2. To revert the Village to its original former appearance
We suggest that the interior structure of Si-Si Nan Cun houses should be restored and conserved in the remained buildings, and the household utensils that the villagers used in daily life should be put inside them. This will provide the visitors with a deeper and more profound experience of the life in the Village.
3. To clearly mark and indicate historic buildings and cultural landscapes of the Forty-fourth South Village
The historic relics, such as large banyan trees,the air-raid shelter, the machine gun bunker, and the neighborhood office, which had lived through the history with the Forty-fourth South Village should be placed with interpretive bulletin boards, so the visitors will not miss these witnesses of the Village history.
4. The buildings of the Forty-fourth South Village should be reverted to the function of promoting historic and cultural activities which aware people of the history of military dependents' villages
Activities such as showing daily scheduled movies and documentary films about the military dependents' villages should be carried on. People who lived in the village should be regularly invited to come back and talk about the Village. Not only the village celebrity such as Li Fucheng, the famous weather presenter, but also nameless grandmas and grandpas should be invited to talk, and then record what they say, because the village history is not covered by the current construction of the Public Assembly Hall, but actually exists in the mind of these elderly people.
V. Our anticipation
We truly hope that the “Stories of the Forty-fourth South Village” project will allow more people to have a better understanding of the Village history. Hopefully there will be more people joining the ranks of cultural workers, in order to let the history of the Forty-fourth South Village clearly presented to the world.
