Interview with the Elderly

     At present, the eldest senior who has lived in Shi-yi Building is Mrs. Chuang!  Mrs. Chuang, more than 80 years old, has lived in the building after marriage and left the place five years before our interview. It has been 66 years. She must have plenty of interesting stories and personal feelings for our interview. The following is the record of our interview:

Date: 2019.01.23(Wed) morning

Location: Mrs. Chuang’s home

     I have lived in the building after marriage and left Shi-yi Building five years ago and it has been 66 years.

     It is sometimes inconvenient to live in old building. For instance, there is no toilet upstairs and I have to go downstairs. The stair is steep and it is inconvenient. When I first lived in the building after marriage, I fell often when climbing the stairs. Afterwards, I was used to the inclination.

     During the daytime, I dry the clothes there. However, in the evening, our children relax and chat with each other in this place.

     In the morning, I dry the clothes there and the neighbors come over to chat with me. In the evening, our children relax, sing and chat in Shi-yi Building. During daytime, there are mostly neighbors and in the evening, the children occupy this place.

     Those were activities held by the rich. For instance, in Mid-Autumn Festival or Dragon Boat Festival, some literati drank, recited poems and played chess in Shi-yi Building. When I lived in Shi-yi Building, these activities no longer existed and we had simple family life.

     In Shi-yi Building, the most attractive part is the arch in courtyard. In the past, the arch was decorated with colored glaze. In rainy days, it produced the music with water. Unfortunately, the glaze is rotten now!

     It is made of glaze, not Koji Pottery. It was nearly rotten when I lived in the house. The building is more than 200 years old.

     It was a hardware store. The hardware stuff was still in the front. We have stopped the business for more than a decade since hypermarket has replaced the hardware stores and we must change. Many antique objects in the hardware store were taken by university students for their research.

     Our back door was generally closed. Sometimes I forgot to close it and the tourists entered directly. At times, I was scared by the door which suddenly opened when I took a nap at noon.

     The tourists were usually welcomed. However, the house is old now and it might not be a good idea that they climb to the second floor and the platform outside. The stair is more than 200 years old and it remains little and it is steep. They can have difficulty to climb the stair and might fall.

     The change is the bathroom and kitchen. In the past, we cooked with big stove and now we use gas burner. In early times, the toilet was latrine with cesspit. Nowadays we use flush toilet. We saw the smoke with big stove before. Now if we use big stove, the neighbors might not be happy.

     The restoration depends on the decision of the government since it is historic building which cannot be maintained by private sector. It should be reconstructed by experts. Now Cultural Affairs Bureau, ChangHua County has intervened in the project and the construction has been outsourced. I hope that it will be restored as the house of Family Ding across the street.

     There are many calligraphy and paintings on both sides of the main hall and due to accumulated dust for more than 200 years, the original work is covered! My grandson (Mr. Yen-yu Chuang) is a history researcher. The pattern of Cai Zi Shou in back hall was revealed by three experts in three months with progressive treatment of special potion. In the future, when this building is reconstructed, the original calligraphy and paintings will be restored.