Activists in Tainan are working to preserve Nanshan Cemetery, Taiwan's oldest Chinese cemetery, which is facing threats from urban development. The site holds significant tombs from the 17th century through the Japanese colonial era.
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00:00Every spring, hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese people
00:03travel to their families' graves
00:05for the Qingming or Tomb Sweeping Festival.
00:08When we were kids, my dad would take us to visit our ancestors.
00:12It was a custom.
00:13When I grew up, my dad might not be able to move,
00:18so I would take my dad's place.
00:20I think it's a legacy of blood.
00:24It's a Han culture.
00:26The annual tradition,
00:28a reminder that many Taiwanese customs originating in China
00:31once centered around ancestral veneration.
00:34They come to places like this,
00:36Nanshan Cemetery in the sovereign city of Tainan.
00:39People have been building tombs here since the 17th century,
00:43and there's evidence that the place was a burial ground
00:46for indigenous Taiwanese long before that.
00:49Because of local superstitions and beliefs,
00:52funeral traditions are a sensitive subject in Taiwan.
00:56But it's long been an interest of U.S. anthropologist
00:58and conservationist James Morris.
01:01What this gives us is a really great composite
01:03of the material culture of Tainan and Tainan's history.
01:07So we have the old, this is probably granite or andesite,
01:13and this was used as ballast in the boats
01:15that were trading between Jinmen, Xiamen, and Tainan.
01:20Alongside this tomb from 1642,
01:22the only one in Taiwan predating the fall of the Ming Dynasty,
01:26others span the Qing Dynasty,
01:28the Japanese colonial period, and through to today,
01:31each reflecting the artistic styles of the time
01:34and featuring the nation's top funerary artists.
01:38Those Taiwanese people are now
01:40listed as national treasures.
01:43Chen Yu-fung, Tsai Chou-huu,
01:45they all helped paint.
01:46But they didn't make any money.
01:49Because they think this is a so-called bread case.
01:51It's a mess.
01:53Today, like many Taiwanese cemeteries,
01:55Nanshan Cemetery is located on the edge of the city
01:58on real estate that used to be viewed as pretty undesirable.
02:02But if you look at its sandy soil,
02:05it's a clue to its past.
02:06This area used to be by the sea
02:09and with some mountains nearby,
02:10that made for some pretty good feng shui.
02:13The cemetery used to be enormous.
02:15We are standing on a former beach, on sand dunes.
02:19And during the Ming Dynasty,
02:21or during the Dutch period, during the Qing period,
02:23all of these older tombs had the luxury
02:26of being placed around in these very distant parts
02:29that had the perfect feng shui.
02:31But even the most auspicious of locations
02:33has not been enough to save these relics of local history.
02:37Over the past two generations,
02:38many cemeteries in Taiwan have been demolished
02:41for urban development.
02:43This is undeveloped land.
02:44There's no infrastructure below the ground.
02:47There's nothing above ground.
02:48You don't really have to pay people
02:49for rights to buy them out.
02:51So that's what makes this space so threatened,
02:53is that it's so easy for the city to see
02:56and award contracts for development.
02:59Academics are confident that the oldest
03:01and grandest tombs in Nanshan Cemetery
03:03can be preserved by working
03:05with local historic organizations.
03:08But there's a risk of losing the tombs
03:10belonging to Taiwan's more marginalized groups.
03:15If we take away the tombs of these people and children,
03:20and only preserve the tombs of the rich families,
03:27can we represent the 400 or 300 tombs in Tainan?
03:31I don't think that's representative.
03:33As the people across Taiwan conclude their annual journey
03:36to honor their ancestors,
03:38historic groups and academics continue working
03:40to ensure these tombs remain for future generations.
03:44Patrick Chen, James Lin, and Bryn Thomas, for Taiwan Plus.