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Dapu: Reviving an Empty Village
This square in Dapu village was once the entertainment center of the village and featured opium houses and brothels.
Giving a tour of Dapu village on Matsu’s southernmost island, Dongju, Tsao Chih Ping points out a guesthouse built in the Eastern Min style—granite bricks, high windows, and stones on top of the roof. The older family that owns it came back just two years ago, she says, They are the first residents to move back to the village since she was a kid.
In less than ten minutes of walking, Ms. Tsao, who goes by Ah-Ping, introduces me to much of the town—the local shrine, village well, town square and the site of the old port, now a boat-less rocky slope. Dapu is so small that it has officially been absorbed into Daping, the neighboring village. Although there are officially 847 registered residents in the combined villages, Ah-Ping estimates that there are less than 200 people actually living on the entire island.
Ah-Ping works with a community project called “Dapu plus+” which aims to preserve and unearth traditional culture in the village by inviting outsiders to participate in longer-term residencies in exchange for housing.
The guesthouse in the center of the photo is owned by the first Dapu family to return to the village in several years.
According to Ms. Tsao, the program was launched by the Ministry of Culture ten years ago, and for the first several years, focused on bringing in artists in an attempt to breathe new life into an essentially dead village. In recent years, though, Dapu plus+ has worked on recruiting volunteers with other skillsets to develop new programs, like their “Far Far Away Kitchen” events series, which aims to stimulate culinary creativity using local ingredients.
Ah-Ping is the only Matsu native in the program and its first Dongju resident. After graduating from university in Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung—there are no universities on the archipelago—she returned to Dongju primarily to help out her parents, who run a guesthouse in the neighboring village.
“I heard that there was a group of people here doing stuff for this island, but the locals don’t have any idea. So this year I hope that through me, everyone can learn about what they’re doing,” she says.
Tsao Chih Ping works with the community organization Dapu plus+ and is its first member from Dongju island.
Dapu plus+ provides something that the island is in short supply of—young people. In 2018, the local Dong Jyu Elementary School graduated two sixth graders, the first ceremony in two years for the school of just seventeen students. Young people leave the island early: there is no middle school here, and many college graduates choose to stay outside for more opportunities. Ah-Ping believes that for local residents, bringing young faces is far more important than the work they could do.
“In this season there aren’t that many tourists, but they’ve got a group of college students or young people to keep them company,” Ah-Ping says. “When we first get to the island, they know that our funds are pretty limited, so they start giving us ingredients, fish, share the stuff they grow. They really watch out for us.”
I have spent several days exploring Dongju before; but on this visit, I only pass a few hours on the island before I have to catch the noon boat back to Nangan, the archipelago’s central transportation hub. Ms. Tsao laments that many visitors come with a similar schedule half-day schedule.
“That’s why everyone’s impression of Dongju is that it’s boring and has no attractions, and they leave in just a few hours. You think, 'Ah that's a shame.' There are a lot of little places on Dongju that are worth seeing. It’s not the same as other islands.”
Dongquan Lighthouse on the northeastern end of the island is one of the few manmade attractions on Dongju.
Dongju is not a destination for those bent on ticking off famous attractions. Its draw is tranquility, an opportunity to appreciate the restored traditional architecture, natural landscapes and a time to relax. When asked where she would take visitors, Ms. Tsao replies “If they have enough time, I would use one day to take them to see one of my favorite pavilions and we could just drift off for a whole day, talk, read books.
“It’s a very comfortable life.”