《TAIPEI TIMES》 Kaohsiung residents hand stone markers to museum

By Ko Yu-hao / Staff reporter

Two Taiwan Border Demarcation Tablets （台灣關地界碑） that were used to mark the borders of Kaohsiung during the Qing Dynasty were unearthed by local residents, who donated them to the Kaohsiung Museum of History at a ceremony yesterday.

請繼續往下閱讀...

During the Qing Dynasty, one of the island’s four commercial ports was in Kaohsiung, with the other three in today’s Anping District （安平） in Tainan, New Taipei City’s Tamsui District （淡水） and Keelung Harbor, museum deputy director Wang Yu-feng （王御風） said.

Along with the two newly discovered tablets, five tablets used to mark the borders of the customs house in Kaohsiung have been found, Wang said.

The first tablet is kept at the city’s former British Consulate in Takow （today’s Kaohsiung）.

The second was found by customs officials near the old consulate building in 1996 and is kept at the Customs Museum in Taipei.

The third was unearthed in 1998 in Anhai Street （安海街） while excavations were being done to expand the street, and is now kept at the Kaohsiung Museum of History.

In January, members of the Old City Culture Association found the fourth tablet along Swinhoe Ancient Trail in the city’s Shoushan area （壽山）.

They thought they had found the last of Kaohsiung’s border demarcation tablets when Hsieh Tien-tsung （謝天從） told the association he had a similar tablet at his home.

Hsieh told the association that he found the tablet during the relocation of a local temple. He had used it to support a flower pot because it looked like an ordinary stone.

Hsieh donated the tablet to the Kaohsiung Museum of History.

The customs house in Kaohsiung is located in a hilly area, which might explain why there are more than four demarcation tablets, Wang said, adding that he is not sure if more tablets would be found.

The tablets attest to the city’s development as a commercial port, Kaohsiung Cultural Property Center head Lee Yu-min （李毓敏） said, adding that the city government plans to put three of the tablets on display later this year.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES