Mapping territories: Datong district and its Tudi Gong temples

M2. Taibei city: administrative districts.

1. Datong 7. Xinyi

2. Wanhua 8. Wenshan

3. Zhongzheng 9. Nangang 4. Zhongshan 10. Neihu

5. Daan 11. Shilin

6. Songshan 12. Beitou

M3. Map of Datong district (Source. f t f t 1993 [1984].

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The current configuration of Datong district stands out very clearly in the map of Taibeicity

&;ib rjf shown on the previous page. On March the 12th 1990, the number of districts in the city was reduced from sixteen to twelve following a process of administrative restructuring. The former Yanping district and Jianzheng district were included in the Datong administrative territory, an area of five square kilometres with an official population of 152,665 people.2 At present, Datongdistrict’s boundaries stretch from the motorway in the North to the railway station in the South (almost Zhongxiao West Road ) and from the Danshui river in the West to the railway in the East. Datong’s neighbouring districts are Shilin dr#, in the North, Wanhua and Zhongzheng j£ in the South and Zhongshan 41 ib in the East. The old localities Dadaochengand Dalongtongoccupy the southern-central part and the northern part, respectively.

M4. Location of Dalongtong, Dadaocheng and Datong’s neighbouring districts

Shilin district

f Dalongtong

Taibei bridge

Danshui river Zhongshan district

Dadaocheng

Taibei Railway Station Wanhua district

Zhongzheng district

2 See Taibei Wenxian 1990, 94, 46ss.

Datong district was easily accessible from the place where I was living. By bus, it would take me no more than ten minutes to go from Hangzhou South Road Sec. 1to Taibei Railway Station & db^MA which is located south-west of Datong,just outside the administrative boundaries of the district. From the station I would walk to the district. Once across Zhengzhou Road jNjlg-, l could follow any of the three principal routes that traverse the entire district. These are the three main roads: Yanping North Road Chongqing North Road

it^MbJ*8-and Chenp&e Road .

M5. Yanping route, Chongqing route, Chenhe route and Dihua Street

Chongqing North Road

Chen&e Road

Dihua Street

Ninth Door

Yanping North Road

I would usually take one of these three routes to enter the district, but, once there, my paths were decided by the locations of the several Tudi Gongtemples. Sometimes, I would also take a bus heading towards the northern part of the district. From there I would progress on foot towards the station, stopping always at some Tudi Gongtemples. On sunny days i would often go to the Ninth Door % on the Danshuiriver. In the park close to the river there are two Tudi Gong temples. To give the reader an approximate idea of the extent of the district, it would take me almost two hours to walk, non-stop at normal pace, from the southern boundary of the district to the northern one.

M6. Location of Tudi Gong temples in Datong district

Baoan Gong

Fushou Gong # 'g Hean Gong £

Wanha Gong % fa

Jingfu Gong # ^ 'g

Fude Miao fa &

Chengde Gong 'g

Ft/de Go^g ^

Jj Cisheng Gong % %

Shuangfu Gong £ Puyuan Gong # 'g

Chenghuang Miao

Fuxing Gong |

Qiansui Fude Gong

* % m %

Yongle Gong £ 'g

Q Hede Ci fa f£ $

o Fuju Gong 3

Fumin Gong 'g

Foan Gong

M7. Location of Tudi Gong temples in Datong district with reference to main roads

Baoan Gong £ 'g

Fukhou Gong }§ # 'g Hean Gong ^

Want ie Gong % fp i f

Jingfu Gong -ft m i f

Fude /Miao

Chengde Gong ^

Fuc 9 Gong %b f t

C/srte ng Gong i f

Shuangfu Gong ^ 'g

’uyuan Gong

Chenghuang Mi, jo a & j

Fox ng Gong |

Qiansui Fude Gong

Q O

Foan Gong

-uju Gong ^ $

During the process of my becoming familiar with Datongdistrict, the locations of the sixteen Tudi Gong temples and their positions in relation to the main roads struck me as very significant. Firstly, the map seems to highlight the old localities Dadaocheng and Dalongtong through the positioning of the various Tudi Gongtemples. Several of my raconteurs, to whom I showed the two maps presented on the previous pages, without prompting delineated the imagined boundaries of the two old localities. However, as the area is growing and developing, the boundaries of the former Dadaocheng and Dalongtongwere remembered with a certain degree of flexibility. Secondly, the district has developed from the river eastwards, making the areas enclosed by the Dihua Street and Yanping North Road, both memorable and unique in the history of Taibei. It appears that ‘the closer to the Danshui river, the older the road and the stronger the p lace’s memory o f the past, ’ I was told.

The following map3 was made by the Japanese in August 1895, three months after their occupation of Taiwan. It quite clearly delineates the old localities Dadaochengand Dalongtong, from which, in the following decades, Datong district as well as its neighbouring districts originated.

M8. Dadaocheng and Dalongtong: 1895 map i*.

3 The map is from Taibei Wenxian 1992, 99, 50ss

Tudi Gongseems to function as guardian and protector of people and places. With reference to place, I started to investigate the way Tudi Gong temples would circumscribe their own territories and how these would interact with the administrative organisation and boundary of the current Datongdistrict. It was a very difficult task, I must admit. It took me, in fact, more specific community settlements4 or according to the Japanese administrative territory division.5 It must be said that in the countryside Tudi Gongtemples territories are configured according to lior lin. In the current Datongdistrict there are twenty-six liand the temple territory of the Fude Miao is the only one which exactly encapsulates two administrative territories: the Nanfang li H and the Dayou Li j | .

There seems to be a consistent correspondence between the boundaries of the temples sited on the margins with those of the district, with the exception of the Fushou Gong$ § # '!' and the

Minsheng West Road taking advantage of the park for physical exercise.

The map of the Tudi Gongtemples’ territories has been edited several times, according to subsequent information and insights I was given during my frequent visits to the temples.

Although I was attempting to detect conflicts and discrepancies, I must say that there was a