From Takow to Kaohsiung

“Why Dunhua South Road (敦化南路) is so wide.”

Actually, if this is true, it is presumably true for the whole of Dunhua Road, both North and South. The information comes from an anecdote recounted by an author* who says he met a Mr. Ye (葉) near Liuzhangli MRT Station. Mr. Ye said that his grandfather, who worked as a stepmaker / paver during the Period of Japanese Rule (1895~1945), had told him the following information**.

At that time, the mountainous area near Liuzhangli (now Fuyang Eco Park 富陽生態公園) was used as an ammunition depot to supply military aircraft at the nearby Songshan Airfield.

Fearing that the airfield might be bombed during the war, Dunhua S. Rd. [or presumably its entire length, of both N & S roads, and presumably under a different, more Japanese, name] was widened and straightened for use as an emergency runway with access to the ammunition store at its southern end and airfield at the northern end.

All Wikipedia has to note on the topic is that "Dunhua South Road was not included in the 1932 urban plan, so there were some problems when it was opened", which indirectly supports the idea that it was built / widened for use as a runway at later date.

(Mr. Ye’s grandfather also told him that the stone steps of the gunpowder storehouse were paved with stones from the dismantled Qing-dynasty city wall.)

Dunhua (敦化; literally … perhaps too ambiguous to translate word-for-word) derives from the Book of Rites (禮記; Mdn. Li Ji), one of the core texts of the Confucian canon, some or much of which is attributed to Confucius (孔子; tr. 551–479 BCE) himself, albeit edited by his disciples or later contributors.

In particular, the Doctrine of the Mean (中庸; Mdn. Zhong Yong) from which dunhua comes, seeks to pin down some of the ambiguities of Confucius’s Analects (論語; Mdn. Lun Yu), and yet, partially through the use of metaphor and other figurative language, has been frequently interpreted and debated over the following millennia.

The relevant sentence states: 小德川流，大德敦化，此天地之所以為大也。

Starting at the end (because it is relatively uncontentious), it states “... are what makes Heaven and Earth (i.e. the World) so great."

But what makes it great? Literally, the 小德 “small virtues” [are like] 川流 “rivers flowing” [whereas] the 大德 “great virtues” 敦化” deeply (i.e, sincerely) transform”.

These symbols and metaphors have been interpreted variously as:
i) “The smaller energies are like river currents; the greater energies are seen in mighty transformations.” (Legge; Western 19th century)
ii) “The nobles ‘soak the sprouts’ (i.e. irrigate new growth); the Son of Heaven (Emperor) gives form to everything”. (Zheng Xuan 鄭玄; China 2nd century CE) and later
iii) “The nobles ‘soak sprouts’, the Son of Heaven gives form to everything through magnifying 仁愛 (“benevolence and love”). (Kong Ying-da 孔穎達; China 7th century CE).

Thus the concept of dunhua was linked to 仁愛 (Mdn. ren-ai), those two of the Eight Confucian Virtues (八德) so beloved by president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石; 1887~1975; see here, here, here and here).

And maybe this explains how dunhua came to be applied to the magnificent tree-lined avenue running south-north through the propsperous postwar eastern districts of Taipei CIty, since CKS believed that it was the "Confucian virtues of benevolence and love are what makes the World so great."



*Wenshan Community College website (here)
** Which makes this 3rd-hand information, 4th-hand by the time you read it here, so certainly awaits confirmation. Indeed, the WCC author adds a note of caution: "Whether the above anecdote is true or not, the history remains to be verified, but logically it is quite reasonable and is extremely interesting."



Copyright Jiyue Publications 2022