History of Hsien Hsi
Hsien Hsi Bao covers all parts of today's Hsien Hsi , Shen Kang and most part of Ho Mei of Chang Hua County . Originally a part of Ban Pao, the Bao was isolated as Western Half Line Castle during the Emperor Chien Lung's reign in the Ching dynasty and was renamed Hsien Hsi Pao in the first year of Emperor Kuang Hsu's reign. In the middle of Emperor Kang Hsi reign, great landlords such as Shih-Pang Shih and Chih- Shen Yang(both are Chuan Chou natives) came to Hsien Hsi Pao for farming with Chai Keng Tsai Village (at Hsien Tung Pao) as the starting point. At that time, more and more immigrants from the Mainland came to farm in Taiwan and formed 18 villages of Te Hsi Hsin Pu by the third year of Emperor Chien Lung's reign like Pien-Tou Village(today's Pien-Tou Village, hen Kang Town), Pi Tsai Chien Village(today's Pi Tsai Chien Village, hen Kang), Hsi Ti Village(today's Hsi Ti Village, hen Kang Town), Tsao Pu Tsai Village(today's Ting Hsing Village, hen Kang Town), Chi Tou Chia Village(today's Chi Chia Village, hen Kang Town), Lun Tsai Ting Village(today's Pu Lun Li, Shu Ma Chih Pao, Lu Kang Town), Shui Wei Village(today's Hsin Kang Village,Shen Kang Town),Hai Wei Village(today's Hai Wei Village, Shen Kang Town), Chuan Chou Tso Village(today's Chuan Chou Village, Chuan Tso Village, Ko Liao Village,etc, Shen Kang Town), Hsi Kou Tso Village(today's Tseng Chia Village,Shen Kang Town) and Hsin Kang Village(today's Hsin Kang Village, Chuan Hsin Village,etc).
During the reign of Emperor Kang Hsi in the Great Ching Dynasty and prior to arrival and settlement of the Han people at Hsien Hsi Town , Hsien Hsi and other towns of today's Chuang Hua were residential places or lands of the Ping-Pu Aboriginal .To the northwest of Chang-Hua(today's Hsien His, Chang Hua City,Ho Mei Town, Lu Kang Town and Shen Kang Town) were activity areas of Babuza Ping Pu Aboriginal Pan Hsien Community, Chai Keng Tsai Community, Ma Chih Lin Community and A Tung Community,etc and Hsien Hsi Town belonged to lands of A Tung Community. According to History of Taiwan Fu(continued),10 li to the north of the county government(today's Chuang Hua City) were wide valleys and torrential water, which originated from Nan Tou Mount and flew in a northern direction into the sea via Mao Luo Community, Chai Keng Tsai Community(north), Ho Shui Sha and 99 Peaks(today's Lun Li, Tsao Chung Li, Lu Kang Town).Hence, it can be inferred that the Big Belly Man Sea Mouth should be located at Tsao Hang of today's Shen Kang Town and Hsien Hsi then might be situated north of the estuary of Ta Tu river or in the waterway of the river.
Also in accordance with History of Taiwan Fu, Ta Tu River accepts small streams of Pan Hsien and A Tung(today's Yuan She Li , Ho Mei Town) and flows westward into the sea. Hence, it can be learned that Ta Tu river mouth may flow though Hsien Hsi Town . And, according to old men at 4-Plough, Ho Mei Town, one must go across a big stream to travel from Ho Mei street toTuo Ti Chuo of 4-Plough, Moreover, as a topographic map drawn in the 39 th year of Japan's Meiji Reign (1904) shows, there was indeed a big stream on the boundary between Ting Li, Hsia Li Village of Hsien Hsi and Ho Mei Town connecting today's Po Ya Kou in a north-south direction and flowing into the sea, which was suspected to be the river way prior to course change of Ta Tu river in the 57 th year of Emperor Kang Hsi Reign of the Great Ching Dynasty(1718).
According to Record of Mission in Taiwan or History of Taiwan Fu(continued), old A Tung Community was nearly submerged due to rising of Ta Tu river , so it moved to a hummock. Today, when passing by it, the She Liao was leaning while the bamboo curtain remained green. Here, wherever you see were grasses that were high enough to hide a person and have a road in the middle, on which were waste sticks that could bury a wheel. While wading through the rivers and traveling over the mountains, I saw
Exuberant bamboos and screen-like steep barrack in the distance and nearly forgot that I was in a town of tatoo! Therefore, it can be learned that no Han people came to farm at Hsien Hsi before and after the 57 th year of Emperor Kang Hsi Reign and even if they did farm here, the farmed lands would have been destroyed due to rising and course change of Ta Tu River.
During the reign of Emperor Yong Cheng and Chien Lung in the Great Ching Dynasty, Chang Ling Tuo, Chih Chung Yang(both are natives of Chuan Chou,Fujian) and Chen Wan Chang(a native of Canton) came to farm at Pan Hsien Pao and spreaded around with Pan Hsien as the base, including the area west of Pan Hsien Pao to the sea, the area north of Pan Hsien Pao to Ta Tu River, including part of today's Chuang Hua City, Ho Mei Town, Shen Kang Town and Hsien Hsi .At this moment, northern movement of Ta Tu River mouth and decreased sea level resulted in increased land area of Hsien Hsi and therefore increased areas for farming.
According to Overview of Taiwan Land Regulations, Pan Hsien Pao was divided into Western Pan Hsien Pao and Eastern Pan Hsien Pao. Hsien Hsi belonged to Western Pan Hsien Pao and was renamed Hsien Hsi Pao later. During the reign of Emperor Young Cheng and Chien Lung in the Great Ching Dynasty, Chuan Chou landlord Chih Shen Yang and Pi Jung Chang and Po Jung Wu(Wu Luo) acquired the lands for farming through negotiation with villagers of A Tung Community and applied to the local authority for the right to farm. Subsequently, they distributed the grasslands to the tenants and turned the lands into paddy fields.
In the 7 th year of Emperor Yong Cheng's Reign in the Great Ching Dynasty, Chang Ling Tuo(a Chuan Chou native) acquired lands from Aborginals of A Tung Community. Till the 3 rd year of Emperor Chien Lung's Reign, later immigrants either acquired tenancy for farming from the Shih's or obtained lands from the Pan Community for farming. At that time, water necessary to grow rice was supplied by Fu Ma Chen (got its name after E Ma Village upstream of E Ma Chen) dug by Chih Shen Yang to draw water from Ta Tu River Chuan Tsai Tou. The channel irrigated Yu Pu of Hsien Hsi Pao(in today's Hsien Hsi Town ) and was origianlly called Fen Pi Chen; Later, Chang Ling Shih dug Niang Fen Pi Chen that irrigated Liu Kuai Liao of Hsien Hsi Pao( in today's Shen Kang Town ). Then owners of the two channels agreed to build banks to draw water from Fu Ma Chen, which was solely funded by Chih Shen Yang, of which 4 shares belonged to Pa Fen Pi Chen and 6 shares to Niang Fen Pi Chen, therefore, they were also called Four Ku Chen and Six Ku Chen respectively, with the former irrigating Hsien Hsi and the latter irrigating part of Shen Kang Town.
Land uses in Hsien Hsi Town then were described as follows: with the landlords applying to local authority for the right to farm, a lot of tenants were attracted, therefore turning original lands of A Tung Community into farmlands of the Han people, for instance, Ting Li Village, Hsia Li Village and Te Hsin Village (15-plough village). And, because lands of Hsien Hsi were alkaline wetlands not suitable for farming and thus were partly turned into fishing lands for culturing fish (for instance, Wen Tsai Village, Hsien Hsi Town) or into pastures of Niu Pu (for example, Yu Pu Village (Niu Pu), Hsien Hsi Town). In addition, at that time, Hsien Hsi was situated along the coastline, unlike today when it is far away from coastal villages such as Ting Chuang Village Ting Chien Kou, Hsien Hsi Village Kou Cuo, Kou Lei Village Kou Lei and Wen Tsai Village Wen Tsai. It used to be no far away from the villages and was kept further away from the coastline as the sea lands gradually spread toward the sea surface. Now, it can be learned from old literature that the farmed lands of the above-mentioned landlord –Wu Luo included Te Hsin Village of Hsien Hsi Town, those of Landlord Pi Jung Chang(belonged to the family of landlord Shih Hsiang Chang)) included Hsia Li Village of Hsien Hsi Town ,while Landlord Chih Shen Yang owned the water right of the Ku Chen.
In administrative division, in the first year of Emperor Yong Cheng's Reign (1732) in the Great Ching Dynasty, Chang Hua County (with county government situated in Pan Hsien) was set up by separating Pan Hsien in the north of Zhu Luo County, belonging to Taiwan Fu, had jurisdiction over the area north of Hu Wei River to Keelung and Tan Shui including Hsien Hsi Town.The town organization was Pan Hsien Pao. In the 27 th (1762) year of Emperor Chien Lung's Reign in the Great Ching Dynasty, Chang Hua Pan Hsien Pao was renamed East/West Pan Hsien Pao, with Hsien Hsi Pao belonging to West Pan Hsien Pao.In the 17 th (1809) year of Emperor Chia Ching's Reign in the Great Ching Dynasty, Taiwan's administrative region was agained changed into one Fu, 4 Counties and 3 Departments, with Hsien His still belonging to West Pan Hsien Pao of East/West Pan Hsien Pao, Chang Hua County. In the 10 th (1875) year of Emperor Tao Kuang's Reign in the Great Ching Dynasty, regions of Chang Hua County remained unchanged while division of villages within Chang Hua became more complicated. Within Hsien Hsi Town , villages like Hsia Li, Niu Pu, Ching Kou Cuo, Kou Lei, Wen Tsai, 15-Plough, Ting Chien Kou, Ting Li were formed. In the first year of Emperor Kuang Hsu's Reign in the Great Ching Dynasty, administrative regions of Taiwan were agained changed into 2 Fus, 8 Counties and 4 Departments, with Taiwan Fu added in Tai Chung, which was further divided into 4 counties like Chang Hua, Taiwan, Miao Li,Yun Lin and Pu Li She department and East/West Pan Hsien Pao was renamed East Pan Hsien Pao and West Pan Hsien Pao.In the 13 th (1887) of Emperor Kuang Hsu's Reign in the Great Ching Dynasty, Taiwan became a province and administrative division of Taiwan underwent the third reform whereby the province had jurisdiction over 3 Fus, 11 Counties, 4 Departments and one state under its direct jurisdiction; and paos and villages were reformed, until then, Hsien Hsi Town still belonged to Hsien Hsi Pao ,Chang Hua County, Taiwan Fu.
In the 28 th year of Emperor Meiji's reign of Japan (the 22 nd year of Emperor Kuang Hsu's reign (1895) in the Great Ching Dynasty), following a defeat in Chia-Wu War, Ching Empire signed Treaty of Shimonoseki , in which it ceded Taiwan to Japan. In May of the same year, the Japanese entered Taiwan and divided the whole Taiwan Island into 3 Counties and 1 Department, with Hsien Hsi being placed under direct jurisdiction of Taiwan County . On August 27 th , the Japanese occupied Chang Hua and again placed Chang Hua Region under jurisdiction of Chang Hua Liaison Office of Taiwan Department of Civil Administration. On t Feb 7 th , the next year, the Japanese divided the whole Taiwan into 3 Counties and 1 Department and employeed personnel from the streets and villages to assist in local administrative affairs. Hsien Hsi was divided to Hsien Hsi Pao, Lu Kang Branch Department, and Tai Chung County . On August 21 st of the same year, Chang Hua Branch Department was added and Hsien Hsi was transferred to jurisdiction of Hsien Hsi Pao,Chang Hua Branch Department. Then, the town had juridiscation over villages like Hsia Li, Niu Pu, Ching Kou Cuo, Kou Nei, Wen Tsai, 15-Plough, Ting Chien Kou and Ting Li, etc.
On May 27 th of the 30 th year of Meiji reign (1895) of Japan, the Japanese divided the whole Taiwan into 6 Counties and 3 Departments, under which were offices, under which were heads of streets and villages and set up police stations in places of strategic signifance across Taiwan. Hsien Hsi was placed under jurisdiction of Ho Mei offices, Tai Chung County . On Sep 24 th , districts were established over streets and villages; Ho Mei office was divided into Ho Mei Hsien, Hsia Chien Kou and Hsin Kang, with Hsien Hsi belonging to Hsia Chien Kou district. On June 20 th in the 31 st year of Emperor Meiji's reign (1896) of Japan, office administrative regions were expanded, farming department were cut or merged and the whole Taiwan was divided into 3 counties and 3 departments; Ho Mei Hsien office was merged with Chang Hua office and Hsien Hsi Town was placed under jurisdiction of Hsien Hsi Pao,Chang Hua office, Tai Chung County.
On Nov 19 th in the 34 th year of Emperor Meiji's reign(1901) of Japan, the Japanese again reformed the administrative division of Taiwan by abolishing counties &office and dividing the whole Taiwan into 20 departments, under which branch departments were established, with Hsien Hsi Town belonging to Lu Kang Branch Department Hsien Hsi Pao, Chang Hua Department. In Sept of the 42 nd year of Emperor Meiji's reign(1909), the Japanese again reduced the originally 20 departments into 12 departments, under which were branch departments and further districts, with Hsien Hsi Town belonging to Hsia Chien Kou District, Chang Hua Branch Department, Tai Chung Department. Meanwhile, the Japanese introduced reforms to district system by abolishing the village heads and establishing district head and district secretary as well as district government to expand the power of local officials. At that time, Hsien His still belonged to Hais Chien Kou District with district government situated at Yu Pu.On July 30 th of the 9 th year of Emperor Taisho's reign, the Japanese introduced reforms to administrative regions of the whole Taiwan for the 5 th time by combining the 9 departments in the west of Taiwan into 5 states, abolishing branch departments and districts under the states , setting up shires with jurisdiction over streets and villages and establishing big character and small character place name under villages. With Taiwan as a whole divided into 5 states and 2 departments, Hsien Hsi was placed under jurisdiction of Chang Hua County , Tai Chung State and the original Hsin Kang Districts and Hsia Chien Kou Districts were combined into Hsien Hsi Village . With village government located at Yu Pu,Hsien Hsi , Hsien Hsi village divided into 19 districts, 8 of which were located in Hsien Hsi Town and each of the districts practised the system of district general agent and Pao,Chia.
On Aug 10 th of the 34 th year of ROC(1945), Japan was defeated in WW Ⅱ . On Oct 25 th of the same year, the ceremony of Japanese surrendering was held. Later, the Kuomintang regime began to take over Taiwan . However, to avoid discontinuity during the taking over, local administrative division still followed the old system of streets and villages. The old system of the Japanese was not reformed until Dec 25 th when taking over of all departments acsross Taiwan was completed. In Jan of the 35 th year of ROC(1946), five states and 3 departments were replaced by 8 counties , 9 cities under jurisdiction of the province were established, shires and branch departments were replaced by districts, streets& villages were replaced by towns and Pao Chia system was changed into neighbor system. At that time, Hsien Hsi Town was placed under jurisdiction of Chang Hua District, Hsien Hsi Town , Tai Chung County , among 21 villages of which 8 villages ---Hsien Hsi ,Yu Pu, Kou Nei,Wen Tsai, Ting Chuang, Te Hsin, Ting Li and Hsia Li belonged to Hsien Hsi Town .
On May 16 th of the 36 th year of ROC(1947), Taiwan Provincial Government was established in accordance with Regulations of Taiwan Province Realizing Increased Local Autonomy promugulated on Jan 25 th of the same year. On April 1 st of the 39 th year of ROC(1950), Taiwan Provincial Government promugulated Outline for Realizing Local Autonomy in Counties and Cities of Taiwan Province. On Aug 16 th , the Executive Yuan meeting adopted Taiwan Province Administrative Division Adjustment Plan, dividing the whole provicne into 16 counties. On Oct 21 st of the same year, Chang Hua County was established and Hsien Hsi Town was placed under jurisdiction of Chang Hua Town . On July 1 st of the 39 th year of ROC(1950), today's Shen Kang was separated from Hsien Hsi Town and was named Hsin Kang Town . The 8 villages of Hsien Hsi Town remained unchanged since then.
Hsien Hsi Town has a total area of 23.4 square kilometers( including 6.28 square kilometers of Chang Hua Coastal Industrial Park).With a total population of 17125 people(by the end of Dec, 2003), Hsien Hsi is divided into 8 villages(Hsien Hsi ,Ting Chuang, Yu Pu, Wen Tsai, Kou Lei, Hsia Li, Ting Li, Te Hsin) depending on natural topography and 129 neighborhoods and most people of the town live on agriculture, fishing and industry and are honest& frank.In the 57 th year of ROC(1968), planning was made for new lands of Yu Pu, Hsien Hsi , which later became Chang Hua Coastal Industrial Park, adding 6.28 square kilometers to the area of Hsien Hsi Town.
Traditional folk arts and crafts.