| Losheng Sanatorium 樂生療養院 | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Xinzhuang,New Taipei,Taiwan |
| Coordinates | 25°01′13″N121°24′28″E / 25.020315194125082°N 121.40785181727236°E /25.020315194125082; 121.40785181727236 |
| Organisation | |
| Type | Sanatorium |
| History | |
| Opened | 1929 |
Losheng Sanatorium (Chinese:樂生療養院;pinyin:Lèshēng Liáoyǎngyuàn) is asanatorium forlepers inXinzhuang District,New Taipei,Taiwan.Losheng means "happy life". The building was constructed in the 1930s during theJapanese colonial period.
There were heated debates and protests about plans to replace Losheng Sanatorium with aMRT (Mass Rapid Transport) depot.[1]
Losheng Sanatorium, originally namedRakusei Sanatorium for Lepers of Governor-General of TaiwanTaiwan Sōtokufu Raibyō Rakuseiin (臺灣總督府癩病療養樂生院), was built in 1929 during theJapanese colonial period and served as an isolation hospital for leprosy patients. The Japanese government forced leprosy patients to live in this hospital. The first five buildings could house more than 100 patients.
During the 1930s, Losheng Sanatorium was the first leprosy hospital and the only public sanatorium for leprosy patients in Taiwan. It was designed for quarantine and treatment of lepers. With a force of sanitary police and medical officers; investigation, quarantine, and imprisonment of lepers was conducted thoroughly from 1934 till the end of colonial governance of Japan. As a result, Losheng Sanatorium became the institution of compulsory quarantine as well as lifelong imprisonment for thousands of leprosy patients.[1] The successive KMT regime inherited the policy in its early years.
After the discovery of new leprosy treatment, patients were allowed to leave Losheng Sanatorium since 1954. However, many of them who had undergone chronic isolation and faced discrimination had little choice but to stay and had grown used to the settings.[2]
In 1994, the Department ofTaipei Rapid Transit System (DORTS) planned to build a depot in the site where Losheng Sanatorium is, for theZhonghe–Xinlu line. Although the government built a new hospital building nearby for settling the patients, the proposed demolition of the original compound brought a series of debates and, later, a preservation movement. According to a survey conducted in March 2006, there were 165 Losheng residents living in the new hospital building and 52 living in the old compound or other places.
 | Theneutrality of the style of writing in this article isdisputed. Please do not remove this message untilconditions to do so are met.(November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In 1994,Taipei Rapid Transit System planned to build a depot on the site where the sanatorium is. Chen Ching-Chuan (陳京川), the ex-director of Losheng, was opposed to this decision. He did three surveys among the patients to see what they thought and needed, shortly before he got demoted and reprimanded. Ever since, the patients have had no access to the MRT construction plans and its related discussions.[citation needed]
In 2001, due to the construction ofXinzhuang Line, the government planned to transform Losheng to a community hospital, thus put an end to its dedicated hospitalization and care for leprosy patients. Many students, urban planners and NGOs tried to protect this sanatorium ever since.[citation needed]
In 2002, the new housing projects, Huei Long Hospital (迴龍醫院) was initiated, but instead of ‘houses’ which were earlier promised to the patients, the new director gave them two tall buildings with modern hospital facilities. It became clear that the new administration team intended to run a hospital business. The skyscraper-ish hospital buildings were designed mainly for housing short-term patients; therefore it has inadequate space for residents to move around freely. Moreover, the hospital management forbids patients from bringing with them personal belongings; from cooking; and from coming over to the front building. The policy is discriminative.[citation needed]
Long before the depot construction was initiated, Loshen’s ex-director and history professionals have demanded a large-scale inspection of Losheng’s position as a historical site. The scholars appealed to the MRT Department that they should spare the Losheng Sanatorium, while they unanimously agreed the entire site should be preserved. However, the officials unilaterally terminated the process of inspection, and decided the sanatorium should be torn down entirely.[citation needed]
It was not until 2004, when Prof. John K.C. Liu (劉可強) came up with a symbiosis plan, and when theCouncil for Cultural Affairs has deemed the sanatorium a historical spot, that the MRT Department was pressured to rethink the possibilities of preservation.[citation needed]
People who claimed that the Losheng Sanatorium should be preserved have raised the following issues:
The MRT depot was originally planned to be built Yingpan (營盤) nearFu Jen Catholic University (FJU, 天主教輔仁大學), andFu Jen University Station should be theterminal station, which is why the number of that station is O1, meaning "first station of Orange Line".
But the plan was altered by local politicians. It has been asserted that this is wrong for the following reasons:[citation needed]
In 2009, the Losheng Sanatorium was named apotential World Heritage Site,[3] "because it has witnessed the development of politics, medicine, public health and human rights in Taiwan over several decades."[4]
In the press release issued by theCouncil for Cultural Affairs (CCA, 文建會) on Jan. 23, 2007, it was stated that
“according to recent news, some local representatives and organizations in Taipei City and Taipei County claimed that the 90% Losheng preservation plan proposed by CCA will severely delay the MRT construction. Hereby CCA reiterates that the 90% preservation plan, evaluated by Hsin-Lu cooperation, will lengthen the construction period for about four months, and appends a three billion budget to it. It is not true to say the MRT construction will be delayed for two to three years.”
This press release concluded that it is untrue for the media and Department ofTaipei Rapid Transit System (DORTS, Taipei) to say that the 90% preservation plan will delay the construction of MRT for two to three years and result in a two to three hundred billion NTD (approx. 760 million USD) increase in budget.[citation needed]
The activists held a sit-in protest in front of PremierSu Tseng-chang's (蘇貞昌) house and demanded to negotiate with the premier. The protestors, consisting of students and remaining Losheng patients, were forced by the police into buses, immediately transported to suburban mountainous areas around Taipei City, and were ordered not to return to the scene that day.
There were scuffles as the authorities attempted to post the official notice issued by theTaipei County government to request the management of sanatorium to tear down the structure by 16 April 2007. Four students were arrested, and the protest organizers condemned police for the unnecessary violence against protesters.[2]
A protest march of thousands of people from all over the country took place in Taipei on the day that had been announced for the eviction of the remaining 45 residents of the Sanatorium. Hsu Po-jen (許博任) of the Youth Alliance for Losheng was reported as saying that more than 100 civic groups took part.[1]
The Public Construction Commission (公共工程委員會) ofExecutive Yuan ruled that 39 buildings of Losheng Sanatorium should be preserved, 10 to be reconstructed or reconstituted in selected locations, and 6 to be demolished.[5] The project budget would increaseNTD 670 million.
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
