014.澎湖諸島 04.中社
014.Penghu Islands 04.Jhongshe Village

2023年1月2日

離島の離島、望安島にある中社にも、すばらしい伝統的集落が残っています。

Jhongshe on Wangan Island, a remote island for a remote island, is also a splendid traditional village.

集落の中の伝統的住居を見る。家の妻面の上部に、鮮やかな色漆喰の文様が施されている。
See a traditional house in the village. The upper part of the gable side of houses is decorated with vivid colored plaster patterns.

澎湖諸島の中心、馬公からジェットフォイルで１時間。離島の離島、望安島の西岸にある集落が中社。創建は300年以上前。花びらの形の５つの丘の花芯にあたるため、長い間「花宅」と呼ばれていました。保存事業はまだ一部で、廃屋がかなりあります。

古い家で200年近くになる、年代の判別方法は外壁の積み方。初期の家は、海から採って来た不揃いのサンゴ石を積み上げ、中期になると、扁平で揃ったサンゴ石を選りすぐり、その後、玄武岩の腰壁の上に、サンゴ石を積み上げたものへ発展しました。時代が下るにつれて、余裕が生まれ、美意識も醸成されたようです。剝落する壁に、鮮やかな漆喰文様や、和製マジョリカタイルらしきものが残り、往時は色にあふれ、白い二崁とは対照的だったのではないか、と想像がふくらみます。

曾家は、もっとも華やかで、保存状態のいい家。入口側ファサードは、中華文化が近代に目覚めた印象です。上下に重なった脇の窓の、上の緑の小窓は、簡単に外出できなかった金持ちの女性が、外を眺めるためのもの。下の窓には、曾の字を形象化した煉瓦格子が入り、家を誇示するサインになっていました。入口右側の地面すれすれの小さな孔は、猫が通る猫穴。猫をよく目にしたから、今も機能しているのかもしれません。そういう小さな仕掛けから、コミュニテイの姿が浮かび上がります。

レンタルバイク以外交通手段がなく、港からの行き方を島の人に相談したら、給油所のおじさんがバイクで運んでくれました。帰路、40分歩くつもりで草原を歩いていると、パトカーに拾われ、観光名所も回ってくれました。ホスピタリティーも島のローカリティー。

It takes one hour by jetfoil from Magong, the central city of the Penghu Islands, to Wangan Island. Jhongshe is a village on the west coast of the Island. It was founded over 300 years ago. For a long time, it was called "Hua zhai (flower house)" because it was located at the flower core of the five petal-shaped hills. The preservation work was still limited to a part of the village, and quite a few abandoned houses existed.

The old house was nearly 200 years old. In the early time, the wall of a house was built with uneven coral stones taken from the sea. In the middle period, flat and uniform coral stones were selected, and finally, coral stones were piled up on basalt wainscots. As time went on, the village came to have leeway and fostered a sense of beauty. Vivid plaster patterns and Japanese majolica-like tiles remained on the walls that peeled off.

The Zeng Residence was the most gorgeous and well-preserved house. The façade on the entrance gave the impression that Chinese culture had awakened in modern times. The small green window on the upper side of the side windows that overlapped vertically was for a rich woman who could not easily go out to look outside. The lower window had a brick lattice in the shape of the letter Zen, and was a sign to show off the family. The small hole on the right side of the entrance was a cat hole for cats to pass through. I saw a lot of cats, so maybe it might still function. From such a small device, the image of the community emerged.

The island had no means of transportation other than rental bikes, so when I asked the islanders how to get to Jhongshe from the port, the man at the gas station took me there on a motorbike. On the way to the port, when I was walking in the grassland intending to walk for 40 minutes, I was picked up by a police car, and a policeman took me to sightseeing spots. Hospitality was also the locality of the island.