Yoichi Hatta: Engineering a Future for Taiwan's Waterways(a)|八田与一：台湾水利的先躯

Yoichi Hatta: Engineering a Future for Taiwan's Waterways

by Daniel Howard

A Japanese engineer changed the course of rivers and the course of Taiwan's history.

　　Yoichi Hatta was born in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture in 1886. He grew up in Japan and eventually attended Tokyo Imperial University. After graduating in 1910, he became a civil engineer for the Japanese government. Since Taiwan was occupied by Japan at the time, Hatta was sent to Taiwan to improve the infrastructure. He worked on the water system in Taipei City, which he followed with a larger irrigation and drainage system in Taoyuan. Completed in 1916, the Taoyuan project established Hatta as a talented civil engineer.

　　Hatta's next project was to be his largest—the Chianan Canal and Wushantou Dam. The Chianan Canal was an extensive irrigation system built to deliver water to the Chianan Plain in southern Taiwan, a dry area where agriculture was virtually impossible. Hatta was charged with developing more productive land to help grow food for export back to Japan, and he was wildly successful. After his irrigation system distributed water to the Chianan Plain, the plantable area increased from 5,000 hectares to 150,000 hectares, and three plantings of rice every year were made possible.

　　Hatta began the project in 1920, and at the time it was the largest scheme of its kind in Asia. The entire development consisted of 16,000 kilometers of waterway, the Wushantou Dam and Reservoir, and a lock for traveling up and down the river. The dam alone was enormous at 1,273 meters long and 50.5 meters high. It was one of the largest in the world at that time. The dam and the reservoir he created are now also the site of a memorial park established to honor Yoichi Hatta.

 

八田与一：台湾水利的先躯

一位日本工程师不仅改变了河道，也改变了台湾历史的演进。

　　八田与一于 1886 年生于日本石川县。他在日本长大，最终进入日本东京帝国大学就读。1910 年大学毕业后，他成为日本政府的土木工程师。由于当时台湾还是由日本所统治，于是八田被派遣到台湾来改善当地的公共建设。他原先在台北市从事水利系统工程，随后转派到桃园着手更大型的灌溉及排水系统工程。桃园大圳的工程于 1916 年完工，使得八田与一被认可为才华洋溢的土木工程师。

　　八田接下来的工程是他个人所负责规模最大的工程──嘉南大圳及乌山头水库。嘉南大圳是非常广阔的灌溉系统，其兴建的目的是用来将水引入南台湾的嘉南平原，这个区域当时很干燥，几乎不可能从事农业。八田当时负责开发出更具生产力的土地来生产粮食运回日本，他大获成功。在这个灌溉系统将水分送到嘉南平原之后，可种植的面积从五千公顷增加了三十倍，稻米每年可以收成三次。

　　八田于 1920 年开始这项工程，在当时这是亚洲同类工程中规模最大的。整项开发工程涵盖了一万六千公里的水道、乌山头水库大坝以及控制河水升降的水闸。光是水坝本身就有一千两百七十三公尺长，高五十点五公尺这么大。这在当时是全世界最大的水坝之一。这座八田所创立的水坝，现在也是纪念八田与一的纪念公园所在地。