Yoichi Hatta: Engineering a Future for Taiwan's Waterways(b)|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.

　　The Japanese civil engineer Yoichi Hatta is an unsung hero of Taiwan. His efforts on the Chianan Canal and Wushantou Dam allowed the Tainan area to become the amazingly productive farmland that it is today. The project took 10 years to complete. It made use of the most advanced technologies of the time, which were 50-ton cranes and a German locomotive that is still on the site. Hatta also used traditional construction methods, like making herds of water buffalo walk over the land to make it hard enough to build on.

　　Unfortunately, this talented engineer's life was cut short. In 1942, he traveled to the Philippines by ship to begin an engineering project there. His boat was attacked and sunk by an American submarine. Hatta did not survive, and his body was later recovered by fishermen. His wife remained in Wushantou until Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. She then committed suicide in the canal her husband built. A grave was built for the couple overlooking the reservoir that Hatta engineered.

　　While he was still alive in 1931, Chianan Canal construction workers independently financed a statue of the engineer as a sign of respect. Then, during Chiang Kai-shek's rule, the government worked hard to remove all traces of Japanese rule, and the statue disappeared. It reappeared in 1981 after being found hidden in a nearby warehouse. There is also a memorial museum to Hatta near the Wushantou Reservoir, and the residence where Hatta lived with his wife became a memorial park in 2011. Yoichi Hatta will be remembered for his service to Taiwan for a long time to come.

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。

　　这位日本土木工程师八田与一是台湾的幕后英雄。他为嘉南大圳及乌山头水库所付出的努力让台南地区今日成为了一片很肥沃的农田。这项工程历经十年完工。它运用了当时最先进的技术，重达五十吨的吊车及德国制的火车现在仍在原址。八田与一也使用传统的施工方式，象是赶一群水牛走过一片土地，让它变得够硬，以便在上面施工。

　　不幸的是，这位才华洋溢的工程师，生命却很短暂。1942 年，他搭船前往菲律宾，要在当地开始一项新工程。他搭的船遭到美国潜水艇击沉。八田并没能活下来，而他的尸体后来被渔民找到。他的妻子到二次世界大战结束日本投降前都一直住在乌山头。后来她跳入丈夫所兴建的嘉南大圳自杀。为这对夫妇兴建的坟墓，就盖在八田建的水库上，让他们能远眺着它。

　　1931 年八田与一仍在世时，嘉南大圳的建筑工人独立出资帮这位工程师立了一座雕像，以示对他的敬重。后来在蒋介石的统治下，政府努力消除所有日本统治下的痕迹，而雕像就消失了。它被发现藏在附近的一座仓库多年后，于 1981 年重见天日。乌山头水库附近也有一座八田与一的纪念馆，而八田夫妇的住所也在 2011 年成了纪念公园。八田与一对台湾的贡献在未来很长一段时间都会被台湾人民铭记在心。