Tonglin Community Development Association, Wufeng District, Taichung City

Tonglin Community is located in the mountains northeast of Wufeng, south of Taichung City. Its old name was Beigou Keng. During the Japanese colonial period, green paulownia (Wutong trees) were abundant, earning it the name Qing Tonglin (Green Paulownia Forest). Within a short elevation gradient of three to four hundred meters, it exhibits multi-layered forest types and diverse topographical changes, making it a natural outdoor classroom. Upstream of Tonglin's Beikeng River: To the east is the 'Jiu-Jiu Peaks Nature Reserve,' where the Touke Mountain Formation (formed millions of years ago) has collapsed into spectacular badlands. To the west is the 'Qing Tonglin Ecological Industrial Park,' which, after long-term afforestation and trail construction, has become a green recreational haven. In earlier years, farmers overcame barren land and created a legend in Taiwanese agriculture with their excellent orchard management. In the 1960s, for bananas, and in the 1980s and 90s, for longans and lychees, Tonglin was a producer of 'premium quality' products for the export market. After the new century, Tonglin transitioned towards agricultural product processing. 'Zhang Chun-Xia' used top-tier dried fruit baking techniques to elevate her brand to a flagship product in high-end supermarkets. Her dried lychees, serving as a secret weapon, once helped Wu Pao-chun win the World Master Baker competition. In recent years, the Wufeng Farmers' Association has used lychees and honey to produce award-winning wines, earning gold and silver at international liquor competitions. Tonglin can thus be called the birthplace of 'Taiwan's Glory.' Seizing this opportunity, seven farmers' associations in Taichung have jointly invested in establishing Taiwan Agri-Innovation Company to set up an international-grade 'Tonglin Winery,' with construction starting in 2025. Wufeng's local revitalization DNA includes culture, agriculture, and ecology. Tonglin plays the role of an ecological leader, integrating agricultural and cultural elements, and building a sustainable 'environmental education base' on the foundation of two decades of operating as an 'ecological community.' Tonglin Community consecutively won third place in the Ministry of Culture's 'Reading Taiwan' program in 2022 and 2023 (ranked by grant amount). In 2023, it was the only team from Central Taiwan (Taichung, Changhua, Nantou) to receive the award, making it the representative team of Central Taiwan. In 2023, Tonglin Community was selected by the Taichung City Government as the sole model community case to be visited by the Ministry of Culture for community development, receiving unanimous praise from the committee. Committee member Lin Cheng-yi spontaneously exclaimed, 'Tonglin should be known to the world!' Tonglin is known as Taiwan's first community to use its own efforts to hang artificial nest boxes to rehabilitate and conserve protected raptors like 'owls.' Since the community development program started in 2003, conservation efforts have expanded to include species like flying squirrels and keeled box turtles. The community's partners in promoting environmental education include several top ecological survey teams, coupled with the growth of local interpretive volunteers. Tonglin can be considered one of Taiwan's very few communities that successfully 'cares for both people and wildlife.' Several ecological documentaries have been filmed here, including local director Li Wei-Jie's work 'Jiu-Jiu Honey Buzzard,' which won major awards in both Taiwan and Japan. Tonglin's cultural assets, in addition to the former site of Lingshan Temple (Tonglin Guanyin Temple), the ancestral temple founded by Lin Chao-song (Lin Chi-xian) of the Wufeng Lin Family's Le-She literary society, are best represented by the 'Beigou National Palace Museum' at the foot of the mountain. In those days, solemn guardians of the Palace Museum lived here. Zhang Daqian visited and painted 'Tonglin Collecting Ganoderma Lucidum.' Literary master Chi Pang-yuan also worked at Beigou and wrote moving memoirs. Furthermore, the site of the National Palace Museum's artifact storage caves (a historical building), as well as the former locations of the Taiwan Provincial Film Studio (Tai Ying) and the Taiwan Provincial Symphony Orchestra (now the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra), reflect the history of post-war provincial government institutions relocating to central Taiwan. Today, the Central Taiwan Film and Television Base (which includes the wave pool built by Ang Lee for filming 'Life of Pi') is located here, continuing the spirit of a cultural base.