Moving to Tainan

In the sixth month of the forty-first year of the Republic, one day the welfare officer came to the village to tell everyone there were dependents’ houses in Tainan—would you like to move there?

Because my husband had come back twice and each time reached home only after nine at night, coming and going in such haste.

For him to come home to see mother and son cost so much time and energy—it was truly too hard. So I became one of the first dependents willing to move to Tainan. Those were the first dependents’ houses Madam Chiang built in Taiwan; everyone was very glad. Sadly only half the families were willing to move first.

Those of us who were willing went home at once to pack; the decision was made in the morning and we set out in the afternoon. I carried the child on my back and hurried home to pack. Thanks to the squad leader’s wife helping me tie the bundles, we could set out on time. The unit chartered a goods wagon from Wuri station, loaded all our luggage in, then we climbed up and sat on the luggage—adults and children all squeezed together.

At half past five in the afternoon the train moved off, stopping and starting; we did not reach Tainan until past eight the next morning. Midway it stopped a long time at Changhua, they said because of unloading and loading cargo.

At last we reached Tainan; everyone was delighted.

As soon as we got off, seeing each other’s faces on the platform we could not help laughing loudly: “Why is your face all grey?” the other said, “Yours too!” Everyone ran to the washstand on the platform to look in the mirror and saw every face covered in dust.

Why was that? Because in the forties trains still burned coal! Next, army lorries took us to the dependents’ housing.

Everyone was happy and completely forgot the whole night’s hardship. We reached the gate of the dependents’ village in high spirits, and then the person in charge actually told us at the door: “The houses have not been inspected yet; you cannot move in—you can enter only after a week.” Hearing that, everyone was dumbstruck.

What to do?

Everyone had children—where could we stay? It was maddening.

Later an officer came and told us he would take us first to an empty building to stay a week, and after the dependents’ quarters were inspected we could move in. When we saw that empty building it turned out to be an abandoned dance hall, doors and windows broken and ruined. Everyone was helpless; we could only spread mats on the floor to sleep, put the stove outside the door to cook, and live like that for a week, like refugees. After a week we finally moved into the dependents’ houses.