Ershawan Battery Audio Guide

Ershawan Battery: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Uhrshawan Battery

   Welcome to Uhrshawan Battery, known in Chinese as 二沙灣砲台. It is a fortress ruin on the eastern side of Keelung Harbor, set on a hill called Radio Hill, inside Zhongzheng Park. Today it is a national monument, and it was once one of the main guardians of the gateway to northern Taiwan. This hill has seen a surprising amount of history. A battery stood here during the Opium War era, French warships battered the defenses in 1884, and a newer fortress was built afterward to replace what had been lost. Over the next few minutes we will follow that story, then look at what you can actually see on the ground, and finally at how a forgotten military zone became a place for a quiet walk. The fort no longer has any military purpose. What it does have is a commanding position, because from the high ground you can look over the outer harbor and part of the inner harbor. That view explains why defenders wanted this spot in the first place.

2. 02

   Uhrshawan Battery and the Opium War Years

   The story begins in 1841, when Britain and China were at war and Keelung was watching the sea nervously. Taiwan's military and civil official Yao Ying began building a battery here to guard against the British. The earliest guns stood down by the harbor edge, below the hill you are standing on. Then came two clashes whose tellings differ. In September 1841 the British transport ship Nerbudda was wrecked near Keelung. Local Taiwanese officials reported that their guns had driven it onto the rocks. British accounts, and the testimony of surviving prisoners, say the ship was simply caught by a storm and struck a reef, and that the survivors were imprisoned and some were executed. After the war, the imperial commissioner Yiling investigated and concluded that the local officials had falsely reported a victory. A month later the small British warship Nimrod entered the harbor and went straight for Uhrshawan. Chinese reports speak of wounded soldiers, burned barracks and five damaged guns. The British account is harsher. Nimrod had come to try to ransom the Nerbudda survivors at 100 dollars each, and when no reply came it destroyed 27 guns and sailed back to Hong Kong.

3. 03

   Uhrshawan Battery and the French Attack of 1884

   In 1884 the French arrived. Liu Mingchuan, Taiwan's first governor, came ashore at Keelung that summer and sized up the island's defenses. His verdict was that in the south the Penghu islands were the lock, but in the north Keelung was the throat. It also mattered that Keelung had coal, which the French were eyeing. Liu ordered a new battery built quickly at the northeast corner of the harbor, to be equipped with modern German Krupp guns. But when the French admiral Lespès arrived with five warships, the batteries here were not ready for his tactics. Their guns could not turn, so the French simply attacked from the side. After about five hours of fighting, most of Keelung's batteries had been smashed and the powder magazine had been blown up. The next day, between four hundred and five hundred French troops landed. After the war, Liu decided that this was still the key point guarding the harbor entrance. From about 1885 he had a new, modern battery built on the hill above the shore, with a German supervisor overseeing the work. The fort you see today dates to 1886, and it has stood on that hill ever since.

4. 04

   Walking the Ground at Uhrshawan Battery

   Liu's new fort was laid out in two parts: a barracks area and a gun emplacement area. Over the entrance to the barracks, a carved inscription reads Haimen Tianxian, which you could read as a natural fortress guarding the gate to the sea. It also gives the site its other name. As you walk, you will find the stone gate and walls, barracks remains, gun positions and fortifications, all built into the slope. Visitors also point to an old well, an old tomb, replica cannons, and the east and north batteries. The north battery has the best views, looking out over Keelung Harbor. The trail is fairly rustic and loops back to the entrance conveniently, but the ground can be wet and slippery, so go on a dry day if you can. Butterflies are common, and there is a broad lawn that makes a pleasant picnic spot. Getting here is easy. Many Keelung buses stop at the Haimen Tianxian stop, and the nearby Yizheng Park makes a good companion visit if you want more military history.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Uhrshawan Battery

   There is one more chapter, and it is about forgetting. By the twentieth century this fort had slipped into a restricted military zone. In 1973 Keelung's city government began surveying local monuments to support tourism, and in 1975 the ruins were rediscovered on the hill. The decision was to restore them to their original form and materials. Two professors from Tamkang, Wang Jikun and Zhou Zongxian, planned the restoration. Recognition followed. On the twenty-eighth of December 1983, Uhrshawan Battery was named in the first group of 15 first-class monuments. When the law changed in 1997, it became a national monument. As you head down, try this. Look out at the harbor and imagine the guns that could not turn, and the ships that simply came at them from the side. Then ask yourself why Liu chose this hill, and why the view still feels like a strategic one.