Three veteran stonemasons, with an average age of 87, on Saturday won this year’s Best Trail Builder/Repairer Award from the Taiwan Thousand Miles Trail Association for their contribution to the nation’s trails using culturally and historically unique skills.
The award was presented to 95-year-old Hsieh Chien-hsiang (謝見祥) from Hsinchu; 87-year-old Kelele, a Rukai resident of Pingtung County’s Labuwan Village; and 78-year-old Hsu Jen-hsiung (許仁雄) from Penghu County.
Hsieh said he learned stonemasonry as a child.
Photo: CNA
The most difficult part of the job is fixing stone irrigation canals damaged by typhoons so that the water will not leak out, he said.
In the 90 years of using the skills he learned from his father, Hsieh said he has worked during typhoons when necessary.
While he was happy to receive the award, Hsieh said he was worried about the disappearance of traditional skills.
Kelele said he learned haedre, a Rukai style of stonemasonry, from his father at an early age.
At 87, Kelele still uses Rukai tools such as the kanabu, a metal rod he inherited from his father.
Kelele’s skills are crucial to his fellow villagers as the paved trail that leads to Labuwan Village must be repaired whenever floods or typhoons damage it.
Kelele is one of the few village elders left who is adept at using the haedre, a skill that he is teaching to younger villagers.
Rukai gather their slate and shale in the wild before carefully separating and processing it to be used for houses and trails, Kelele said, adding that he was happy to receive the award.
Hsu is the first person from one of Taiwan’s outlying islands to win the award.
Since retiring from Taiwan Water Corp, Hsu Jen-hsiung has taught a type of stonemasonry that uses coral unique to Penghu.
Penghu residents have long crafted garden walls and trails from coral, a traditional skill that is slowly disappearing, raising concern over the need for cultural conservation.
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