Miaoli Tunnel, commonly known as Gongweixu Tunnel, is a former

railway tunnel Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Miaoli City Miaoli City (Wade–Giles: ''Miao²-li⁴-shih⁴''; Hakka Chinese, Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ, PFS: ''Mèu-li̍t-sṳ''; Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Biâu-le̍k-chhī'' or ''Miâu-le̍k-chhī''; Japanese language, Japanese Byōritsushi) is a cou ...

Miaoli County Miaoli is a county (Taiwan), county in western Taiwan. Miaoli is bordered by Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the north, Taichung to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Miaoli is Regions of Taiwan, classified as "central Taiwan" by t ...

, Taiwan. In 2003, the tunnel was converted into a pedestrian walkway as part of Maolishan Park and is a popular tourist attraction.

Etymology

The official name of the tunnel used by the

Taiwan Railway Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) was a governmental agency in Taiwan which operated Taiwan Railway from 1948 to 2023. It managed, maintained, and operated conventional passenger and freight railway services on of track. Passenger traffic ...

is Miaoli Tunnel ( zh, t=苗栗隧道, p=Miáolì Suìdào). However, the tunnel is more commonly known as "Gongweixu Tunnel" ( zh, t=功維敘隧道, p=Gōngwéixù Suìdào) or simply "Gongweixu". When the tunnel was completed in 1903, then Governor General of Taiwan

Kodama Gentarō Viscount was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a government minister during the Meiji period. He was instrumental in establishing the modern Imperial Japanese military. Early life Kodama was born on March 16, 1852, in Tok ...

visited the site and wrote the characters "Gongweixu" on the plaque above the north entrance, hence the alternative name. The source of "Gongweixu" is thought to be the "Counsels of Great Yu" chapter of the ''

Book of Documents The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, a ...

''.

History

Miaoli Tunnel was constructed between 1902 and 1903 by Taiwan Governor-General Railways during Japan's rule over the island. The 460 m long tunnel was single-tracked and constructed with brick walls. The 1935 Shinchiku-Taichū earthquake dealt significant damage to the earthquake and the tunnel was closed until 1938. In 1993, heavy rain destroyed a corner of the tunnel's north entrance. The tunnel remained in use until 1998, when a new,

double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

tunnel named Miaonan Tunnel (苗南隧道) was dug directly to the south. In 2003, the Miaoli City government redeveloped the tunnel into a tourist attraction by turning it into a pedestrian path and illuminating the walls with colorful LED lights. From October 2019 to January 2020, the tunnel was renovated to become wheelchair accessible.

Layout

The north entrance of Gongweixu Tunnel is located in Maolishan Park. At the south entrance, there is a visitor center built out of

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...

s, which has a retired R20 series diesel-electric locomotive (numbered R46) and a passenger car on display. The visitor center also features a bridge built as a replica of the original north entrance.

References

External links

* * {{commons-inline Miaoli City Railway tunnels in Taiwan Tourist attractions in Miaoli County 1903 establishments in Taiwan Train-related introductions in 1903 1998 disestablishments in Taiwan 2003 establishments in Taiwan