宏和醫院

March 31st, 2024

Last updated February 13th, 2026

Hónghé Hospital (宏和醫院) was originally established in Ershui by Chen Ru (陳如, 1894–1976) around 1917, a year after he graduated from the Taiwan Governor-General’s Medical School (臺灣總督府醫學校). In a time when access to modern medicine was scarce, Chen’s reputation as a skilled physician quickly made him a central figure in Ershui, and he was soon appointed to a variety of official positions from village council member to medical consultant to the state-owned railway company.

An oblique view of the hospital from across the street.

The Chinese name of the hospital reads right-to-left.

One wonders when the painted subtext might have been added.

Gazing up at the hospital nameplate in 2017.

Beneath the awning at the entrance to the old hospital.

A closer look at the corner of the façade.

The current building on Yuanji Road (員集路) dates to 1933, roughly sixteen years after the hospital was first established. The faded text below the nameplate reads Kō-Wa Hospital, mixing the Japanese romanization of the name with a smidgen of English, a rare sight in rural Taiwan. Not much is written about the hospital’s history, but it was presumably built to accommodate growing demand for Chen Ru’s services¹. The extant structure is red brick with an eclectic ochre-colored stone-washed façade. There is an inner courtyard with a two-storey residence beyond, but this isn’t at all visible from the street. As Chen Ru’s descendants did not continue practicing Western medicine the hospital was divided among heirs and converted into residences over the years.

Previously it was thought that the hospital was built by Chen Ru’s son, Chen Shijie (陳世傑), a biology teacher at Ershui Junior High School, but it now seems like only Chen Ru practiced medicine at the hospital. ↩