Shimen Reservoir New Village Archway

The entrance archway to Caoluo New Village (草漯移民新村), the first of several settlements established on the sandy, drought-prone Guanyin coast in the late 1950s to house families displaced by the construction of Shimen Reservoir (石門水庫), only to face further expropriation a generation later as the Guanyin Industrial Zone (觀音工業區) overran the area. Erected in 1962 at an inauguration ceremony presided over by ROC vice president Chen Cheng (陳誠), the archway has been altered and relocated three times since as industrial development and road widening reshaped its surroundings. The most serious threat came in 2010, when officials unveiled a Highway 35 (桃35號) widening project that quietly slated the archway for demolition; outraged residents launched a petition campaign that forced a commitment to faithful reconstruction, re-inaugurated in August 2012.