長仁廢煙道

July 7th, 2014

The ruins of the flues of Jinguashi, massive pipes built to transport waste gas from the refinery below.

The waste flues of Ruifang are an extraordinary sight. The ruins of these massive, crumbling conduits run for miles up the mountainside from the Shuinandong Smelter 水湳洞精鍊廠 and the rest of the abandoned mining complex below. Originally built during the martial law era to transport noxious fumes and waste gases away from the refinery, and nearby settlements like Jīnguāshí (金瓜石), these flues are reputedly the longest in the world.

Like everything else on this hillside the flues are an unmitigated environmental disaster, contaminated by heavy metals and countless other poisons. Rather than clean anything up the entire area has been transformed into what must be the most egregious example of disaster tourism anywhere in Taiwan. Not far from the flues you will find Golden Falls (黃金瀑布) and Yin Yang Sea (陰陽海), both discolored by runoff from heavy metal contamination across the region, as well as the Gold Ecological Park (黃金博物園區).

For more about the flues check out this exhausting survey of the entire hillside or this more general interest travel article.

Warning: this location is abandoned, hazardous, or otherwise neglected and may be unsafe and even dangerous! Exercise appropriate precautions when visiting.

警告：此處已廢棄或長期無人管理，可能存在潛在危險。造訪時請務必提高警覺，並做好相關安全防護措施。