Shoufeng Dr. Du Residence

Date CapturedJune 21st, 2024 at 06:25 UTCCameraDC-S5M2LensLUMIX S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6Apertureƒ / 7.1Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length28.0 mmISO100Exposure Value13.6 EVOriginal Size3600 × 2400

A dilapidated Japanese style wooden house standing behind the Shoufeng Village Office (壽豐村辦公室). It certainly dates back to the Japanese colonial era and has the appearance of the sort of dormitory assigned to civil servants, schoolteachers, and so on, but its precise identity remains elusive. Online accounts suggest that in the post-war period it was passed to a physician surnamed Du (杜) who emigrated to Japan in the 1970s and left it untended thereafter; it has stood abandoned since at least the 2000s. The land is public, but ownership of the building itself reportedly passed to Du’s descendants, leaving the authorities unable to demolish it outright. Little else about its history is documented with any certainty.