台電立霧發電廠宿舍

February 26th, 2026

A set of abandoned buildings line the highway leading to Taroko National Park in Fushi Village (富世村), Xiulin, Hualien. Most of these are former dormitories built for Taipower staff in the early post-war era to facilitate the reconstruction of the nearby Liwu Hydroelectric Power Plant (立霧發電廠). The buildings are not uniform; while most are primarily built with reinforced concrete, one has a wooden wing strongly reminiscent of Japanese colonial era dormitory architecture. Old maps show some buildings in this location in the 1940s so there’s a chance this set of dormitories has a mix of origins from successive eras.

The building second from the left is perhaps the most striking with its hybrid concrete and wooden design.

The interior of this building was designed with a raised wooden floor to allow for ventilation in summertime and underfloor heating in the winter.

An explosion of greenery outside the back door of the wooden dormitory building.

Wooden beams jutting out from the roofline are an unusual addition to this building; perhaps they were installed to provide a modicum of support to withstand eastern Taiwan’s frequent earthquakes?

These buildings have been abandoned for decades due to an ongoing dispute over ownership of the underlying land, which originally belonged to Truku Indigenous farmers in the surrounding village. Claimants argue Taipower expropriated the land from local farmers without due process. After Taipower vacated the site, plausibly in the late 1990s or early 2000s, the land was transferred to the Xiulin Township Office (秀林鄉公所) rather than returned to the original owners. The community has fought for restitution for nearly 20 years, losing an administrative court case in 2009 due to inability to produce decades-old ownership documents. In 2017, two buildings were controversially converted into the Taroko Cultural and Creative Park (太魯閣族文創園區) while most others remain in ruins, awaiting their fate.

The ruin at far left might have once served as an office rather than a residence, but there are no clues left behind to substantiate this hypothesis.

Another set of dormitories show a more robust design. One wonders if these replaced an earlier set of dormitories destroyed in an earthquake or typhoon.

At far right one will find yet another building design, this one converted for use as a cultural center for Truku Indigenous people.

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。