The Relationship Between St. John’s University and Hsinpu Seawall
翻譯: 徐瑞儀
St. John’s University used to be known as Hsinpu Institute of Technology, it was named after the Hsinpu seawall. Through the bird’s-eye view, we can see how the new Hsinpu seawall looks now. Our school is located on the east side of Taiwan, where the Taiwan Strait is on the west side. The picture that teacher Lin and I have is the beginning of the Hsinpu seawall, which was completed in August, 2020.
The Hsinpu seawall has three peculiarities. The first is “Stone Tidal Weir’’, according to the elderly, it was built to prevent enemies from coming in, so they carried rocks to this beach as protection; also, the pillbox aside the seawall has the same function. The second is ‘’Little Octopus’’, it’s about 2-3 centimeter, people would put on headlights at night and catch these tiny octopus. According to the elderly, the little octopus makes a sound like a baby crying. Also, it has a pretty good taste, the price now is over a thousand per catty. The last is ‘’Abalone’’, outside the seawall there is an abalone farm with a windbreak forest, which is a beautiful secret place.
This beach is absolutely stunning. They set up stone benches to let people rest on the trail, cars can also drive in, and there are also some observation points. Lots of people will be fishing in the morning, and you can watch the sunset in the afternoon. It’s a great place for couples to walk or families’ leisure and entertainment activities. St. John’s University uses the Hsinpu seawall to hold some events every year. Every last week of April we have the school’s anniversary celebration and sports day, one of the activities is called ‘’Running for St. John’’. The distance starting from the school gate and run pass through the Hsinpu seawall then return is about 3.5 miles. We hold the race for students, athletes, and faculties, which not only brings us closer to Hsinpu seawall, but also lets all the students and teachers know this place better.
Besides ‘’Running for St. John’’, the freshmen life camp also has a beach cleanup activity, led by the school president. We also have beach cleanup activities with the Xianxiao community, Tunshan community, Chang Gung University, China University of Science and Technology, Mackay Medical College, etc., it’s a really meaningful activity. Moreover, the school signed up a memorandum of understanding with the Water Resources Agency, hoping to protect and develop the seawall together. But so far our priority is to make the most of its life value, allowing more people to know about it.