# Thirteen Villages of Syuejia

The Thirteen Villages of Syuejia (Chinese: 學甲十三庄; Hanyu Pinyin: xuéjiǎshísānzhuāng; Tongyong Pinyin: syuéjiǎshíhsanjhuang; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ha̍k-kah-cha̍p-saⁿ-chng) were a group of Taiwanese Mandarin villages built in the seventeenth century CE, in nowadays Syuejia District (學甲區) and Beimen District (北門區), Tainan City, Taiwan. In 1661, when Koxinga arrived in the south-west part of Taiwan, four families from Baijiao Township (白礁鄉), Tonan County (同安縣), Fujian Province, China with the last names Chen (陳), Li (李), Hsieh (謝) and Chuang (莊) came along and built these villages.

## List of Villages

8 of them were located in Syuejia District nowadays:
* Syuejia (學甲) was located in the middle part of Syuejia District. It was now the urban area of the District.
* Zhongzhou (中洲, means "center land") was located in the center part of Syuejia District.
* Dawan (大灣, means "big bay") was located in the most south part of Syuejia District. Many of the ancestors from here were formally from Dawan, Yongkang District (永康區), Tainan.
* Caodi (草坔, means "grassland with mud") was located in the south-east part of Syuejia District. It got its name because of the low altitude.
* Shanliao (山寮, means "house by the mountain") got its name from the sand dune named cishinshan (七星山) near it.
* Zhaizigang (宅仔港) was located in the south-east part of Syuejia District.
* Syuejialiao (學甲寮, means "house by Syuejia")
* Daofengliao (ShinFang) (倒風寮 (新芳), means "house by Daofeng") was located in the north part of Syuejia District. It got its name because it was built on the side of the ancient bay, Daofeng Inland Sea (倒風內海).
5 of them were located in Beimen District nowadays:
* Sanliaowan (三寮灣, means "the bay with three houses") was located in the south-east part of Beimen District, west side of Xidiliao.
* Xidiliao (溪底寮, means "house by the end of the river") was located in the south part of Beimen District. It was once a larger unit, which included four villages: Sanliaowan, Xidiliao, Erchonggang and Luzhugou (蘆竹溝).
* Erchonggang (二重港, means "village with two small harbors") was located in the south-east part of Beimen District, east side of Xidiliao. People living there have the last name Ho (侯).
* Duzitou (渡仔頭, means "the start of the boats landed") was located in the north-west part of Beimen District, by the estuary of Yanshui River (鹽水溪).
* Huiyaogang (灰磘港, means "harbor with many stoves to burn oyster shells") was located in the east part of Beimen District. It got its name because the popular industry there was burning oyster shells into ashes. The ash was an important ingredient for architectures then.

## Industry

Located by the east side of Taiwan Strait, the villages were deeply influenced by the sea. It formed a culture or lifestyle called the Salt Land Lifestyle (鹽分地帶). Under this lifestyle, each villages had their own unique industries. Most common type of them were Fishery and Agriculture.
Fishery could be seen in villages such as Xidiliao, Duzitou etc.. They breed oysters, milkfish, shrimps, and others.
Agriculture were mostly be seen in areas such as Dawan, Sanliaowan, Erchonggang etc.. The agricultural form there were dry farming because of the salt amount in the soil was too high for most of the plants. They grew garlic, scallion, shallot, corn and such.
Apart from these, trading was once very prevalent here.