The spirit that rotated for a hundred years

   Grinding area is the workshop that make paddy into polished white rice. It is the symbol of the ancient Liudui people’s hardworking and sweating. It is also the historical witness of the name “Rice warehouse of Pingtung”. The traditional grinder (with parts) in Liudui park came from Guilai of Pingtung City. It was donated selflessly by Mr. Shi Xin-de, the third generation owner of a hundred-year-old rice grinding workshop. This grinder was made in the Showa era of Japan, it has gone through the ups and downs of Taiwan rice industry. In 1994, this grinder retired with Mr. Shi Xin-de. In 2007, Mr. Shi Xin-de had so much love in this grinder that he did not want to throw it away, so he donated the grinder to us, hoping that this would show more people the history of rice industry. Under the commission of Hakka Affairs Council, Dr. Xie Qin-cheng and his team dissembled and repaired this grinder. In 2009, the grinder was moved to Liudui Hakka Cultural Park and reconstructed. This century-old grinder delivers one of the realest scene in Liudui Hakka Cultural Park. It also has a new mission of carrying the knowledge and to educate the new generation.

   The Grinding Exhibition “The spirit that rotated for a hundred years” is designed based on the story of peasant Ah Kim. It tells the stories when paddy comes in and goes out the grinder, and the culture, love and knowledge related to it.

    In the early time, if people wanted to process paddy into rice, they needed to take off the outer hard shall and made it into raw rice, which was called “milling”. As this process would make dust flies in the air, the grinding areas were mostly located in the middle of fields or farms. The process that refining raw rice into white rice would be conducted in “rice refinery”. As this process would not pollute the air, rice refineries were mostly located in streets and served as rice-selling booths.

    The grinder in Liudui Hakka Cultural Park belongs to the “new” all-in-one design at that time. The new grinder was designed to make the power source, transportation, screening, thrashing and storage into one single indoor system. These processes were mean to be conducted in grinding area and rice refinery. This grinder was also a rare case at that time that it had two thrashing system to improve its output.