Dalun Community Introduction
Dalong Community is located on the west side of the Shui-Sha Interchange of the Zhongshan Freeway, about 500 meters down the Jia-Pu Highway (County Road 168) towards the Chiayi County Government. It is a rural community that lies between urban areas and traditional agricultural settlements. The residents' attachment to the land is rooted not in material economic needs but in psychological connections to their homeland. Motivated by this sentiment, community elites actively engage in community work, aiming to create a culturally rich environment that emphasizes ecological sustainability and healthy living, working towards a beautiful community environment and an organic ecological home for sustainable community management. Environmental landscape features of the community include the "Water Reservoir," an essential irrigation facility during the times of underdeveloped water conservancy. Currently, the community still retains two large public ponds. In years 92 and 93 (2003 and 2004), community volunteers designed and constructed public land beside the ponds into a beautiful community nursery garden and Dalong No. 3 Eco Park. The "Community Nursery Garden" was initiated by the community team through the "Garden Mutual Aid Association," drawing inspiration from the ancient practice of mutual assistance. They completed a community nursery garden covering over 100 pings over six weekends. Subsequently, the community team expanded from the original women's group to include many fathers, husbands, and sons, establishing a solid human resource foundation for community building. Due to this strong community consensus, the various activities promoted by the community have been very successful. "Dalong No. 3 Eco Park" focuses on ecological methods, incorporating rest pavilions and eco-friendly surfaces. It also features a composting bin to demonstrate household organic composting techniques, aiming to create an educational and enjoyable environment. Additionally, "Dalong Sugarcane Transfer Station Park" is another significant landscape feature of the Dalong Community. The term "Transfer Station" refers to a sugarcane transport hub, which played an important role in Taiwan's sugar industry history. In the past, the Taiwan Sugar Corporation's "Wufenzai" train transported raw sugarcane to the Nanjing Sugar Factory, passing through Dalong Village, leading to the establishment of the Dalong Transfer Station. After train operations ceased, the station fell into disrepair and became an area of clutter. However, with the community residents' joint efforts, the "Dalong Transfer Station Community Exchange Center Establishment Project" received an NT$850,000 subsidy from the Council for Cultural Affairs in 2004, adopting ecological methods and community participation to clean up overgrown tracks buried for more than 20 years, reconstructing a standard Wufenzi platform, and completing ecological green space and visual beautification work. Additionally, they restored a rare foot-pedal water pump and, to showcase the historical significance of the transfer station, repurchased "raw sugarcane carts" and "molasses carts" from the Taiwan Sugar Corporation to be placed in the Transfer Station Park. This vibrant, ecologically rich area that embodies spatial regeneration and cultural revival adds a multifunctional community leisure park of 1,200 pings in Chiayi County's plain. Dalong Community is a large natural park exclusive to its residents, led by the community team's vision of "green flourishing in the pond area, Dalong Garden as the water hometown," based on three principles: mutual assistance through labor exchange, ecological methods, and waste reutilization, handcrafting every beautiful corner of the community. When you visit, be sure to appreciate the Dalong Garden filled with flourishing green and dancing butterflies!
