The Sizihwan Tunnel () is a tunnel in

Gushan District Gushan District () is district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Administrative divisions The district consists of Gufeng, Xiongfeng, Qianfeng, Guangrong, Minzu, Neiwei, Jianguo, Zhongzheng, Zijiang, Longjing, Zhengde, Pinghe, Minjiang, Housheng, Longzi, ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It links

National Sun Yat-sen University National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU; ) is a public research-intensive university renowned as an official think tank scholars' community, located in Sizihwan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. NSYSU is listed as one of six national research universities, ...

and Linhai Road in

Hamasen Hamasing () or is a historic urban area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located in the southern end of Gushan District between the foot of Ape Hill and Yancheng District, another historic quarter. History The name ''Hamasing'' was derived from J ...

History

Empire of Japan

The tunnel was originally built by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

as part of the infrastructure project for Kotobuki-yama Park. The work started in 1927 with the excavation work led by Sanjiro Umino. The work was completed a year later in 1928 and the tunnel started to be used in 1933 as Kotobuki-yama Tunnel. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the tunnel was used as shelter for protection from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

bombing raid. The secret section of the tunnel was used by the Japanese as the combat command center which had a projection to all directions.

Republic of China

The

Kaohsiung City Government The Kaohsiung City Government is the municipal government of Kaohsiung. It was formed after the merger of Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City in December 2010. Its chief administrator is the directly elected Mayor of Kaohsiung. History In ...

renovated the middle section of the tunnel in 1990-1991. On 9 April 2004, the tunnel was declared a historical monument by the city government. In 2008, the tunnel entrance was demolished. In 2017, a section of the tunnel underwent renovation and the front section underwent landscaping works. The tunnel was officially opened to the public on 11 November 2017 in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of

. The renovation work was part of the Hsing Pin Plan city restoration work. It was decorated with lights and projected images.

Architecture

The tunnel is 260 meters long, 6 meters wide and 3.6 meters high. It consists of three sections, which are the front, middle and rear sections. Both of the tunnel two entrances are arch-shaped concrete-made rocks. The newly opened secret section of the tunnel has a U shape and is 100 meters long, able to accommodate up to 2,150 people at once. It has bathroom, dormitory, electricity, ventilation system and water supply source.

Transportation

The tunnel is accessible within walking distance northwest of

Sizihwan Station Sizihwan is a terminus of the Orange line (Kaohsiung MRT), Orange line and adjacent to Circular light rail Hamasen light rail station, Hamasen station of Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System. It is located in Hamasing of Gushan District, Kaohsiung. Its ...

Kaohsiung MRT Kaohsiung Metro () is a rapid transit and light rail system covering the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Its rapid transit network is known as Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit or Kaohsiung MRT. Construction of the MRT started in October 200 ...

References