Canadian Society members sweep foreigners' tombs in Danshui

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 6, 2006. It reports that on the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, people visit the graves of their ancestors and pay their respect to the departed. This custom was recently picked up by a group of people from the Canadian Society, who went to visit the graves of foreigners who are buried in Danshui Township in northern Taiwan's Taipei County.

The group visited a number of graves of foreigners who lived and died in Taiwan over a hundred years ago. They also cleaned up the gravesites of more than 80 Europeans and Americans. In particular, they placed flowers at the graves of the Mackay family, in order to commemorate its contribution to Taiwan. Dr Grorge Leslie Mackay was commissioned to come to Taiwan as a medical missionary in 1872. He later founded the Mackay Clinic in Danshui, which was the first Western hospital in northern Taiwan.

The majority of people buried in the graveyard in Danshui were English, followed by Americans, Canadians, Spanish, Portuguese, Germans and French. There were also several Chinese buried there, who were prominent in the town's religious circle. The historical importance and significance of the graveyard has enabled it to be designated a level-three historical relic.

The people of Danshui often refer to the graveyard as the "Westerners graveyard", or the "outsiders graveyard". Initially, Westerners rented a plot of barren land in the area in the late Qing dynasty. In 1891, the British consulate began work in the area and built a wall around the graveyard. After the Second World War, the American military also buried over 10 of its own in the graveyard. It was only after the British consulate withdrew from the Fort San Domingo in 1974, that no more foreigners were buried in the area. At present, it is the largest and best preserved of graveyards for Westerners in Taiwan.