Miao-Li county is a mountain county; forest is abundant. The Cyprus 檜木 forest was harvested for construction. Camphor lurel forest was harvested for distilling camphor. The less-valued Acacia (confusa Merr) 相思樹 was harvested for carbonization to make coal. Yes, the Hakka knew how to make coal from the Acacia tree through the carbonization technique. The Hakka built kilns to initially burn the tree. Using the heat released through the initial burning and the subsequent reaction, they sealed off oxygen to make sure the organic matters went through pyrolisis (or carbonization) without converting them into carbon dioxide. The burning took 7 nights and 8 days. Hakka's men (men only, women were excluded from this type of work) initially burned paper money and asked for blessing from the Earth god (Tu-Ti-Kon) 土地公 and went on 7-night 8-days burning, watching, and testing ritual. When the carbonization was complete, they would carry them (approximately 200 kg) over their shoulder and walked approximately 10 km mountain trail to the nearby train station to sell the coal.
That was hard work that our ancestors were working everyday to make a living on this land.
I visited a kiln at the San-Yi 三義village in late April while the shuttle buses at the San Yi 三義villages were still running. Photos show the Kiln as well as the man carrying coal to the train station.
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