The History of Zouying Fengshan Old City (Stone City and the City Wall)
文／陳虹育
當你計畫與家人到左營遠足，並在網上尋找一些景點時，你可能會注意到有一個地方叫做「鳳山舊城」。與此同時，你期望找到其中的原因。現在，我將介紹它為什麼被稱為鳳山以及這個地方歷經的歷史。
When you try to have an excursion with your family to Zouying, and you are searching for some attractions on the internet, then you spot that there is a place called” Fengshan Old City”. Meanwhile, you expect to find a reason for that. Now, I am going to introduce the reason why it is called Fengshan and the history the place goes through.
在清朝時期，今天的高雄市和屏東縣都是鳳山縣的一部分，而鳳山縣的行政中心最初在左營，後來遷移到現今的鳳山。因此，鳳山縣在左營和鳳山兩地都曾經建立縣城。最早建立的城市被稱為「舊城」，另一個則被稱為「新城」，但在日本殖民時期被拆除，所以現在只有舊城留存，形成了一個被稱為「一縣雙縣城」的現象。這也是為什麼左營以「舊城」聞名的原因。
During the Qing dynasty, Today’s Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County are part of Fengshan County, Fengshan County’s administration was originally in Zouying, then it migrated to the Fengshan nowadays. Therefore, Fengshan County has already built a county in Zouying and Fengshan. The first built county was called “Old City”, and the other one was called “New City” but had been dismantled during the Japanese colonial period, so only the Old City is left nowadays, causing a phenomenon called “One County, Two Cities”. This is also why Zouying is known by the term “Old City”.
在介紹了它名稱的起源後，讓我們來談談它的歷史。鳳山舊城是一個充滿歷史的地方，最初可以追溯到明朝和鄭氏王朝。由於它獨特的軍事地位，左營成為軍事耕作的中心，為這個地方建立了堅實的歷史基礎。隨著清朝的興起，左營成為了鳳山縣。縣的崛起和逐漸繁榮使該縣的經濟迅速飛漲。萬丹港的存在甚至開創了這個地方新商業時代的發展。
After introducing the origin of its name, let’s talk about its history. Fengshan old city where a place rich in history, can originally be traced back to the Ming and Zhen dynasties. Zaoying becomes the center of military farming because of its peculiar military status, building a tough base of the history of this place. Along with the upcoming Qing dynasty, Zaoying becomes Fengshan County. The country's rise and gradually becoming prosperous make the country’s economy skyrocket rapidly. The presence of Wantan Port even opened the development of a new commercial era in this place.
然而，歷史總是受到管理困難和政治擺動的影響，使該縣經歷了多次遷徙，從而導致該縣的繁榮在不同時期出現波動。在1721年，城市歡迎縣的歸來，他們建造了一座由岩石建成的城牆，用於軍事防禦，而這座城牆成為歷史的一個重要轉折點。
However, history has always been affected by managing difficulty and political oscillation, making the county undergo several times of migrating, thereby leading to the county’s prosperity over volatility a couple of times. In 1721, the city welcomed the county’s back, they built up the city wall which was made out of rock for military defense, and the city wall became an essential inflection point in history.
城牆成為歷史轉折點的原因是因為它隱藏著一系列觸動人心的歷史。在1786年，林爽文事件和吳淮泗的襲擊是由於族群襲擊而發動的。儘管襲擊對城市帶來了一些困擾或對城牆造成了一些損害，但城市仍然屹立不搖，成為見證這座城市歷史的地方。在1843年，該縣再次遷移到埤頭街，導致石城實際上沒有實際用途，這一轉折成為記錄和見證城市興衰的又一個里程碑。
The reason why the city wall became an essential inflection point in history is because it hides a series of touching history behind the truth. In 1786, the Lin Shuang-wen incident and the Wu Huaisi attack which was launched due to an ethnic raid. Despite the raid either dropping off some quandary to the city or causing some damage to the wall, the city still stands firm, becoming someone that witnesses the history of this city. In 1843 year, the county migrated again to Pitou Street, causing Stone City to not have any practical use, and this inflection became another milestone while recording and witnessing the city’s rise and down.
總的來說，左營鳳山舊城如今仍然充滿歷史。石城和其他文明博物館成為讓熱愛尋找城市歷史的遊客深入了解的地方。這個地區不僅見證了時代的變遷，還經歷了台灣不同的時期。隨著時間的推移，歷史的碎片將越來越多，但前提是需要在一個良好的環境下保存。
To encapsulate, Fengshan Old City is still rich in history nowadays, The Stone City and other civilization museums become somewhere that allow tourists who are enthusiasts to seek the city’s history in-depth. This area not only witnessed the transformation of an era but also underwent different periods in Taiwan. History fragments will become more and more as time goes by, but the prerequisite is that need to be in a well-keeping environment.
