Nanpu Irrigation Canal

The Nanpu Irrigation Canal is located in Nanpu Village. It is home to Hsinchu County's only remaining and continuously operating century-old bamboo waterwheel. Its primary function is to irrigate farmland, and it also provides essential domestic water for local residents. The Nanpu Irrigation Canal, a century-old grand irrigation system developed by Jiang Shaozu, channels water through 21 tunnels to irrigate 60 hectares of paddy fields in Nanpu. Later, the canal lost its vitality due to silting. The residents of Nanpu Community collectively decided to fallow their fields for one year to repair it. During the canal's restoration, four elders, with an average age of 75, stepped forward to help, drawing on their early experience in mining. They painstakingly cleared out years of accumulated silt from the tunnels in the mountainside, shovel by shovel, enabling the canal to restore its former water flow. This became a prime example of rural regeneration.