Yao Shan Elementary no longer exists, I mean the school. It has been abandoned for decades but the school structure remains. The school closed because there were too few students and so they moved the students to a bigger school. On the way up to the school, I can't imagine there's a school there because it is really remote. The road up there is tiny and it just kept going and going into the deep mountain. After about a good 30min of constant riding up with a scooter, we were there.
The school is in surprisingly good shape considering how long it's been sitting around without any maintenance. The class rooms are now empty, but the walls were left with very time sensitive paintings. These are paintings from the anti-communism era, probably painted by the students then. It's interesting to see how time has passed by and how people have moved on, but what's remained is also presents a warm past to be missed. From the slogans on the wall to the daily student on duty calendar, one can just sit in the class room and began to imagine the days when the school was filled with students.
Yao Shan, in Chinese means medicine mountain. According to the historic records, the area was populated once because people came here to cultivate a kind of herb that were in great demand for making certain medication back in the Japanese colony era. As the demand drops, so did the means to sustain the community. Yao Shan Elementary school once had more than 100 students. That's really impressive given the location. Now, it's a quiet spot for those who know and who appreciates this little part of the local history.
And a bonus waterfall!
