1. Natural or man-made? What do you think?

The origin of Lake Success is debated, with the most common account being that it was manually excavated during the Japanese colonial era to serve as fire-fighting pond for a nearby military factory. However, a Japanese map of Taiwan drawn in 1904, long before the factory was built, shows the faint outline of an unnamed lake in Chituqi, Hsinchu City, nestled amongst the fields between Zhubei City, Zhudong Township, and Baoshan Township, beneath Shibajian Hill, where the NTHU campus is now located. By the middle of the Japanese colonial era, more precise surveying methods were in use, and the lake is clearly visible on the Topographic Map of Taiwan produced in the 1920s with a scale of 1:25,000.

At that time, the area around the lake was mostly farmland, swamps, and wasteland, and its location far from densely populated settlements made it a haunt for a variety of wild animals. Towards the end of World War Two and the Japanese occupation, the Japanese Navy built its No. 6 Fuel Plant in Chituqi, since the remote location made it relatively easy to purchase land, relocate residents, and construct the factory.

Construction of the factory began in 1943 and was completed in 1944, to meet the exigencies of the Japanese war effort. Parts of what is now the NTHU campus were then occupied by a variety of welfare facilities for the factory, including a naval hospital, dormitories, and an officers’ club. The dormitories for Japanese officers and senior technicians were located next to Lake Success, on the current site of Guangming New Village of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. The lake was used as a fire-fighting reservoir for the factory, with pipelines running below Guangfu Road, and leading to the north side of the fuel plant. Due to its proximity to the dormitories and officers’ club, the area around the reservoir also served as a local park. From then on, the lake was a well-known landmark, and it may have even had a Japanese name that is no longer known.

After World War Two, the land and facilities formerly belonging to the No. 6 Fuel Plant were jointly administered by the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the latter of which transferred its part of the land to the Hsinchu Research Institute of the China Petroleum Corporation. However, since no further production activities were carried out on the site after the War, the fuel plant was sealed off and soon became overgrown with weeds, bereft of any trace of human activity.

In 1949, the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan, bringing with it a large influx of soldiers and military dependents who needed resettlement, and the land administered by the Ministry of National Defense was used to build various types of housing, centering on the area around present-day Jianmei Road. The area soon became filled with the lively atmosphere of family life, with the housing for military dependents located on the other side of Guangfu Road and the former dormitories of Japanese senior technicians, now occupied by researchers of the China Petroleum Corporation, being located quite close to Lake Success.

2. What’s in a name?

The origin of Lake Success is debated, with the most common account being that it was manually excavated during the Japanese colonial era to serve as fire-fighting pond for a nearby military factory. However, a Japanese map of Taiwan drawn in 1904, long before the factory was built, shows the faint outline of an unnamed lake in Chituqi, Hsinchu City, nestled amongst the fields between Zhubei City, Zhudong Township, and Baoshan Township, beneath Shibajian Hill, where the NTHU campus is now located. By the middle of the Japanese colonial era, more precise surveying methods were in use, and the lake is clearly visible on the Topographic Map of Taiwan produced in the 1920s with a scale of 1:25,000.

At that time, the area around the lake was mostly farmland, swamps, and wasteland, and its location far from densely populated settlements made it a haunt for a variety of wild animals. Towards the end of World War Two and the Japanese occupation, the Japanese Navy built its No. 6 Fuel Plant in Chituqi, since the remote location made it relatively easy to purchase land, relocate residents, and construct the factory.

Construction of the factory began in 1943 and was completed in 1944, to meet the exigencies of the Japanese war effort. Parts of what is now the NTHU campus were then occupied by a variety of welfare facilities for the factory, including a naval hospital, dormitories, and an officers’ club. The dormitories for Japanese officers and senior technicians were located next to Lake Success, on the current site of Guangming New Village of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. The lake was used as a fire-fighting reservoir for the factory, with a pipeline running below Guangfu Road, and leading to the north side of the fuel plant. Due to its proximity to the dormitories and officers’ club, the area around the reservoir also served as a local park. From then on, the lake was a well-known landmark, and it may have even had a Japanese name that is no longer known.

After World War Two, the land and facilities formerly belonging to the No. 6 Fuel Plant were jointly administered by the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the latter of which transferred its part of the land to the Hsinchu Research Institute of the China Petroleum Corporation. However, since no further production activities were carried out on the site after the War, the fuel plant was sealed off and soon became overgrown with weeds, bereft of any trace of human activity.

In 1949, the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan, bringing with it a large influx of soldiers and military dependents who needed resettlement, and the land administered by the Ministry of National Defense was used to build various types of housing, centering on the area around present-day Jianmei Road. The area soon became filled with the lively atmosphere of family life, with the housing for military dependents located on the other side of Guangfu Road and the former dormitories of Japanese senior technicians, now occupied by researchers of the China Petroleum Corporation, being located quite close to Lake Success.