The Disused Peiyun Middle School in Changhua (培元中學, 彰化)
The oldest classroom building at Peiyun. Looks a little militaristic and 1950’s ROC style
After a day of exploring and sightseeing in Changhua a friend I was traveling with mentioned an abandoned school he'd yet to visit on Bagua Mountain. It had been empty for many years and was the subject of multiple local ghost stories (as many abandoned sites here are). Intrigued we decided to pay a visit. Neither of us knew why it was it empty but afterwards, as per my usual curiosity, I looked it up and decided to post my findings. A minor addition to the documentation of curious places around Taiwan
An old kitchen
Peiyun School was established in the 1950's but the larger buildings look like they are from the 1970's or 80's. It has a fairly typical enclosed design and includes the usual entrance modernist totem thing that many schools of this era have.
I believe this is the first abandoned school I've looked around (I think the Earthquake Museum at Wufeng doesn't count) and far from being spooky I was struck by how calming the site was. Two white classroom buildings have been fairly well cared for while a long red brick building is in a worse state. Across the road is another large abandoned building that seems to have been used as staff and student accommodation.
A map of The Republic of China laying claim to all of China. The captions translate to stuff like “Our country’s administrative regions”. I wonder if modern schools have maps like this still?
Getting in involved a hole in the fence and jumping through a window. The site has guards but they seem to stick around a different building behind the site.
The main entrance building
A classic green fan typical of 1930-50’s ruins. Looking up into the roof this building does not look very well built.
This school is in a quite out of the way spot. It's uphill from the more densely populated areas of Changhua and not really close to the settled areas on Bagua itself. Most students would have to have been bused in and out each day. This combined with the general shift in demographics to an aged population in this part of Taiwan likely contributed to decline and financial problems. It's a story that has played out in many towns across southern Taiwan and I know of several other abandoned schools in the region. When the financial crisis struck in the late 90's the school encountered serious monetary troubles and was declared bankrupt. According to this article about an arson attack on old school buses the school was finally abandoned in 2000.
Abandoned in the year 2000
The brick building was probably the original school building. It has a damaged roof in places. All the main classroom buildings have been stripped of furniture though a little is left here and there. Unusually for a school of this size there doesn't seem to be an auditorium. Another small building used to exist before demolition in the 00's so perhaps an auditorium went the same way. The two white buildings just have some empty classrooms on the ground floor. Sadly metal shutters have sealed the way to the upper floors.
What were these grooves for?
A ghostly foot emerges from a classroom haha
After bankruptcy a difficult auction process took place. There were many restrictions on what the site could be used for. Eventually a businessman called Li Yuanhai won and after a little more financial wrangling took over the rights to the school. He planned to set up a branch of the Ivy League School, an American style private school that currently operates in Taichung. I believe it's this one rather than the Ivy League buxiban chain that operates around the island. The article here suggests the school would have opened in 2015. It seems there's a financial curse over the site with lack of funds scuppering this plan too. The site would have to undergo a lot of expensive development to bring it to the same standard as the Taichung Ivy League campus.
This building has a lot of antennas on the roof and this is probably why the site is guarded
At present the school is sometimes used for some sort of driving lessons or theory practice. This explains why the larger buildings are in fairly good condition and have electricity and water.
The driving school probably uses this classroom
Across a lane are the old accommodation blocks and kitchen areas. These are quite easily accessed and have a little more inside them than the classrooms. On the upper floors the old bunk-beds remain along with easels in an old art classroom. A mosquito ridden staff and guest quarters has some more detritus.
The accommodation buildings are in bad condition
It may seem strange to go into such depth for a an old school like this. However I'm glad to share the stories behind sites like this and sate the curiosity of other travelers and residents.
The old dining hall
Regarding the ghost stories: Some reports I saw on forums suggested visitors had felt faint, dizzy, and suffered tinnitus here (and also somewhat hilariously been freaked out by an unseen toilet that apparently flushed itself). The abundance of stories may stem from the fact there's a cemetery next door. During our entire visit neither of us noticed any trace of supernatural activity.
This room had a spotless mirror in it. I wonder why it was moved here obviously quite recently.
An art classroom
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A last look across Peiyun over what would have been the running track.