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Living Space
The design of Lo-Sheng was modeled after Kyushu Sanatorium (nowadays National Sanatorium Kikuchi Keifuen) in Kumamoto, Japan. The space was arranged into two main areas: “bacterial” designated for people with leprosy and their caregivers and “non-bacterial” areas where only people without leprosy were permitted. This layout clearly demonstrates that the concept of quarantine for infectious diseases was applied to life in Lo-Sheng.
This 1932 map indicates non-bacterial areas of the site (blocked in red). The changing room marked the separation between non-bacterial and bacterial areas (the remainder of the map). Here, doctors and nurses changed between street clothes and work clothes. The administration building and dormitories for nurses and officials were non-bacterial areas. The rest of the site constituted the bacterial area where people with leprosy lived out their lives.
Residents lived in dormitories that housed 20 to 40 people. Dormitories were usually Japanese style one-story buildings. Each dormitory usually contained eight rooms, six of them for residents and two for storage. Seven people normally shared a room, and male and female inhabitants lived in separate rooms.
At the very beginning, there were only five residents at Lo-Sheng. By the end of 1931, the number had increased to over 100. When the policy of strict segregation was implemented, inhabitants increased substantially to 223 in 1935 and 635 in 1940. In 1932, there were four dormitories for residents (blocked in water blue). As more people arrived, new residences were constructed. Some were built with courtyards (三 合院式) (blocked in dark blue), a style that took into consideration of Taiwanese living habits. An additional dormitory housed the children of residents. In later years, the site continued to expand. After WWII, new immigrants from China infected with leprosy, including soldiers, were also sent to Lo-Sheng. As the number of residents rose to over 1000, more dormitories were built.
Because Lo-Sheng was designed as a place for people to live out their lives, there was a range of other facilities. A 1940 map indicates a room to stage dances and plays, a woodworking studio, a kitchen, a laundry room, a bath house, a shop, two playgrounds, farmland, a chicken pen, two pigsties, a library, and an auditorium (all marked in red). In 1960, with building materials from the sanatorium, inhabitants constructed a cooperative (合作社). The cooperative served as a shop that was co-owned by inhabitants who also shared the profits. The cooperative became an important center of life in Lo-Sheng.
Image 1: 1932 Map of Lo-Sheng Leprosy Sanatorium
Image 2: Panorama of Lo-Sheng in 1932 with Japanese-style buildings
Image 3: Courtyard style houses in 1937 Map of Lo-Sheng Leprosy Sanatorium
Image 4: Courtyard style houses today
Image 5: 1940 Map of Lo-Sheng Leprosy Sanatorium
Image 6: Map of Lo-Sheng in Record of Taiwan Provincial Lo-Sheng Sanatorium (1996)
Image 7: Photo of the cooperative in Record of Taiwan Provincial Lo-Sheng Sanatorium
(1996)
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