Su Wenkui’s father, Su Ba (Su Wenkui), was a Xiamen native who came to Taiwan from Tangshan. After arriving in Taiwan, he worked as a warehouse manager for a company called Desi Gu, an American petroleum company. Su Ba was born in the dormitory of a warehouse in Wanhua. When he was eight years old, he moved with his father’s job to the Shell warehouse in Tamsui, where he grew up.

He lived in the dormitory of this warehouse from elementary school, through middle school, attended the National Art School, and started working until he got married and moved to Tamsui Oil Depot. He lived here for a total of 21 years.

In his own words, he described his childhood as the poorest period in Taiwan. Students went to school barefoot, transportation included tricycles and ox carts. During high school, Taiwan entered industrialization, radios played records, black-and-white TVs progressed to color TVs, non-electric iceboxes turned into refrigerators, and Taiwanese baseball teams played in the United States while humans landed on the moon. During his youth, living rooms turned into factories, and Tamsui’s Zhubei area transformed into an industrial export zone. People went from buying houses to buying trading rights. Audiophiles switched from listening to records to listening to cassette tapes. He witnessed a generation of Taiwan’s growth.

The Shell Warehouse, formerly known as the Stinky Oil Warehouse, is now a historic site under the New Taipei City Government. The chapel of the Tamsui Church, where he received religious education, is also a renowned historic site in the old streets of Tamsui. Additionally, the campus of Tamkang High School, where he spent six years and held a deep affection for, is also considered a historic site. Therefore, it can be said that Su Ba not only teaches about historic sites and guides people to visit them but also grew up in the midst of historic landmarks.

Su Ba often says that if he were to summarize his life story on his future tombstone, it would only need three lines: “Tamsui, Tamsui Church, Tamkang High School.”

▲ The Stinky Oil Warehouse (now Shell Warehouse), where the teacher used to live, has been designated as a historic site by the New Taipei City Government.