China lost in the Anglo-Chinese War, so Taiwan was ceded to Japan. The Lin Family in Ban-Chiao wanted to be away from the disaster, so Wei-yuan Lin and many others moved to China and never came back. In the early stages of Japanese Colonial times, the mansion and garden was still under management. But years later, the Ben-Yuan Lin’s Family Mansion and Garden has been destroyed.
In 1949, many refugees were forced to move to Taiwan because of the nation civil war. Many people chose the Lin Mansion as a place to rest and soon after many Taiwanese citizens started to move in. According to records and reports, at the time, there were more than 1000 people,300 families living there. The Government also designed a section and named it “Liu Hou Village.” With the people’s illegal residence and destruction, the interior construction became even worse. This situation raised other citizen’s awareness in protecting this architecture. Soon after, fundraises for restoration began. In 1971, authorized by the government, Dong-Hai University started to plan the restoration process for the Lin Family Mansion. Due to the opposition by the neighbors, the restoration quickly ended. In 1977, the Lin family donated not only the ownership property rights to the Taipei County Government but eleven million New Taiwan Dollars repair fee.
Taipei County Government quickly processed the citizen of Liu Hou Village to move out and authorized the civil engineering department in the National Taiwan University to work on the restoration of the mansion. Civil engineering department asked teachers and students for measuring, drawing the accurate positions, areas, shapes, architectural structures, decorations, architecture’s fine details, sizes, and places for objects in the garden as well as analyzing the surrounding and planning. An estimated calculation for the expenses of the entire construction was finalized.
Today, many different organizations involved in the restoration of the mansion. Many citizens believed that the fragmentary losses of the architecture had more historical sense and created a pensive beauty. Yet restoring it back to its original form was closer to the cultural needs. At the end, after a thorough discussion within Bao-de Han, Heng-dao Lin, Guo-fan Wang, Wen-siong Hong, Ji-jui Wu, and Yi-gong Ma, a few fundamental concepts were recommended. At the end, they concluded that it was best to restore as much as possible, up until the Restoration period.
Up till today, the restoration process for historical sites has expanded. Other than the set value for the architecture’s exterior, scholars and architects have especially stressed the importance of a complete restoration and have also been more opened to the question of its historic significance. In despite of all these, the Ben-Yuan Lin’s Family Mansion and Garden’s preservation and restoration experience is very valuable in the preservation of Taiwan’s historical sites.
At the end of 1982, the Garden’s renovation process began and lasted for four years. The entire restoration cost more than NT$156 million dollars. This expense was paid by the Chinese Cultural Association, the Ministry of Interior, the Tourism Bureau, the Taiwan Provincial Government, and the Taipei County Government. With the help of government officials and the society, a hundred-year-old garden that was once lost has been restored.
