Risky (dogs, snakes), visitors not welcome
Getting inside this place was not easy. It was a real challenge and cost me a lot of time — more on that later.
Tainan City Private Huaji Yong’an Senior High School (often simply called Huaji High School) was located in the remote Dongshan District. Due to the impact of declining birth rates, the school eventually ceased operations. In June 2022, the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration ordered the school’s foundation to complete the legal dissolution procedures.
The school began in 1969 as the Private Juguang Industrial & Commercial Vocational School, focusing on Mechanical Engineering, Drafting, Electrical Engineering, and Childcare. In 1991, it expanded to include General Studies, Nursing, and Tourism Management. It was apparently a large campus located in the middle of… absolutely nothing. Completely isolated — the nearest small village, which has zero recreational options, is more than a kilometer away.
In 2014, after two consecutive years of zero enrollment, the school stopped operations. It attempted a reinvention by partnering with the University of Debrecen Medical School in Hungary to host the university’s Taiwan branch campus. The first group of 13 students later continued their studies in Hungary. In 2015, the Ministry of Education’s high school evaluation gave the school four “Level 4” ratings. It was placed under counseling supervision and prohibited from increasing enrollment. Typical for Taiwan, the actual closure was delayed by years of legal disputes.
In 2022, the school became “famous” again. Completely overgrown with weeds and in total disarray, it looked like a long-abandoned ruin. Its remote location made the atmosphere even more unsettling. Residents recently discovered a fake human head hanging at the school gate, with a poorly dressed mannequin lying beside it. After photos were posted online, it sparked a wave of comments — some even jokingly asked whether this was the “legendary delinquent high school.”
(This is an old picture, now, the entrance isn’t overgrown anymore)
Today it was cleaned, and everything is very tidy. They hired an old man who keeps incredibly aggressive, semi-wild dogs, some of them on chains. Whenever I thought I was finally inside, it turned out I wasn’t.
But we are the best lost place website, after all. Here is the entrance.
(copyright Claudius Petzold)
