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Ciaotou Township was almost fully developed during the end of the 17th Century and the beginning of the 18th Century. Shihlong villagers built an embankment on the Jhongci River to guide the water for irrigation of the field “Houbi Field” on the southwest side of the village. The north side of the intersection of this path going towards the north to the Agongdian street has gradually become a gathering place offering groceries to the agricultural households since the end years of Yongjheng Era (1730s), which was also known as “Siaodianzai”; due to the fact that it was located at the major juncture, the commercial district increasingly prospered, and was recorded as “Siaodianzai Street” in the 6th year of Cianlong Era (1740). At the same time, in order to offer convenience for the busy pedestrians, logs were placed over the irrigation path to make a bridge, known as Siaodianzai Bridge. The bridge is also named “Yunguei (meaning curved) Bridge” for the fact that it was modified to an arc shape; because Siaodianzai Street is located on the north side of the bridge, people usually call it Ciaotou (meaning head end of bridge).
Sugar Industry Museum used to be Kaohsiung Sugar Factory, also known as the Ciaotou Sugar Factory constructed by the Japanese in 1901; it was the first modern sugar factory in Taiwan, where the sugar refining technique transformed into modernized machinery instead of animal power, thus it can be said to be the pioneer leading Taiwan towards industrialization of industries. The first Ciaotou Sugar Factory was in fact the laboratory for mechanizing the Taiwan sugar industry; its unique architecture, facilities, scenery and history are therefore worthy of being preserved. When Ciaotou Sugar Factory ceased to produce sugar in 1998, the Kaohsiung County Government appointed Ciaotou Sugar Factory as a county historical site, and further established Sugar Industry Cultural Parks as the valuable industry for transformation during the year 2000. After the Sugar Industry Museum went into operation in 2006, the collection and allocation of cultural and historical sugar relics were carried out at each division, in order to exhibit the cultural relics in more depth with stronger symbolization. The content for the exhibition completed up to this point includes the introduction of Taiwan Sugar Industry development, the transformation of Taiwan Sugar Corporation and the relative sugar industry cultural relics from each period. The presentation of the exhibition includes video clips, illustrations and actual objects etc.; video on the sugar production process is specially produced with computerized multimedia facilities to interact with the tourists, and to enhance the tourists’ interest to understand about the sugar production process.
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