In the midst of bustling Taipei lies a historical oasis where clusters of shops and homes are a reminder of what was once “the most important port in northern Taiwan.” What might be a little-known piece of history to non-Taiwanese is set to change with a series of walking tours introducing the region that is offered in English and Japanese.
The tours are held by Taipei Walking Tour in the Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Dalongdong (大龍峒) districts, about 10 minutes north of Taipei Railway Station by car. Throughout May and June, a number of themed tours and workshops on topics such as Taiwan’s puppet culture, Xiahai City God Temple’s (霞海城隍廟) daytime and nighttime processions, and a roadside banquet on Dihua Street (迪化街) will be offered for NT$200 and NT$400. The tours and workshops are held mostly on the weekends leading up to the festival at Taipei Xiahai City God Temple, beginning on June 8.
In the past two years, veteran interpreter Joey Ho (何良正) has witnessed a growing interest among young people in Taiwan’s history.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Walking tour
“It could be the Internet that attracts young people to come and listen. Before, it seemed like young people weren’t interested in history. But through our efforts, they are starting to be concerned about this place, Taiwan’s history, its relics and old streets.”
With roughly 20 people following tour guide Johnny Cheng (程華生), the Dadaocheng heritage tour began with a stroll under the red arcade facade reminiscent of European architecture. Many of these former shops were built in the late 19th century, which coincided with Japanese occupation of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. As a result of the marriage of European-Baroque, Japanese and Minnan (Southern Fujian) architectural styles, the buildings lining the streets are distinctly unique to Taiwan.
Prior to the tour, Kelly Hsiao (蕭凌雲) said she knew little about Dadaocheng’s history as a prosperous riverside town. Hsiao runs a hostel and was looking for recommendations to travelers other than the usual shopping and night market experience.
Photo: Jenny Peng
“When you visit Europe [and] stay in a hostel, they provide so many free tours or walking tours... [B]ut in Taiwan... we don’t have so many local activities to join for foreigners.”
Hsiao doesn’t know any other English-language walking tours available, and she thought it was “sad” that Taiwan’s history wasn’t easily accessible to non-Taiwanese.
One of the surprise stopovers was a tour led by a descendant of Lin Lan-tian (林藍田), one of Dadaocheng’s first settlers. Lin’s residence, built in the mid-1850s, is an example of Minnan architecture, designed for doing business. It’s unusually long depth is broken up into three sections. Supplies would arrive in the rear, while living corridors were in the middle and the front was a shop.
“It’s a legacy,” said Scott Lin (林宗志). “The spirit and wisdom of that legacy is something we’re trying to pass on to future generations.”
Although Scott Lin’s ancestors made a living selling mixed goods and offering fortune telling services, the shop has become a modern tea house, hinting at Dadaocheng’s past as a renowned tea processing center. Today, however, dried goods and Chinese herbal medicine are the two most common businesses in the neighborhood, according to Cheng.
The two-hour tour also included stopovers at Ci Sheng Temple (慈聖宮) and Xia Hai City God Temple.
Though attracting non-Taiwanese was the original goal of organizers, the majority of participants on Sunday were Taiwanese.
Yang Jei (楊乃傑) said he enjoyed the tour.
“I am Taiwanese, but I never knew this part of our history.”
For comprehensive information about the tours in Chinese, Japanese and English, visit: www.taipei-walkingtour.tw.
It is jarring how differently Taiwan’s politics is portrayed in the international press compared to the local Chinese-language press. Viewed from abroad, Taiwan is seen as a geopolitical hotspot, or “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth,” as the Economist once blazoned across their cover. Meanwhile, tasked with facing down those existential threats, Taiwan’s leaders are dying their hair pink. These include former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), among others. They are demonstrating what big fans they are of South Korean K-pop sensations Blackpink ahead of their concerts this weekend in Kaohsiung.
Taiwan is one of the world’s greatest per-capita consumers of seafood. Whereas the average human is thought to eat around 20kg of seafood per year, each Taiwanese gets through 27kg to 35kg of ocean delicacies annually, depending on which source you find most credible. Given the ubiquity of dishes like oyster omelet (蚵仔煎) and milkfish soup (虱目魚湯), the higher estimate may well be correct. By global standards, let alone local consumption patterns, I’m not much of a seafood fan. It’s not just a matter of taste, although that’s part of it. What I’ve read about the environmental impact of the
Oct 20 to Oct 26 After a day of fighting, the Japanese Army’s Second Division was resting when a curious delegation of two Scotsmen and 19 Taiwanese approached their camp. It was Oct. 20, 1895, and the troops had reached Taiye Village (太爺庄) in today’s Hunei District (湖內), Kaohsiung, just 10km away from their final target of Tainan. Led by Presbyterian missionaries Thomas Barclay and Duncan Ferguson, the group informed the Japanese that resistance leader Liu Yung-fu (劉永福) had fled to China the previous night, leaving his Black Flag Army fighters behind and the city in chaos. On behalf of the
The captain of the giant Royal Navy battleship called his officers together to give them a first morsel of one of World War II’s most closely guarded secrets: Prepare yourselves, he said, for “an extremely important task.” “Speculations abound,” one of the officers wrote in his diary that day — June 2, 1944. “Some say a second front, some say we are to escort the Soviets, or doing something else around Iceland. No one is allowed ashore.” The secret was D-Day — the June 6, 1944, invasion of Nazi-occupied France with the world’s largest-ever sea, land and air armada. It punctured Adolf
RSS