Taiwan History

Chiayi Train Station (嘉義驛)

Chiayi, is one of those special places in Taiwan that everybody just seems to love. Sure, it often gets overshadowed by its neighbor to the south, Tainan, but similar to Tainan, Chiayi is home to a plethora of historic places to visit, and is home to some of Taiwan’s most well-loved dishes. One of the other similarities that the two cities share, however, is that in recent years, the younger generation, most of whom migrated north to Taipei (or elsewhere) for better opportunities have returned, and they’ve brought with them a really cool hipster vibe that both cities have been more than happy to cash in on, bringing about exponential increases in domestic tourists.

Sometimes when these things happen, its just a stroke of luck, but in Chiayi’s case, I’d argue that it was also excellent timing. The young people from the area saw what was taking place in Tainan, with all of the restaurants and coffee shops opening up there, and thought, why can’t the same thing be done at home in Chiayi? Fortunately, when they returned, they also found themselves with a very willing partner in the local city government, which had invested considerably in the city’s historic properties, making them tourist-friendly, as well as improving the city’s public transportation infrastructure, which makes it even easier for people from all over the country to visit.

When Netflix’s “Street Food: Asia” series was released, to the surprise of no one, cities that are traditionally known for their food scenes, such as Bangkok, Osaka, Delhi, Seoul and Singapore were featured. Amazingly, though, both Taipei and Tainan, which usually hog all the limelight, were skipped, and the series featured a heartwarming story about Chiayi, its street food scene, and a special focus on how the younger generation returned and helped to bring the city back to life. For a lot of people, Chiayi was always just the gateway to the spectacularly beautiful Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, but thanks to the Netflix series, and the contributions of the local government and young entrepreneurs, the city currently provides visitors with a lot more incentive to stick around for a while.

Throughout all of the changes that have taken place in Chiayi in recent years, one of the things that has remained constant, at least for the past century or so, is the means by which most visitors arrive in the city. The city just so happens to be home to one of the few of Taiwan’s major Japanese-era railway stations that remains in operation today. The station, which is absolutely beautiful, is one of the city’s most iconic buildings, and whenever you see an image promoting Chiayi, the station is likely to feature prominently as it so well-known and well-loved.

Suffice to say, if you’ve been following the articles published on this blog over the past few years, you’re likely well-aware that the railway is an incredibly important aspect of everyday life in Taiwan, and has been instrumental in fueling the nation’s rapid development. However, as the country around it has developed, the railway has also had to constantly evolve to meet the needs of the ever-changing population. Sadly, the modernization of the railway has meant that most of the other major Japanese-era stations in Keelung, Taipei, Changhua, Kaohsiung and Pingtung have succumbed to the changing environment, while only the stations in Hsinchu, Chiayi and Tainan remain in operation.

But for how much longer is the real question.

Link: Taiwan’s Remaining Japanese-era Train Stations (台鐵現存日治時期車站)

Fortunately, we’ve entered a period in Taiwan’s national development where citizens actively pay a lot more attention to the preservation of the nation’s heritage buildings, so local governments, in partnership with the national government are held accountable in ensuring that public funding is made available for both their protection and preservation. Thus, when it came time for the historic Taichung Railway Station to be phased out of service, the local government preserved the station and created an absolutely beautiful railway culture park next to the new station, which has become an incredibly popular tourist attraction within the heart of the city.

Link: Taichung Train Station (臺中驛)

While Chiayi’s historic station remains in operation today, that situation is ultimately going to change as the railway within the city is going to go through the same type of modernization as has taken place in Taichung, which will help to ensure faster and more efficient travel times for passengers. When that happens, you can be sure that when this station is phased out, plans will be made to mirror the success of Taichung’s Railway Culture Park, with efforts already underway to coordinate the future park to include the Alishan Forest Railway Garage Park (阿里山森林鐵路車庫園區) and Beimen Station (北門車站), which will make for one of Taiwan’s largest railway culture parks.

Today, though, I’m going to introduce Chiayi Station as it is now, introducing you to its history, and its architectural design so that you can better understand this significant piece of Taiwan’s history.

Kagi Station (嘉義驛/かぎえき)

To introduce the history of the railway station, I’ll have to start by offering a bit of a backstory of events leading up to the arrival of the Japanese in Taiwan, and the development of the railway, which ushered in an era of modernity, development, and economic opportunity. The railroad not only offered the people of Taiwan with a means of public transportation, but allowed for the transport of goods and services allowing for a level of connectivity that the residents of Taiwan had yet to experience. While there were obvious benefits for the residents of the island, the railroad also became an instrumental tool that helped to fuel the fledgling empire’s goal of extracting the island’s precious natural resources, and there are few places in Taiwan where that was more evident than in Chiayi.

The history of the railway in Taiwan dates back as early as 1891 (光緒17年), just a few short years prior to the Japanese take over of the island. The railway project turned out to be one of the most ambitious development projects undertaken by the Qing government, under the leadership of then governor, Liu Mingchuan (劉銘傳). The Qing-era railway stretched from the port city of Keelung (基隆) to Hsinchu (新竹), but even though the project was led by foreign engineers, the final result turned out to be rather rudimentary, and ultimately came at far too high of a cost for the Qing to continue financing. Given that the Qing never particularly cared very much about developing the island, the high cost of the construction of the railway, and the fact that they were also preoccupied with war (and revolution), the project wasn’t particularly a serious one.

The Qing Dynasty was established during a period when China’s previous rulers had become far too weak to contend with the constant rebellions and civil disorder that were erupting around the country. Then, a hundred years later, in what may seem like a case of history repeating itself, by the late 1800s, Qing rule had similarly become incompetent, and corruption was rife throughout the country. The corruption that was prevalent throughout China’s bureaucracy not only prevented the Qing from modernizing its military, but also resulted in some diplomatic missteps that ultimately led to war with Japan, which itself was going through its Meiji Revolution (明治維新), and was in the process of transforming itself into a major military power. That war, known today as the first ‘Sino-Japanese War’ (1894-1895), ended about as quickly as it began, resulting in considerable embarrassment for the Qing rulers, who were completely unprepared to wage war against a much better, modern equipped Japanese military.

The war ultimately shifted the balance of power in Asia from China to Japan, and ultimately became the catalyst for revolution in China, which would within a little over a decade bring imperial rule to an end. Unable to compete with might of the Japanese military, the Qing elected to negotiate for peace, just a little more than six months into the war, formally ending with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (下関条約). Most notably, the key stipulations of the treaty were that China would be forced to recognize the independence of Korea (which until that time had been a tributary state), and that Taiwan and the Penghu Islands would be ceded to Japan, in addition to paying reparations that amounted to 8,000,000 kilograms of silver.

Shortly thereafter, the Japanese set sail for Taiwan, landing in Keelung on May 29th, 1895. Upon arrival, Japanese forces were met with fierce resistance from the remnants of the Qing forces stationed on the island, local Hakka militias, as well as indigenous groups. Over the next five months, the Japanese made their way south fighting a guerrilla war that ‘officially’ came to an end with the fall of Tainan in October. That being said, even though the military had more or less taken control of Taiwan’s major towns, the insurgency against their rule lasted for quite a while longer, resulting in some brutal massacres against the people of Taiwan. Nevertheless, similar to the war with China, the superiority of the modern Japanese military easily dispatched the local armies. The campaign to take control of Taiwan, however, taught the Japanese a hard, yet valuable lesson, as figures show that over ninety-percent of the Japanese military deaths during those first few months were mostly due to complications related to Cholera, Dengue Fever, and Malaria.

Link: Disease and Mortality in the History of Taiwan (Ts'ui-jung Liu and Shi-yung Liu)

History has shown that for the majority of time that the Qing controlled Taiwan, they were mostly uninterested in the island referring to it as a "ball of mud beyond the sea" which added "nothing to the breadth of China" (海外泥丸,不足為中國加廣). The hostile environment on the island was likely one of the reasons why they were so ambivalent about doing much during their time here, but that probably wasn’t something they were actively reminding the Japanese about prior to their arrival. Learning this the hard way, the Japanese were intent on addressing these issues, which had plagued Taiwan for much of its modern history, especially since they were invested in extracting the island’s vast treasure trove of natural resources.

To accomplish that mission, they would first have to put in place the necessary infrastructure for combating these diseases.

In Actuality, it would take several years for the Japanese to fully take control of Taiwan, and their losses were quite heavy, however, it would be the people of Taiwan who suffered the most, especially with the heavy-handed tactics that the Japanese took to suppress dissent to their rule. That being said, when the dust of war settled and the island started to develop, living standards on the island in turn started to improve, and the frequency of rebellions decreased.

For the Chiayi area, one of the major turning points in the city’s history came in 1906 when the Meishan Earthquake (梅山地震), the third deadliest earthquake in Taiwan’s history reduced the town to rubble. In response, the government quickly dispatched military and medical personnel to the area to assist in recovery efforts. As a major economic center for agriculture, timber and sugar, and Taiwan’s fourth-most populated town at the time, the colonial government placed a considerable amount of attention on the urban development of the city, and the response of the Japanese authorities to the earthquake in regard to both their humanitarian efforts and the reconstruction of the town was something that brought people together in a way that after a decade of violence, many people would have imagined unlikely. The earthquake may have devastated the city, but despite all the suffering and destruction it caused, it also brought with it opportunity, as reconstruction allowed the government to alter the town’s urban planning structure and developed it at such a rapid pace, that it started to flourish as it never had before.

An elderly couple enjoying the famed railway bento while waiting for the train!

Note: Let me take a minute to explain the terms I’ll using here for the town, and the station, so that you don’t get too confused. The area we refer to today as “Chiayi” (嘉義) was originally known either as ‘Tsulosan’ or ‘Tirosen' (諸羅山) in the local indigenous language, and slowly started being settled by Hokkien immigrants from Fujian during the Qing Dynasty. As I referred to earlier, the Qing, though, weren’t all that interested in Taiwan, and in addition to the pejorative phrase used to describe Taiwan above, they also had another saying about Taiwan, that translated literally was "every three years an uprising; every five years a rebellion" (三年一反、五年一亂), referring to the constant civil strife in Taiwan with regard to their governance, or lack thereof.

One of the most well-known of those uprisings was the ‘Lin Shuangwen Rebellion’ (林爽文事件) in 1786, which ended up being one of the more successful attempts at ridding Taiwan of Qing influence. It was during this time that the residents of Tsulosan banded together and fought bravely to defend their town from Lin’s militia, and when the rebellion finally came to an end, Emperor Qianlong (乾隆皇帝) rewarded the people of the town by changing its name from the original indigenous name, to “Chiayi” (嘉義), which pronounced in Hokkien as “Kagi”, and is literally translated as “Commended Righteousness.”

When the Japanese arrived in Taiwan, the name of the town was one of the few that didn’t have to be changed, because the Hokkien pronunciation and the Japanese pronunciation were exactly the same. So, the area was more or less referred to as “Kagi” (嘉義 / かぎし) from 1787 to the late 1940s when it was officially changed to its Mandarin pronunciation of “Chiayi,” although most of the area’s residents are likely still to refer to it as Kagi.

One of the colonial government’s first major development projects got its start shortly after the first Japanese boots stepped foot in Keelung in 1895. The military had brought with them a group of western-educated military engineers, who were tasked with bringing the existing Qing-era railway back online, as well as coming up with proposals for the extension of the railway across the island. As the military made its way south, the engineers followed close behind surveying the land for the future railway. By 1902, the team came up with a proposal for the ‘Jukan Tetsudo Project’ (縱貫鐵道 / ゅうかんてつどう), otherwise known as the ‘Taiwan Trunk Railway Project,’ which would have a railway pass through each of Taiwan’s established settlements, including Kirin (基隆), Taihoku (臺北), Shinchiku (新竹), Taichu (臺中), Tainan (臺南) and Takao (高雄).

Link: Taiwan Railway Museum (臺灣總督府鐵道部)

Construction was divided into three phases with teams of engineers spread out between the ‘northern’, ‘central’ and ‘southern' regions of the island. Amazingly, in just four short years, from 1900 and 1904, the northern and southern portions of the railway were completed, but due to unforeseen complications, the central area met with delays and construction issues. Nevertheless, the more than four-hundred kilometer western railway was completed in 1908 (明治41), taking just under a decade to complete, a feat in its own right, given all of the obstacles that had to be overcome. To celebrate this massive accomplishment, the Colonial Government held an inauguration ceremony within the newly established Taichung Park (台中公園) with Prince Kanin Kotohito (閑院宮載仁親王) invited to take part in the ceremony.

The Japanese government at the time touted the completion of the railway as a major accomplishment that would usher in a new era of peace and stability in Taiwan, and one that would help to bring about a period of modernization, and economic stability to the people of the island, and for the most part, they were right about that.

As mentioned earlier, the northern and southern portions of the railway were completed the fastest, with the engineers having the most trouble with the central region, mostly in Taichung, due to the necessity for the construction of several bridges. The southern section, originally between Kaohsiung and Tainan opened for service in 1900, and just two years later, the railway was extended to Kagi, where the First Generation Kagi Station (第一代嘉義驛) officially opened on April 20th, 1902 (明治35年). The opening of the station would be instrumental in connecting one of southern Taiwan’s largest settlements, but also for the colonial government’s future plans to start extracting natural resources from the Alishan Mountain region.

First Generation Kagi Station (第一代嘉義驛)

Prior to the completion of the main line, construction on the Alishan Railway commenced in 1907, with a terminus for the branch line at Kagi Station. That being said, the construction of the railway, which is now considered to be one of the most beautiful rail lines in the world, met with considerable financial difficulties and delays. Nevertheless, the 86km branch railway was completed in 1913, and offered not only passenger service access to the Alishan region, but was instrumental in the extraction of the area’s prized cypress.

It should be noted, however, that what often gets overlooked in discussions about the history of Kagi Station is that the station wasn’t solely home to the Alishan Forest Branch Railway. There were also other branch railways that connected to Kagi Station, most of which traveled west toward the communities closer to the coast, in what we now refer to as Chiayi County. These branch railways offered passenger services, but were for the most part privately run enterprises belonging to the various sugar factories operating in the region, but made use of Kagi Station for purposes of transporting freight.

Photo from the skywalk to the rear of the First Generation Kagi Station.

After a few decades of use, the First Generation Kagi Station had become far too small for the community that had grown around it, as well as for the amount of freight passing through, so the expansion of the station and the railway became necessary. The station we know today, the Second Generation Kagi Station (第二代嘉義驛) was completed in 1933 (昭和8年), and was considerably larger than its single-story wooden predecessor. The new station, designed by architect Ujiki Takeo (宇敷 赳夫/うじき たけお) was constructed in a style that was considered to be quite contemporary for its time, and displayed just how much Taiwan had progressed in the few short decades since the Japanese took control of the island.

Japanese-era photo of the Second Generation Kagi Station

Just to give you a better indication of architect Ujiki Takeo’s contributions to Taiwan, he was also the mastermind responsible for Tainan Station (臺南驛), Taihoku Station (第三代台北驛), Tai’an Station (泰安驛), Kagi City Hall (嘉義郡役所), the Taipei Railway Workshop (臺北機廠), and the Shinchiku Prefectural Library (新竹州圖書館), among others.

When the new, much larger station was completed, it was part of an urban development plan that transformed the face of the downtown area of Kagi, with a number of beautifully designed civic buildings and industrial buildings nearby, making the station the literal beating heart of the ever-growing city. That being said, the importance of the station to the residents of Kagi is something that evokes both positive and negative memories.

To this point, I’ve only focused on the events that took place regarding its construction, but it has to be noted that when the Japanese surrendered control of Taiwan at the end of the Second World War, the regime that took over used the station’s importance to make a bit of a point to the people of the town about how much they were willing to put up with. By now, most people who have studied Taiwanese history have learned about the terrible events that took place during the February 28th Incident (二二八事件), something which is now commemorated as an annual national holiday in Taiwan.

However, some of the things that happened during this infamous moment in Taiwanese history aren’t very well-told, and the ‘Kagi Station Incident’ might only be one that lingers in the memories of the residents of the city. Essentially, what took place was that in 1947, the Chinese Nationalist Military found itself trapped within the Chiayi Airport, due to protests from local residents because of what was taking place in other parts of Taiwan.

One of the Kagi’s most influential citizens, famed painter and politician, Tan Teng-pho (陳澄波), partnered with a group of the city’s other well-known residents and formed the ‘February 28 Incident Committee’ (二二八事件處理委員會), and after much debate came to the conclusion that they would approach the military under the banner of peace in an attempt to mediate a solution to the conflict. Things didn’t go as planned, though, and instead, they were arrested, and once the military was able to make its way out of the airport, members of the committee were forced to march from the local police station to Kagi Station, where they were then executed in front of a crowd of people. The military and the police forbid family members from removing their corpses, and their bodies ended up being left rotting in the square in front of the station for three days as a warning to the residents of the city not to mess around.

Bloodstained Station Square (血染車站廣場) by Ouyang Wen (歐陽文)

In what has become a well-known work of art depicting what happened, artist Ouyang Wen (歐陽文), a resident of Chiayi, and an eventual political prisoner himself, depicted Tan Teng-pho and others being shot from the back of a truck by Nationalist soldiers. Sadly, this was just one example of the atrocities that the people of Taiwan had to endure during the long-period of martial law, known as the White Terror Period (白色恐怖) that followed.

Over the next half century, ‘Chiayi Station’, as its now known, has overseen considerable changes as the city has grown around it. Not only has the city grown and continued developing, but the railway has as well, with efforts constantly being made to modernize the network. That being said, the station has also overseen long periods of economic stagnation as both the timber and sugar industries that once made it an economic powerhouse have declined. The Alishan Forest Railway has been converted into a passenger-only service, and the massive network of sugar railways that once connected to the station have (for the most part) all been torn up.

With the decline of both of these industries, which were the rocket fuel of Chiayi’s urban and economic development through both the Japanese-era, and the early years of the post-war era, the necessity for freight service out of the city had also declined. While the original freight and military rails remained in place for several decades, they were finally officially put out of service in 2023 and in the time since, construction work has started to have those sections of the railway torn up, in order to prepare for the future elevation of the railway.

Link: Chiayi Urban District Elevated Railway Project (嘉義市區鐵路高架化計畫) (Wiki)

With plans to have the railway elevated off of the ground, and the eventual construction of an MRT system within the city, there will be a considerable amount of investment in the city’s public transportation over the next several decades, and in a situation similar to what happened with Taichung’s historic Japanese-era station, Chiayi Station as we know it today will be retired within the next few years. When that happens, the station will likely undergo a period of restoration, and then re-open to the public as a railway culture park of some sort.

However, since construction projects like this in Taiwan are notorious for their delays, it’s difficult to say when the historic station will see its last day of service, but as I mentioned in my introduction earlier, if you want to enjoy the station in its original glory, now is the time to visit. Try your best to get there as soon as you can so you can enjoy both the beautiful city, and its historic station!

Before I move on to detailing the architectural design of the station, I’ve put together a condensed timeline of events in the drop-down box below with regard to the station’s history for anyone who is interested:

    • 1895 (明治28年) - The Japanese take control of Taiwan as per the terms of China’s surrender in the Sino-Japanese War.

    • 1896 (明治29年) - The Colonial Government puts a team of engineers in place to plan for a railway network on the newly acquired territory.

    • 1900 (明治33年) - The first completed section of the Japanese-era railway opens for service in southern Taiwan between the port town of Kaohsiung and Tainan.

    • 1902 (明治35年) - After years of planning and surveying, the government formally approves the Jukan Tetsudo Project (縱貫鐵道 / ゅうかんてつどう), a plan that will connect the western and eastern coasts of the island by rail.

    • 1902 (明治35年4月20日) - The First Generation Kagi Station opens for service along the southern portion of the railway.

    • 1906 (明治39年) - On March 17th, the Great Kagi Earthquake (嘉義大地震), with an epicenter in Meishan (梅山) leveled much of what had been constructed in the area.

    • 1907 (明治40年) - Construction of the Alishan Railway (阿里山林鐵) commences.

    • 1908 (明治41年) - The 400 kilometer Taiwan Western Line (西部幹線) is completed with a ceremony held within Taichung Park (台中公園) on October 24th. For the first time, the major settlements along the western coast of the island are connected by rail from Kirin (Keelung 基隆) to Takao (Kaohsiung 高雄).

    • 1913 (大正2年) - The 86km Alishan Forest Railway (阿里山線) between Kagi Station and Shohei Station (沼平驛 / しょうへいえき) is completed and opens for service.

    • 1933 (昭和8年) - The Second Generation Kagi Station, designed by Ujiki Takeo (宇敷 赳夫/うじき たけお) opens for service.

    • March 2nd 1947 (民國36年3月2日) - Due to a violent conflict between the residents of Chiayi and the Chinese Nationalist military, which found itself trapped within the Chiayi Airport, several local residents, including famed painter and politician Tan Teng-pho (陳澄波) formed the ‘February 28 Incident Committee’ (二二八事件處理委員會) and approached the military in an attempt to mediate a peaceful solution to the conflict, but were instead arrested.

    • March 25th 1947 (民國36年3月25日) - Tied up with wire, the arrested members of the committee were forced to march from the local police station to the train station and were then publicly executed with members of their families forbidden from removing their corpses, which were left in the square in front of the station for three days as a warning to the residents of the city.

    • 1988 (民國77年) - A statue of Wu Feng (吳鳳), a historic figure who had attempted to ‘civilize the natives’, located near the entrance of the station, was beheaded by members of the local indigenous community as he had been propped up by the Chinese Nationalists as a national hero, but was a constant reminder of the historic racism and stereotypes that the indigenous people of Taiwan have been forced to endure.

    • 1998 (民國87年) - Chiayi Station is recognized as a Chiayi City Protected Heritage Property (市定古蹟) on October 15th.

    • 2007 (民國96年) - With the completion of the High Speed Railway, the Chiayi City government also establishes a bus network that connects the two stations.

    • 2017 (民國106年) - The area in front of the station is cleaned up and a station beautification process is undertaken.

    • 2023 (民國112年) - The non-passenger ‘platforms’ that were used for freight trains and military transport are phased out of service in order to make way for the planned elevation of the railway running through Chiayi City.

Architectural Design

As you saw in some of the historic photos provided above, for the first three decades of its existence, Kagi Station, like almost all of the ‘first-generation’ stations constructed across Taiwan, was a simple, traditionally designed wooden building. However, unlike the few Japanese-era stations that you’ll find remaining in operation today, this one was considerably larger.

If you’ve been reading my articles for any period of time, you’re likely to have noticed that I tend to focus on the more traditional-looking Japanese-style buildings, most of which were constructed with timber, and even though the Second Generation Kagi Station we know and love today is quite beautiful, the historic photos of its predecessor are the kind of thing that make you wish time travel were possible.

It would be amazing to be able to take photos of it in its original glory.

That being said, after three decades of earthquakes, typhoons, termites, and ultimately, changes in the demographics of the city, an upgrade became necessary. Coincidentally, by the time that planning started for the second generation Kagi Station, other major stations around the island were also receiving major upgrades, in most cases, due to the reasons mentioned above, but also for more practical reasons as well.

Far away from Taiwan, back on the Japanese mainland, the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake (関東大地震) in 1923, completely changed the Japanese mindset regarding construction. All of the work that had been done throughout the Meiji and Taisho eras, developing Japan into a modern nation had been reduced to rubble in a matter of minutes and due to the frequency of earthquakes, the Japanese government started to take building safety much more seriously. This was a period when ‘earthquake-proofing’ structures became paramount and as it happened, the colonial government had developed Taiwan to the point that the materials required for constructing buildings with reinforced concrete had become readily available, and considerably more affordable. Thus, many of the civic buildings and train stations that were constructed in the aftermath of the Kanto earthquake started to adapt to this method of construction as safety and longevity became paramount.

Note: Although the Second Generation Kagi Station was completed in 1933, earthquake-proofing in Taiwan didn’t actually became the law of the land until the Governor General’s official building-standard codes came into effect after the Shinchiku-Taichu Earthquake (新竹台中地震 / しんちくたいちゅうじしん) of 1935 (昭和10), which caused tremendous damage around the island.

Ujiki Takeo (宇敷 赳夫/うじき たけお), an architect, who, shortly after his graduation from Nagoya Higher Technical School (名古屋高等工業學校), was commissioned by the Taiwan Governor General’s Office to come to Taiwan to work with the colonial government’s design team. Coincidentally, his father, Ujiki Keiichi (宇敷敬一), came to Taiwan almost a decade earlier, working in various departments prior to the arrival of his son in 1916 (大正5年). During his time in Taiwan, Takeo was shifted around a few times between different departments, working closely with Shinchiku Prefecture (新竹州), Tainan Prefecture (臺南州), and then with the Railway Bureau (鐵道部) as an architect. As noted earlier, Ujiki became an incredibly accomplished architect here in Taiwan, designing some of the era’s most beautiful buildings, several of which remain standing today.

Ujiki’s work, especially the buildings he designed for the railway, differed from the original classic architectural designs reserved for train stations, and instead made use of the European Art Deco architectural style. While not entirely European in design, Ujiki often fused with elements of Japanese style of design, creating what the Taiwan Architectural Society (臺灣建築會誌) referred to at the time as “Modern Revival Style” (近世復興式).

What’s common among the major railway stations that were designed by Ujiki, which most notably include the Third Generation Taihoku Station (第三代臺北驛), Second Generation Tainan Station (第二代臺南驛), and Kagi Station (嘉義驛), the latter two of which remain in operation today, follow his ‘Modern Revival Style’ of design. By the 1930s, the Art Deco style of architectural design had become quite popular throughout Europe and North America, and was a style of design that likely showed up at the right time given the national scars that Japan had endured due to massive earthquakes on the mainland as well as in Taiwan. Buildings constructed in this style were constructed with steel-framed reinforced concrete and were characterized by their clean lines, rectangular forms, with little to no decoration on the facades, which was a stark contrast from the Art Nouveau and Baroque styles that were quite popular with Japanese architects in the early years of the Japanese-era.

In what would have been a stark contrast from what people were used to at the time, the Second Generation Kagi Station was constructed quite faithfully to Art Deco architectural design characteristics. It featured a large box-like main hall, with wings on both its eastern and western sides. The building’s walls were smooth, featured very little in terms of decorative design, and had mostly flat roofs, in what was meant to emphasize classical symmetrical design. While not entirely decorative in nature, the main hall of the station is characterized by its five large arched windows on the front as well as on the rear. Although they do add a decorative element to the building’s design, they’re also quite functional in that they allow for a considerable amount of natural light within the interior of the main hall. Directly above the largest window in the center of the building, you’ll find a clock, which has been part of the building’s design for more than ninety years, and unlike the clock tower that was removed from the historic Taichung Station, its not only still there, but it still works as well.

One of the things you’ll notice about both the entrance to the main hall, and the area where you go through the turnstiles to the platform is it's odd-shape, which is unlike any other railway station in Taiwan. The entrance is not only wide, but it’s also geometrically curved at the top. The border of the entrances features specially-molded curved bricks that were fired in Beitou (北投素燒面磚), which are noticeable, because they are also featured on the edges and borders of the building in the areas where the walls aren’t white washed stone. The combination of the two gives the building its iconic white and orange appearance, which is also quite unique among Taiwan’s railway stations. The clever thing about the shape of the door, with the assistance of the windows, is that during the right time of day, the light that comes in through both the entrance and the windows creates a path of light in the direction of the turnstiles, which if you know anything about the meticulous attention to detail of Japanese architecture, was entirely on purpose.

The interior space of the building is something that has changed considerably over the decades, but as I’ll mention a bit later, now that it has been cleaned up, it has more or less returned to its original interior design. The interior walls are painted with white stucco, which assist in making the space quite bright with the natural light coming in through the windows. The space was set up into different sections with only the Ticket Booth (出札室), a luggage room (赤帽室), and a canteen (賣店) located within the main hall. The western-wing was where you’d find a large Waiting Area (參等待合室), and the area where passengers would exit upon arrival.

The eastern wing, on the other hand, was a little more complicated as it also featured a Waiting Area (壹貳等待合室), but a VIP Waiting Room (特別待合室) that had a special side entrance (特別玄關), and its own special platform gate. It also featured a staff room (給仕室), and public restrooms (用便所與化粧室) for men and women.

Even though the interior design has recently been cleaned up, it’s important to note that there are still considerable differences from the original 1933 design, but that’s to be expected after so many years. The luggage room, for example, was at some point transformed into the ticket booth for the Alishan Forest Railway line, but they’ve since moved it elsewhere, and the area is currently unused. Similarly, the waiting rooms on both the eastern and western wings have been filled. Instead of providing an open space with seating for passengers, the western wing has tourist information booths, and the eastern wing currently has a Family Mart convenience store, which I’m assuming also makes use of the former VIP space as a rear entrance for deliveries.

Space within the Main Hall has remained relatively the same, but the canteen space has been removed, and was originally used for purchasing tickets from machines, but now that the railway allows passengers to swipe in and out using EasyCards, they have been removed and the space is completely open, which is quite nice.

Once you’ve passed through the turnstiles, you’ll have reached the space where I feel like the decorative elements of the station stand out the most. The platform area where you wait for the arrival of your train features an absolutely beautiful network of pillars and trusses that provide passengers with a roof-covered platform waiting area (月台構). What most people don’t actually realize is that this is one area of the station that never really changed in its design since the station first opened in 1933, as you can see compared in the photos below.

The network of pillars and trusses that hold up the canopy have been constructed using the very same rails that are used for the trains, and what’s important to note is that the the curved beams and trusses that hold up the roof were imported directly from Kyushu. Given the age of the station, and the amount of typhoons and earthquakes that have occurred in the decades since, it’s amazing that they have been been able to withstand the test of time the way that they have. If you find yourself at the station, take a minute or two to appreciate the design.

Ultimately, when the Japanese-era came to an end, Chiayi Station went through quite a few changes over the next half century, and I have to admit, on my first visit to the city, the station didn’t leave much of an impression on me. In what has become somewhat of an Internet meme in Taiwan, what happened to the station is similar to what happened to a lot of Taiwan’s other historically significant buildings in that it went through a ‘ROC-Beautification’ (華國美學) process. The jist of the joke is that a bunch of hideous things were added to more or less cover up the original design. If you do a Google search for the station and check out some of the images, you’ll likely be quite surprised at just how sad the station appeared for a few decades, mostly during the years when Chiayi’s economy was in decline.

Fortunately, the city government established the ‘Back to the Future’ program in 2021 prior to the city hosting the Taiwan Design Exhibition (台灣設計展).

Link: Back to the Future!嘉義火車站微改造2.0 重現1933全島第一摩登車站 (Taiwan Design Research Institute)

It was during this time that the decades of modifications were removed, and the ticketing hall was reorganized to restore the building to its original glory. The beautification process not only restored the interior of the station, and removed the hideous concrete that covered up the front of the station, but it also transformed the station front, which used to allow vehicles to drive up pretty close to the main entrance. Now, the square in front of the station has been completely cleaned up, and has also become a lot more pedestrian (and photographer)-friendly.

Getting There

 

Address: #528 Zhongshan Road, Chiayi City (嘉義市中山路528號)

GPS: 23.479436, 120.441055

Whenever I write about one of Taiwan’s historic train stations, obviously the best advice for getting there is to simply take the train. That being said, Chiayi is a pretty popular place, and there are a number of ways to reach the city, without taking the train. Obviously, though, if you want to spend some time checking out the interior space of the station, including the beautiful platform space, you’ll probably want to get on or off the train while in town.

Whether you’re traveling southbound, or northbound, as one of Taiwan’s major railway stations, Chiayi Station is accessible via each of the western trunk line’s express train services as well as the local commuter trains, so matter what train you get on, it’ll make a stop at the station.

High Speed Rail / Bus Rapid Transport

If you arrive in Chiayi via Taiwan’s High Speed Rail, you’ll probably notice that the station is located a fair distance away from the downtown core of the city. Taking the HSR to Chiayi saves a lot of travel time, especially if you’re traveling from Taipei, but once you’ve arrived, you’re going to have to either take a taxi or a bus into town. Fortunately, Chiayi Station is connected to the Chiayi High Speed Railway Station (嘉義高鐵站) through the Chiayi Bus Rapid Transit (嘉義公車捷運), an express bus service that connects the High Speed Rail station to the city.

If you arrive in the area via High Speed Rail, you can easily exit the station to the bus parking area and hop on either bus #7211 or #7212 to get yourself to the downtown core of the city.

Link: Bus #7211 and #7212 schedule (Chiayi City Bureau of Transport)

As one of only three remaining major railway stations from the Japanese-era in operation today, Chiayi Station has a long and storied history, with some pretty great things happening there, but also some pretty sad things as well. Even though the station is just a year years short of celebrating its centennial, the station as we know it today is about to undergo changes similar to what took place in Taichung, and eventually it’ll be retired.

The station is part of a dying breed of Taiwan’s historic public transportation hubs and as the city has developed around it over the past century, with its final breaths, it’ll see the downtown core of the city completely transform when the elevated railway officially starts running. Once that happens, Chiayi Station will be phased out of service, and its role will ultimately change from the city’s most important transportation hub to a place where the history of the city is celebrated for years to come, much like what happened with Taichung Station. So, if you’re interested in checking out this historic station while its still in operation, I highly recommend taking a trip to Chiayi as soon as you can. Obviously, you won’t be disappointed as the city is currently one of the hippest places in Taiwan to visit with a number of great restaurants and coffeeshops!

References

  1. Chiayi railway station | 嘉義車站 中文 | 嘉義駅 日文 (Wiki)

  2. Tainan Prefecture | 臺南州 中文台南州 日文 (Wiki)

  3. Chiayi | 嘉義市 (州轄市) (Wiki)

  4. 宇敷赳夫 中文 | 宇敷赳夫 日本 (Wiki)

  5. 嘉義火車站 (國家文化資產網)

  6. 嘉義火車站 (文化部)

  7. 嘉義車站 (臺灣驛站之旅)

  8. 嘉義車站 (鐵貓)

  9. 林業鐵路歷史介紹 (林業鐵道)

  10. 嘉義火車站 (Wilhelm Chang)

  11. 嘉義火車站空間微改造大變化,減法設計回歸歷史建築的原始美 (微笑台灣)

  12. 2021台灣設計展【02嘉義火車站】微改造!打開古蹟建築的原貌歡迎大家回嘉 (LaVie)

  13. Back to the Future!嘉義火車站微改造2.0 重現1933全島第一摩登車站 (臺灣設計研究院)

  14. 嘉義市市定古蹟嘉義火車站調查研究 (嘉義市文化局)

  15. 日治後期火車站、鐵道大多出自他之手──現代Art Deco風格設計者「宇敷赳夫」(Story Studio)


Bao'an Station (保安車站)

I’m a bit of a weirdo when it comes to organization, so when it comes to places that I want to visit, I have a map that I’m constantly updating, and, as I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions, the majority of spots that I have on my list are located somewhere in the south of Taiwan. Over the years, I’ve added so many places to visit on the map that I’d probably need months to visit all of them, but all that means is that whenever I do find the time to make my way down south, I always have a tight schedule of things to see and do with the little time that I have.

That being said, when I do find the time, my plans often end up being far too ambitious, and although I always try my best to get a lot of work done, something I’ve come to realize is that the pace of life down there is a lot more chill than it is up here in the north. Instead of running around trying to visit as many places as possible, a better idea might be to, instead, visit a few destinations while also remembering to spend time relaxing, enjoying the weather, eating great food, and enjoying some really cool coffee shops.

These decisions are, admittedly, made a lot easier when your trip is interrupted by a tropical storm that brings with it days of torrential rain. so, with few other options with such weather, a lot of the time during my most recent trip south was spent hanging out in some of the Tainan’s hip coffeeshops, where I enjoyed the tropical fruit-inspired coffee that the city has become known for. When the weather did clear up, I set off to check out some places on my list, but when the rain came back, I was off again in search of another seat at a coffee shop.

Even though I wasn’t as productive on this trip as I have been on others, I made the most of my time, despite the weather, and got to see a few places that I had on my list. Without a hint of irony, though, on the day that I was scheduled to head home, I woke up for breakfast, packed my bags, checked out of my hotel, and walked out into the kind of beautiful weather that Tainan is known for. With a few hours before my train was scheduled to depart, I decided to make the most of the little time I had and made my way to the historic Bao-An Station (保安車站), one of the locations that was pretty high up on my list.

If you’ve been following my blog for any period of time, you’re probably well-aware that one of my ongoing projects has been documenting Taiwan’s historic railway stations, especially those that date back to the Japanese-era, so this was one of the places on my list that I was really looking forward to visiting, and fortunately, I was able to check it out as it was on my way to the High Speed Rail Station that would eventually take me home.

View of the station from the train

Hopping on the train at Tainan Station and heading south on the commuter train, I couldn’t help but feel like I was back in Japan riding through the countryside. The scenery outside of the train, the bright natural light inside the carriage, and only the sound of the train seemed very Japan-like, but that’s probably because I’m more familiar with the trains up here in north where people are always chatting, playing on their phones and watching noisy videos. When the train stopped at Bao-an Station and I got off, that feeling of being in Japan became even stronger, because just across the platform was the small wooden station, which is architecturally identical to many of the older stations you’ll see in the countryside of Japan.

Amazingly, despite being one of the oldest of Taiwan’s remaining wooden train stations, and the amount of traffic that passes through on a daily basis, Bao-an Station remains in pretty good shape. Over the past century, a lot has changed in Taiwan, and the railway itself has been in a constant flux of modernization, but Bao-an Station has stayed the same, which I suppose you could say is credit to the architectural design that has allowed it to remain standing for so long. However, as an actively used heritage building, at some point it’s probably going to have to get a little love in the form of restoration in order to ensure that we’re able to enjoy it for many years to come.

As I usually do with these articles, I’ll start by introducing the history of the train station, its architectural design, and then give readers information about how to visit if they’re interested in checking out this little piece of Taiwanese history.   

Shiyaroken Station (車路墘驛 / しやろけんえき)

To start, I suppose I should talk about the name of the station, because, you might be a little confused with the discrepancy between with the title of the article and the name of the station provided above. Admittedly, this is something that I was quite confused about myself as well until I dug into my research process for this article.

Suffice to say, the name of the station was changed to ‘Bao-an’ (保安) in the 1960s, nearly two decades after the end of the Japanese-era. For the six decades prior, the station was named ‘Shiyaroken' Station in Japanese, which came from the Taiwanese word “Tshia-loo-kinn” (車路墘). The interesting thing about this specific name, and the reason why I was confused, is that there were several areas in Taiwan in the early years of the Japanese-era with this name, but the Chinese character ‘qian’ (墘) is an older word that is rarely used these days in Mandarin, and pretty much non-existent in Japanese.

In addition to Tainan, you could also find places named ‘Tshia-loo-kinn’ in both Taichung and Pingtung as well, and in each case, the names date back to the Qing Dynasty, and (although I haven’t found any credible source regarding the origin of the name) likely referred to ‘road-side stops’ that were once located along the safe trading routes of the time.

To better understand the name, I’ll break it down for you:

  1. 車 (Tshia) - vehicle; car;

  2. 路 (loo) - road; path;

  3. 墘 (kinn) - Taiwanese word for ‘beside’ (旁邊) or ‘nearby’ (附近)

Take from that what you will - The important thing is that after the arrival of the Japanese, the name stayed the same, but it was pronounced “Shiyaroken” (しやろけんえき / シヤロケンエキ) in Japanese, which is actually quite similar to the Taiwanese pronunciation.

Staying on the subject of the station’s name, when it was changed from ‘Shiyaroken’ (or Tshia-loo-kinn) to ‘Bao’an’ in the 1960s, the reason for doing so, if you’re asking me, was a little strange. The official reason for the name change isn’t well-documented, but they changed it to ‘Bao’an’ in honor of the local Bao’an Temple (車路墘保安宮). The reason why I’d argue that this was a bit odd was because the temple wasn't actually all that close to the station, and was in fact much closer to Rende Station (仁德車站), the next stop south. It’s possible that they just changed the name to something that was easier for the ‘newer’ residents of Taiwan, who had trouble speaking Taiwanese, or possibly because the ticket-making system that was used at the time wasn’t actually compatible with the characters.

If you read my article about Taichung’s Zhuifen Train Station (追分車站), the original name of the station in Japanese was ‘Oiwake Railway Station’ (追分驛 / おいわけえき), but given that the Chinese characters for “Oiwake” (追分) are an abbreviation for a much more auspicious meaning in Mandarin, which translates as “chasing your dreams” or “pursuing your destiny” (追到緣分), they made a similar name change to another station nearby. In that case, the next station over, originally named ‘Oda Station’ (王田驛) was officially renamed ‘Chenggong Station’ (成功車站) in the 1960s. This became a hit with the locals, who collected tickets with the stations ‘Zhuifen - Chenggong’ (追分 - 成功) as together the stations translate almost literally as “make your dreams come true” (zhui fen cheng gong / 追分成功).

Given the time frame of that particular name change, I figured the distance from the temple ultimately didn’t really make much of a difference to the Taiwan Rail Corporation at the time because a ticket from the newly re-named ‘Bao’an Station’ (保安車站) to the nearby ‘Yongkang Station’ (永康車站) became an instant hit with locals. The reason for this was similar to the situation above as the tickets employed a homophonic pun in Mandarin that read in a clockwise manner became ‘Yongbao Ankang’ (永保安康), or literally, ‘Peace and health forever!’

Even though my article about Zhuifen Station predates this one, it was only until I started my research for my article did I realize that the ‘auspicious ticket’ thing was initiated at Bao’an Station. I had always assumed it was a result of the name change between Zhuifen and Chenggong.

This is why I enjoy doing all this research for these articles. I learn a lot in the process!

Link: Auspicious train ticket | 吉祥語車票 (Wiki)

With regard to the history of this station, it actually got its start quite early. As I mentioned before in my article about Taiwan’s Remaining Japanese-era Train Stations (台鐵現存日治時期車站), the Jukan Tetsudo Project (ゅうかんてつどう / 縱貫鐵道), known in English as the ‘Taiwan Trunk Railway Project,’ quickly got underway shortly after the Japanese took control of Taiwan. The project, which sought to have a railway constructed from Keelung in the north and Kaohsiung in the south (and beyond), was constructed in different phases, and the southern phase that connected Tainan to Takao (Kaohsiung) was completed quite early.

Amazingly, it would take just over a decade to have the entire west coast railway completed, but by the time the entire system was connected, Shiyaroken Station had already been in operation for about eight years on the southern stretch of the railway between Tainan and the port station in Kaohsiung.

When most people introduce the history of the station, resources will point to a specific date to when it was established, but I have to note that there is a bit of a caveat to those claims - Originally opening for service on November 29th, 1900 (明治33年) as ‘Shiyaroken Parking Lot’ (車路墘停車場), it would only be upgraded into a ‘station’ (驛) a few years later after the opening of the Shiyaroken Sugar Factory (車路墘製糖所), which was located a short distance away from the station. That being said, when the Sugar Factory opened, the station was moved about 1.5 kilometers north of its original location for the benefit of the staff at the factory, officially opening on November 10th, 1909 (明治42年).

Oh, and remember when I mentioned above that the local Bao’an Temple was much closer to Rende Station? Well, that station, which opened in 2014, sits on the same location as the original Shiyaroken Station.

Note: That ‘Parking Lot’ reference above was a very literal translation - Today, the word most commonly used in Mandarin for ‘parking lot’ is ‘停車場’, which is literally: ’Stop Car Space’, but a long time ago in Japanese, the same characters were used to identify a minor train station. The term, ‘Teishajo’ (停車場 / ていしゃじょう) was a designation that was mostly used for smaller train stations, as opposed to the larger stations, known in Japanese as ‘eki’ ( / えき), which is another word that isn’t used in Mandarin.

Although Bao-an Station opened in its current location in 1909, another aspect of the station’s history that isn’t so well-advertised is that it likely wasn’t upgraded into an ‘eki’ (驛 / えき) type of station until 1928 (昭和3年), when the currently used station house was constructed. So, if we’re being strict with these things, the station might have been established well-over a century ago, but the building that we can pass through today is just a few years short of a century old.

Interestingly, though, the history of this station is one that goes in spurts where there’s a flurry of activity, and then some downtime when not much happens for a few years, which then repeats itself. The little station has pretty much remained the same for over a century, but the world around it has changed considerably, and the number of people passing through its turnstiles have been reflected by these changes. Obviously, the number of people passing though the station was consistent while the nearby Sugar Factory was in operation between 1909 (明治42年) and 2003 (民國92年) as the station was only a stop away from the downtown core of Tainan.

Link: Ten Drum Rende Creative Park (Wiki) | Ten Drum Tainan (Taiwan Everything)

In 2001, though, daily traffic at the station increased by about 500% due to the popularity of the 'Yongkang - Bao-an’ auspicious ticket. By the time that craze settled down, though, the number of passengers started to decrease due to fewer trains stopping at the station. Most recently, thanks to the construction of the High Speed Rail Station and the new Shalun Branch Line (沙崙線), the number of arrivals at the station has once again started to increase, and this was helped out even more by the opening of the beautiful Chimei Museum, which is within walking distance of the station.

During my visit to the station, on a beautiful sunny Monday morning, it was quite busy with a number of passengers coming and going as well as a number of tourists who had come to check out the station prior to walking over to the Chimei Museum (奇美博物館).

Roof damage on the lower right side.

With all of the tourist traffic passing through the station, it remains relatively attractive, and nostalgic for a lot of people, but looking at it through my telephoto lens, its obvious that it is in need of some urgent reparations and restoration. Sections of the roof have begun to sink in, and the city government has cited termite damage on the wooden exterior.

As a Protected Heritage Property, eventually they’ll have to restore the building, but unlike many of Taiwan’s other older railway stations, its highly unlikely that it's in any danger of being torn down or replaced any time soon.

In the drop-down box below, I’ll offer a concise timeline of the stations history and then I’ll introduce its architectural design:

    • 1896 (明治29年) - The Colonial Government puts a team of engineers in place to plan for a railway network on the newly acquired island.

    • 1900 (明治33年) - Shiyaroken Station (車路墘停車場) opens for service on a limited track running between Tainan Station (臺南停車場) and Takao Port Station (打狗停車場).

    • 1902 (明治35年) - After years of planning and surveying, the government formally approves the Jukan Tetsudo Project (縱貫鐵道 / ゅうかんてつどう), a railway plan to be constructed along the western and eastern coasts of the island.

    • 1908 (明治41年) - The 400 kilometer Taiwan Western Line (西部幹線) is completed with a ceremony held within Taichung Park (台中公園) on October 24th. For the first time, the major settlements along the western coast of the island are connected by rail from Kirin (Keelung 基隆) to Takao (Kaohsiung 高雄).

    • 1909 (明治42年) - Shiyaroken Station is relocated 1.5 kilometers north of its original location for the benefit of staff of the newly established Shiyaroken Sugar Factory (車路墘製糖所).

    • 1920 (大正9年) - In a major administrative restructuring policy, Tainan Prefecture (臺南州) is officially established, stretching from Chiayi to just south of Bao-an Station.

    • 1928 (昭和3年) - The current station house, constructed entirely of cypress from Alishan (阿里山) is completed and opens for service.

    • 1945 (昭和20年) - The Second World War comes to an end and the Japanese surrender control of Taiwan to the Chinese Nationalists.

    • 1962 (民國51年) - Shiyaroken Station is officially renamed ‘Bao’an Station’ (保安車站).

    • 2001 (民國90年) - Bao’an Station is recognized as a Tainan City Heritage Building (臺南市市定古蹟)

    • 2001 (民國90年) - Bao’an Station experiences a massive surge in traffic due to the popularity of the Yongkang - Bao’an tickets. Daily ridership increases by at least 500% for the year.

    • 2008 (民國97年) - A second platform is constructed at Bao’an Station, creating the first expansion.

    • 2011 (民國100年) - The Shalun Branch Line (沙崙線) running from Tainan Station to Shalun Station, next to the Tainan High Speed Rail Station opens for service. The number of commuter trains departing Tainan Station is increased, which means that the number of daily departures and arrivals at Bao’an Station increases.

    • 2014 (民國103年) - In order to prepare for the construction of the future Tainan City subway system, the Taiwan Railway Corporation established Rende Station (仁德車站), about 1.5 kilometers south of Bao’an Station on the site of the Shiyaroken Station that was established in 1900.

    • 2015 (民國104年) - The Chimei Museum (奇美博物館) opens in new location within walking distance of the station, which creates an increased amount of daily traffic.

Architectural Design

Whenever it’s time to start detailing the architectural design specifics of the historic Japanese-era buildings that I write about, it’s often where I end up spending the majority of my time researching and writing, but, fortunately, in this case, I won’t need that much time. I’ve already written a number of articles about Taiwan’s historic train stations, each of which was constructed in an almost identical architectural design. If you’ve read any of my articles about the Coastal Five Treasures (海線五寶), Xiangshan Station (香山車站) or  Qidu Station (七堵車站), you’re likely to notice that most of these stations all appear relatively similar,, save for some minor differences.

The reason for this uniform style of design is because during the late Taisho (大正) and early Showa (昭和) eras, prior to the Second World War, many of the (smaller) train stations constructed in not only Taiwan, but Japan as well, were built in what would become a generic style of station design that offered all the functionality that a train station of the era required, were earthquake proofed in design, and most importantly were cost-effective.

Even though the number of stations constructed in this design have deceased in the post-war era, its rarely ever due to the quality of their design, but the changing demographics of the community that they serve. So, even though you can still find quite a few of these stations around Taiwan and Japan, it’s mostly because they have been constructed in areas where the population hasn’t changed much, and a larger station has yet to become necessary.

Considered to be an architectural fusion of a traditional Japanese-style building with western elements, what I personally find surprising about the design of these stations is that there doesn’t seem to be a specific term in the Japanese language used to describe it. Something I’ve had to learn the hard way during my time researching these things, though, is that it is often difficult to come across these specifics from Japanese sources. In the Chinese language, however, the design of these stations is referred to literally as a ‘Hiraya Kirizuma Western Style Wooden Station House” (木造平家切妻洋小屋), which probably doesn’t tell you much, but does offer a pretty good idea of what to expect from the design of the station if you’re familiar with the terms.

To help you better understand, what it basically means is that these buildings are a ‘single-story’ (平家) station ‘constructed of wood’ (木造), which makes use of the traditional Japanese ‘kirizuma’ style (切妻) of architectural design with 'western fusion elements’ (洋小屋) mixed in. That being said, the ‘western’ aspects of the architectural design were, for the most part, inspired by the architectural design of Western Baroque (巴洛克建築), which was quite popular with the Japanese architects of the day. However, for cost-saving measures, the western elements of design were minimal, and Bao’an Station in particular featured far fewer of these western-inspired elements than its contemporaries.

Like the other stations mentioned earlier, Bao’an Station was constructed using the traditional irimoya-zukuri (入母屋造 / いりもやづくり) style, an ubiquitous style of Japanese design that is most often referred to in English as the “East Asian hip-and-gable roof,” which is a term that I don’t really think gives people a good indication about what’s actually going on with this style of design. The key thing to keep in mind about the ‘irimoya’ style is that despite the English translation, it doesn’t necessarily tell you what ‘variation’ of roof is constructed on any given building, but it does indicate that buildings constructed in this style will feature one of traditional Japanese architecture’s various styles of intricate roof design.

I probably couldn’t come up with a more appropriate English term for describe these buildings, but, for me, a name that focuses more on the ‘moya’ (母屋 / もや) aspect of “irimoya”, might offer people a better idea of what’s going on. In layman’s terms, the ‘moya’ is essentially the core, or the ‘base' of the building, and when the irimoya-style is used, the ‘moya’, (literally the “mother-house”) is usually considerably smaller than the roof, which extends well-beyond the base.

This is a style of design that is also used in much more decorative buildings, such as Shinto Shrines, Buddhist Temples, and Martial Arts Halls, but is also commonly used for anything from houses to train stations like this one. The purpose of the building, and the amount of decorative elements aren’t really all that important, what always remains the same is that as the roof eclipses the size of the base and that the building features a genius network of roof trusses and pillars both within the interior and on the exterior of the building that allow the roof to become the defining aspect of the building, as well as ensuring that its weight is evenly distributed to ensure that the whole thing doesn’t collapse.

In this case, the roof of the station was designed using the kirizuma-zukuri (妻造的樣式) style, which is one of the oldest and most commonly used roof designs in Japan. Translated simply as a “cut-out gable” roof, the kirizuma-style is regarded as one of the more ‘basic’ styles of Japan’s ‘hip-and-gable’ roof designs. To explain as briefly as I can, it is a two-sided roof that can appear simple in design from the front of the building, but as you walk around the perimeter, you’ll notice that it becomes much more complex. The roof is layered with the eaves on the lowest layer extending well beyond the base, supported by a network of pillars that surround it on three sides. The top layer is where you’ll find the ”cut-out gable” with the gable-section of the roof covering the eastern side of the building, while the longer ‘hipped' side ‘cuts’ through it. Both of the ends of the ‘hip’ section feature triangular-shaped “tsuma” (妻 / つま) or gable-ends, with rectangular windows placed in the middle that allow natural light into the interior of the building. 

The upper part of the roof is covered with Japanese-style black tiles (日式黑瓦) while the lower eaves are covered with rain-boards (雨淋板) that help to direct the flow of rain water on rainy days. The black tiles that cover the roof appear to be quite old, and some of them are in pretty bad shape.

I haven’t been able to find any information regarding their age, but its possible that they could be the original tiles from the Japanese-era given that they tend to have a pretty long shelf life. They’re likely going to have to be replaced at some point in the near future, though. The original rain-boards, though, have already been replaced, and if their replacements are any indication, it might be better if those black tiles can last a little longer.

Even though the roof is somewhat basic in terms of its decorative elements, especially when compared to the hip-and-gable style roofs you’ll find on other Japanese-era buildings, there are still a number of elements to take note of, I’ll list each of those specific elements below with a diagram that should help you better understand what’s going on.

  1. Hiragawara (平瓦 /ひらがわら) - A type of arc-shaped clay roofing tile.

  2. Munagawara (棟瓦 /むねがわら) - Ridge tiles used to cover the apex of the roof.

  3. Onigawara (鬼瓦/おにがわら) - Decorative roof tiles found at the ends of a main ridge.

  4. Nokigawara (軒瓦/のきがわら) - The roof tiles placed along the eaves lines.

  5. Noshigawara (熨斗瓦/のしがわら) - Thick rectangular tiles located under ridge tiles.

  6. Sodegawara (袖瓦/そでがわら) - Cylindrical sleeve tiles.

  7. Tsuma (妻/つま) - The triangular shaped parts of the gable on the roof under the ridge.

  8. Hafu (破風板/ はふいた) - Bargeboards that lay flat against the ridge ends to finish the gable.

Moving on from the roof, starting from the main entrance to the station, you’ll find a roof-covered ‘kurumayose' (車寄/くるまよせ) porch that protrudes from the flat front of the building with a pair of pillars holding it up. The roof of the porch features a similarly designed kirizuma-style roof facing in the opposite direction of the roof above, adding to the three dimensional design of the building.

The ‘moya’ base of the building is a cube-like structure that is split into two sections, with one side reserved for passengers, and the other for the staff working at the station. One of the major differences between this station and some of the others mentioned earlier is that the passenger side is considerably larger, and features beautiful wooden benches. When you walk into the building from the front entrance, you are met with the ticket booth on the left while the right-hand side is covered on all three sides with beautiful Japanese-style paneled sliding glass windows (日式橫拉窗), which assist in providing a considerable amount of Tainan’s natural light into the interior as well as a bit of breeze on hot days.

One of the most notable aspects of the interior is the wooden gate located near the ticket booth. Gates like this were once very common in train stations during the Japanese-era as a means to help filter people in and out while waiting in line, but few of them remain these days. The gate was originally constructed to look like the Japanese word for ‘money’ (円), but was likely replaced at some point and looks a little different now.

Similarly, the entrance to the train platform features two wooden partitions that connect to a fence at the rear of the station, which date back to the Japanese-era. Now that the station has transitioned to electronic card swiping, the original turnstiles have been removed, so you can simply just walk through to get to your train.

This is the part of the station’s architectural design that I appreciate the most as the open gates transition into a fence-like structure that includes a roof-covered portico that surrounds the building on three sides. Part of an intricate network of carpentry genius, the pillars that connect to the fence assist in distributing the weight of the roof, but they also prevent people from jumping over the fence to take a free train ride. The fence, pillars, and gates combine to make an almost three-dimensional design and add complex geometric shapes to the design of the building, and are part of the western-inspired elements mentioned above.

In the past, in order to get to the train platform, you literally had to cross the train tracks and walk up a set of stairs that brought you to the island platform. Given how dangerous this is, especially since the introduction of Taiwan’s express trains that speed through without stopping at the station, an overpass has been constructed that allows passengers to safely make their way to the platform area. As I mentioned earlier, the platform area is one of the areas that has been expanded several times since the Japanese-era, which has allowed the station to keep up with the modern changes to the railway, while maintaining the same historic station house. When passengers are waiting for the train on the platform, you can enjoy a pretty good view of the rear of the station, the roof of the building, and the trees that were planted next to the building when it was originally constructed.

Finally, while not exactly part of the architectural design, I’ll conclude by mentioning the trees. One of the things that I’ve really started to appreciate about Japanese architecture, especially when it comes to the construction of buildings, is that they always plant trees next to the building as a time capsule of sorts that helps to show how old the building is. In this case, we have what has become known as the ‘Bao’an Three Treasures’ (保安三寶), which are likened to 'The Three Star’ deities (三星 / 福祿壽), Fu (福), Lu (祿), and Shou (壽), who are often found adorning the top of Taiwan’s temples. To the right of the main entrance, you’ll find an Orange Jasmine (七里香) while the much taller Palm tree (棕櫚樹) and Coastal she-oak (木麻黃) are to the left. If the memorial plaque next to trees is any indication, they date back to 1909 (明治42年) and predate the current station house, which is pretty cool.

Getting There

 

Address: #10, Alley 529, Wenxian Road, Rende District, Tainan City

(臺南市仁德區保安里文賢路一段529巷10號)

GPS: 22.932940, 120.231660

How is one to get to Bao’an Train Station?

You take the train, of course.

Given all the modernization that has taken place on Taiwan’s railway, the fact that you can still take a train to one of the nation’s oldest stations is pretty cool.

So you should definitely take the train. You do however have other options for getting there. 

The station is located only one stop south of Tainan Train Station, and the ride take only about seven minutes to get there. So, if you find yourself the proximity of the downtown core of Tainan, you shouldn’t have much of a problem hopping on a train. Likewise, if you’ve travelled into the city by High Speed Rail, you can transfer to a commuter train from the Shalun Train Station (沙崙車站) and take the train to Bao’an Station, which is a seventeen minute ride.

As a smaller station though, Bao’an Station isn’t serviced by every train headed south rom Tainan, so if you want to visit, you’ll need to make sure that you get on one of the silver Local Commuter Trains (區間車). 

Bus

In terms of buses, there are a few options that’ll help you get to the station, or the Chimei Museum (奇美博物館), which is within walking distance of the station. Located a short distance from the main entrance of the station, you’ll find a roof-covered pavilion set up where buses will come in off the main road and pick people up and drop them off. There are options that will take you to downtown Tainan, as well as others that will take you to the High Speed Rail Station, and beyond.

The following bus routes are available at the Bao’an Station stop:

Tainan City Bus (幹支線公車): Red Line #3, Red Line #4

High Speed Rail Shuttle Bus (高鐵快捷公車): #H31

Kaohsiung Bus (高雄客運): #239, #8042, #8046

I’ve linked to each of the bus routes above, but Taiwanese websites like this are notoriously unreliable, so if you click on any of the links and they don’t work, you should be able to just search the bus route on your own, and you’ll be able to find the link that they’re currently using.

Youbike

The bus stop is also home to a large Youbike Station where you can swipe your EasyCard and hop on one of the shared bicycles. If you’ve taken a Youbike on the ride from Tainan, you can easily dock the bicycle at the docking station in front of the train station and check out the train station, or take the train back to the city.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend downloading the Youbike App to your phone so that you’ll have a better idea of the location where you’ll be able to find the closest docking station.

Link: Youbike - Apple / Android

Whether you’re simply on your way to the much larger, and (probably) much more interesting Chimei Museum nearby, a stop by this historic train station is an added bonus to your excursion out of Tainan. There aren’t too many stations like this left in Taiwan, and the fact that it still looks so great after nearly one hundred years is a testament to the skills of the carpenters and architects of the era. If you're just getting off the train to before heading else, make sure to take a few minutes to enjoy the historic station, and don’t forget to take a few photos at the same time.

References

  1. Bao'an Railway Station | 保安車站 中文 | 保安駅 日文 (Wiki)

  2. 保安車站 (國家文化資產網)

  3. 保安車站 (國家文化記憶庫)

  4. 保安車站 (鐵貓)

  5. 保安車站 (臺灣驛站之旅)

  6. 保安車站 (Blair and Kate's 旅遊與美食)

  7. 臺南市文化資產 (Wiki)

  8. 112 年度臺南市文資防護專業服務中心成果報告書 (臺南市文化資產管理處)

  9. 臺灣鐵道旅行案內 (臺灣總督府交通局鐵道部)

  10. 台南縱貫線木造車站巡禮 - 保安車站、林鳳營車站、後壁車站 (LINE Today)

  11. 仁德糖廠 (Wiki)

  12. 木造車站-海線五寶 (張誌恩 / 許正諱)


Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos)

Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區)

While it wasn’t my intention from the outset, this modest little blog of mine has transformed into one of the most extensive English-language resources on the net regarding heritage buildings from Taiwan’s fifty year period of Japanese Colonial rule. Starting several years ago with an article about one of the nation’s few remaining Martial Arts Halls, I’ve gone on to cover an ever expanding range of topics, in an attempt to better document that short, but very consequential period of Taiwan’s modern history and development.

There are some topics, however that are just too extensive to be covered with a simple blog post, and admittedly the topic of today’s post is one that I’ve avoided for quite a while. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to publish something about the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, it’s just that the subject is one that I knew would be overwhelming in the amount of work that would goes into writing about it in the way I write articles - and let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to take photos, research and write about locations that few people have no idea exist. So when it comes to writing about what is arguably one of Taiwan’s most well-known tourist destinations, there is a little more pressure to make sure that anything I publish does the place justice, and offers readers photos and information that they might not be able to find elsewhere.

Suffice to say, this article has been years in the making, combining years of research and knowledge about the Japanese-era, and photos from my numerous visits to the park, which has become one of the Taipei’s most well-loved tourist destinations for both international and domestic tourists, alike.

However, given how busy the park is, how large it is, and how quickly things change, it is difficult to take the kind of photos that I usually do for places like this, so this time, I’m not going to focus as much on the architectural design of the buildings within the park as I usually do, and instead spend more time talking about it’s history before introducing the creative park that occupies the space today.

For those of you who aren’t currently here in Taiwan and have landed here on this article wondering what ‘Huashan’ is, or why it has become such an important tourist destination, let me start by offering a brief explanation as to why it has become so iconic over the past decade.

Known officially as the ‘Huashan 1914 Creative Park’ (華山1914文化創意產業園區), or just ‘Huashan’ (華山) to locals, the park is located on the site of the former Taipei Distillery, a more than a century-old Japanese-era factory that stayed in operation until the late 1980s. Sitting abandoned on a tasty plot of real estate for quite some time, the historic park was set for demolition by the Taipei City Government until groups of artists and civil activists started a campaign to have it preserved and ultimately converted into a cultural space. Obviously successful in their efforts, the result was a ‘Creative Park’ that followed the model of urban-regeneration that has become popular in Europe, restoring the buildings and bringing them back to life.

The park today consists of a number of buildings and warehouses that were restored and transformed into one of the unlikeliest, yet hippest tourist destinations in the capital, home to one of Taipei’s best live-music performance venues, a prized independent film cinema, a constantly changing number of exhibition spaces, pop-up shops, and a number of restaurants, coffee shops and bars.

The best thing about Huashan is that one visit is never enough - every visit results in a completely different experience, so it doesn’t matter if you’re visiting just to check it out, to enjoy a film or a concert, or to see one of the exhibitions taking place, the success of the factory’s restoration has become a model for historic properties across the country to emulate. Thanks to the success of the ‘Huashan model’, today we’re fortunate to have an increasing number of these heritage-buildings-converted-into-creative-spaces popping up in almost all of Taiwan’s major cities.

The existence of the Huashan Creative Park is not only a celebration of Taipei’s history, but also an important space to show-case the creativity and artistry of Taiwan’s youth, the future of the country.

If you’re visiting Taipei, there are a number of important destinations to check out while you’re in town, but few places are arguably as prolific these days as Huashan, making it one of the spots that tourists absolutely have to visit when they’re in Taiwan.

Taihoku Distillery (臺北酒工場)

For most of us living here in Taiwan, whenever we refer to the historic Taipei Distillery, we simply just call it “Huashan” (華山), so whenever someone suggests a visit, no matter if they’re a local or a foreigner, they always just say: “Let’s go to Huashan!” However, as I mentioned earlier, the official name of the creative park that occupies the space today is a much longer one and even though few people ever refer to it by its full name, it is a name that holds considerable meaning and tells us a lot about its history.

Better known for much of its history as the ‘Taihoku Distillery’, or the ‘Taipei Distillery’, most visitors these days might find themselves wondering where the “Huashan” title comes from, likewise, why did they randomly add a ‘1914’ to the title?

Below you’ll find the answer both of those questions while I introduce the history of the distillery, which I’ll present with my own interpretation as well as with a concise timeline of events. I’m going to deviate from my usual writing style with this one though as I’m going to focus on the distillery as a whole, and won’t focus on each of the buildings until later when I introduce the park that is located on the site today.

Officially opened in 1914 (大正3年) as the privately-owned Houji Distillery (芳醸株式会社酒造廠) in the capital’s Kabayamacho district (樺山町 / かばやまちょう), the factory represented a massive investment in the quickly developing Japanese colony. Importing machinery and refrigeration equipment directly from Japan, the factory took a modern approach to the production of alcohol in Taiwan, which previously was a seasonal affair given the sub-tropical environment of the island.

On a large piece of land parallel to the railway, the factory was in a prime location within one of the capital’s most important neighborhoods, home to the Taihoku Prefectural Hall (臺北州廳), Taihoku City Hall (臺北市役所) and the Taihoku Jōdo Shinshū Temple (淨土宗臺北別院), all of which were a short distance away from the original Taihoku Railway Station (臺北驛 / たいほくえき).

Note: Taihoku (たいほく) is the Japanese word for Taipei (台北)

Huashan in the direct centre of this Japanese-era map of Taipei.

In the early years, the distillery focused primarily on producing Japanese-style sake for the market here in Taiwan, but later added Insam-ju (인삼주), which is a bit of a head-scratcher as it is an infused alcohol made from Ginseng, a traditional alcohol from Korea. While this type of alcohol is referred to literally in Chinese as ‘Ginseng Wine’ (人蔘酒), back in Japan it’s more commonly referred to as Goryeo Ginseng Wine (高麗人蔘酒), in reference to the historic Goryeo Kingdom (高麗國). To both the Japanese and Formosans, it was a foreign alcohol, and while people may have enjoyed it, it’s difficult to see them producing an entire line of alcohol for the thousand or so Korean residents of Taihoku Prefecture at the time.

Within a few years of the distillery opening for business, a piece of the land within the factory was leased out to the Nippon Camphor Company (日本樟腦株式會社), which opened a production and refinery facility on the northwest portion of the grounds. Then, in 1920 (大正9年), the president of the Houji Distillery, Konosuke Anbe (安部幸之助) had a brewery constructed on a large plot of land on the opposite side of the railroad, a short distance from the distillery.

With machinery imported directly from America (Hawaii to be specific), the newly established Takasago Brewery (高砂麥酒株式會社 / たかさごびーるかぶしきがいしゃ) sought to enter the beer market with cheaper, locally produced beer to compete with imported Yebisu Beer (惠比壽啤酒) and Kirin Beer (麒麟啤酒), both of which remain quite popular in Taiwan today.

Note: Despite the company experiencing considerably financial difficulties throughout the Japanese-era, Takasago Beer (高砂麥酒 / たかさごびーるかぶし) has endured for more than century, more particularly under its current name, Taiwan Beer (台灣啤酒).

Everything changed in 1922 (大正11年) when the colonial government instituted what is best described as a hostile takeover, establishing the Monopoly Bureau of the Taiwan Governor's Office (臺灣總督府專賣局), a government agency that was responsible for the production and sale of all liquor and tobacco products in Taiwan, in addition to opium, salt, and camphor.

Faced with the decision to cooperate with the takeover, or being forced out of business, the owners of the distillery weren’t given much of a choice, yet thanks to some clever maneuvering and political know-how, they were able to maintain portions of the ‘Takasago’ business thanks to some good timing and some loopholes in the monopoly set up.

That is a story for another day, though.

Note: The Takasago Corporation remains in operation today, known as the Takasago International Corporation (高砂香料工業株式會社 / たかさごこうりょうこうぎょう). Relocating back to Japan in 1945 with a new headquarters in Japan, and instead focusing on the chemical industry. The Taipei Brewery remained in operation after the war, becoming known as the Jianguo Brewery (建國啤酒廠), and is now a historic property and tourist destination.

Obviously, the colonial government wouldn’t have had the technical know-how for the production of alcohol, so the original owners were able to cooperate with the government for a period of time so that the transition could be completed smoothly. In 1929, the distillery became known as the ‘Taihoku Distillery’ (台北酒工場), or its more official bureaucratic name, “Taihoku Branch of the Taiwan Alcohol and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau” (台灣總督府專賣局台北酒工廠).

It was around this time that the distillery also started to diversify with a number of new varieties of alcohol on the production line (fruit wines and plum wine), in addition to the opening of a warehouse where imported alcohols were stored prior to being sent out to the market.

During this period the camphor production facility remained in operation, and business at both was so good that in 1937 (昭和12年), a freight station was constructed nearby to assist in the process of transporting products from the distillery and the camphor refinery to other areas of Taiwan.

Kabayama Station (華山駅 / かざんえき), which was within walking distance of Taihoku Station, remained in operation until it was phased out in 1987 (民國76年) when the railroad was shifted underground. Sadly, even though the original station hasn’t been demolished, it sits abandoned and is somewhat of a wasted space that could be a valuable addition to the culture park. Walking past the station today, few realize that prior to the arrival of the Taipei MRT, it was once a train station.

Note: It’s important to note that Huashan Station was notoriously used during Taiwan’s long period of Martial Law, known locally as the White Terror (白色恐怖), as a loading station to transport political prisoners.

When the Second World War came to an end and Japan was forced to surrender control of Taiwan, the Chinese Nationals swooped in and discovered that the way things were set up in Taiwan were already quite efficient, so not much was changed at first. The monopoly system remained in place with the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau (臺灣省菸酒公賣局) taking over.

Left with top-notch production facilities, the distillery shifted from the production of Japanese sake and instead produced Chinese-style rice wines (米酒) and a low-cost cassava-based (木薯) wine named “thài-peh tsiú” (太白酒), which became a staple in the early years of the post-war era.

Over the next few decades, not much changed at the factory, as it entered what they refer to as the ‘golden age’ of alcohol production in Taiwan. In the early 1960s though, camphor production in Taiwan came to a halt as the supply of camphor and the demand pretty much fizzled out.

Even though there was considerable profit in the production of alcohol for the thirsty residents of Taiwan, the cost of maintaining a production facility within the heart of Taipei became far too expensive, and the quality of water in Taipei became such an issue that considerable quality issues with the production line started to become a problem. Ultimately, this resulted in a necessary migration out of the city to a larger, modern facility in Taoyuan’s Guishan District (龜山區), where the distillery continues to produce a wide variety of alcohols today.

When the distillery moved, the original was left abandoned for a few years while the government was left to figure out what to do with it. There was some debate to have the whole thing abolished and developed into private land, but as the railroad was shifting underground, nothing could be dug in the area in fear of causing disruptions to the construction process. Then, the government came up with plans to construct a new Legislative Assembly Building on the land, but those plans eventually fell through as well.

It was during this period that local artists and other creatives started sneaking onto the property and using the empty space to display their art. After a while, the abandoned distillery became so popular that people started to campaign for it to officially become a permanent exhibition space.

From the early 1990s until the turn of the new millennium, nothing was decided, but the massive space left in its abandoned state was a waste, so the newly established TTL Monopoly Bureau (臺灣菸酒股份有限公司) leased it out for a period of three years to the Ministry of Culture (文化部) until they could figure out what to do with it permanently. The debate lasted well into the 2000s, even after the site was recognized as a protected historic property, which ensured that public funds would be provided for its restoration, but didn’t specify what should actually happen.

Plans ended up shifted back and forth for a few years, but ultimately the Huashan 1914 Creative Park opened to the public in 2007, becoming not only a massively popular tourist destination, but one of the most important places for the creative people of Taipei to show-case their talent.

Taipei Distillery Timeline

Dating back to 1914, the history of the Taipei Distillery is a long and complicated one, so in order to better explain in a more concise way, I’m going to split up the timeline into several different sections to make it easier to understand. Admittedly, this timeline is a compilation of several resources, but I’ve put it together in a way where I’ve omitted some of the unnecessary or unimportant aspects of the factory’s history in order to keep things clear and on topic.   

Japanese-era Taihoku Distillery (日治造酒場時期)

  • 1914 (大正3年) - The privately operated Houji Distillery (芳醸株式会社酒造廠 / ほうじょう かぶしきがいしゃ しゅぞうしょう) opens for operation. Producing sake under the name Moth Orchid Sake (蝴蝶蘭清酒), in reference to one of Taiwan’s most famous flowers, as well as Ginseng Wine (人參酒). With machinery and refrigeration equipment imported directly from Japan, the factory is able to produce sake throughout the year.

  • 1917 (大正6年) - The ‘Taihoku Branch of the Nippon Camphor Company’ (日本樟腦株式會社台北支店) opens a production and refinery factory on the northwest area of the grounds, but located separately to the Distillery in the red brick buildings.

  • 1922 (大正11年) - The colonial government consolidates control over a number of industries in Taiwan under its monopolization scheme, and wineries were either taken over by the government or forced to shut down.

  • 1929 (昭和4年) - The government officially renames the Distillery “Taihoku Distillery” (專賣局台北酒工場), or “Taihoku Branch of the Taiwan Alcohol and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.” The factory is also expanded and diversifies into the production of a number of different alcohols as well as opening a warehouse for the import and repackaging of foreign alcohol.

Post-War Taipei Wine Factory (台灣省菸酒公賣局時期)

  • 1946 (民國35年) - Following the lead of the Japanese Colonial government, the Republic of China continued with the monopoly scheme and renamed the Taihoku Factory to the “No. 1 Distillery” (台灣省菸酒公賣局第一酒廠), referring to its importance and location in the capital. Other alcohol producing factories around Taiwan that remained in operation likewise changed their names to a numbered one.

  • 1957 (民國47年) - The name of the Distillery was once again changed to “Taipei Distillery” (台北酒廠) and continued its role as one of the top alcohol producing factories in Taiwan. By this time, the government had already shifted away from sake production to a low-cost alcohol made from cassava named “thài-peh tsiú” (太白酒), which became a staple in the country in addition to producing a number of fruit wines (水果酒).

  • 1961 (民國50年) - An decreasing supply and demand for camphor forces the refinery to shut down.

  • 1987 (民國76年) - Due The rising cost of land and serious water pollution issues in the capital, the factory shifts operations to a newly construction production facility in what is currently Taoyuan City’s Guishan District (桃園市龜山區), which remains in operation today.

Abandonment and Plans for the Future (閒置時期)

  • 1992 (民國81年) - Plans are drawn up by the government to have the factory demolished and converted into a space for the construction of a new Legislative Assembly (立法院), however the plans turned out to be quite controversial and the plans were later abandoned.

  • 1997 (民國86年) - Left abandoned for almost a decade, a number of local artists started using the space for underground exhibitions of their work. Proving to be quite a success, artists and a number of civic groups petition the government to preserve the site and have it converted into a center for the arts.

  • 1998 (民國87年) - The TTL Monopoly Bureau (臺灣菸酒股份有限公司) leases the property to the Ministry of Culture on a three-year basis to have it used as a venue for arts and cultural events, creating the model for the future use of the space.

Culture Park (文化創意產業園區時期)

  • 1999 (民國88年) - The Huashan Arts and Culture Space (華山藝文特區) is officially established

  • 2002 (民國91年) - The Executive Yuan (行政院), one of the highest legislative bodies of the Taiwanese government, issues a national development plan to convert several abandoned or disused spaces owned by the Monopoly Bureau into cultural parks, with a budget of around 5.7 billion NTD (US $190 million).

  • 2003 (民國92年) - Huashan is officially recognized as a “culture and creative park” (創意文化園區), giving it a special status among the nation’s protected historic buildings as plans are drawn up to have the buildings on site restored and converted into a park.

  • 2007 (民國96年) - Having restored the buildings and retrofitting them with modern lighting, air-conditioning, etc, the government opens up sections of the park for bids from private enterprises to take part in the park using the ‘build-operate-transfer scheme’ (BOT) that has become common in recent years for historic buildings in preparation for its official re-opening as the “Huashan 1914 Creative Park” (華山創意文化園區).

Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區)

Now that we’ve covered the history of the distillery, let’s talk about the creative park, and each of the buildings that are located within it today. Before I start though, I’m just going to put it out there that I’m not going to be promoting any of the private businesses that have set up shop within the grounds of the park. The vast majority of the space within Huashan today is used for exhibition and event spaces, but in order to recoup some of their losses with regard to the restoration of the area, the Huashan 1914 Creative park is operated with a mixture of public and private sector cooperation, which has become a successful formula in recent years for ensuring that buildings like this can continue to be restored across the country.

These spaces include restaurants, bars, coffee shops and pop-up stores, which are constantly changing. To save myself some time, I’m not going to list them here today, so that I don’t have to constantly update this article.

If you’re interested in the topic, I recommend you check out my article where I outline the government’s efforts to preserve historic buildings, while taking advantage of private sector partnerships to ensure sustainability.

Link: The role of Public-Private Partnerships in Conserving Historic Buildings in Taiwan

According to its official website, the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, which opened in 2007, successfully became a ‘profitable’ enterprise in 2015, thanks to the tireless efforts of its operating team, who have discovered through years of experience how to better ‘manage time, manage space, manage creativity, manage stories, manage sentiments, and foster brands’ in order to transform the park into Taiwan’s premiere base for the promotion of cultural and creative arts. With a focus on promoting the nation’s artistic talent, the park has also been promoted as a tourist hot spot as well as a place where entrepreneurs are provided with the opportunity to showcase their innovation and creativity.

For most people, the emphasis placed on ‘profitability’ in the opening statement of the park’s description of itself might come across slightly odd, but it’s important to remember the history of the park, and the decade-long battle to have it preserved as a venue for the arts. Originally a publicly funded park, being able to stand on its own legs without constant government funds being committed to keeping it afloat means that its operating team has the benefit of freedom in their decision-making processes. However, it does mean that you’ll find a considerable amount of ‘commercial’ stuff happening at the park from time to time, with some of the exhibition spaces specifically only rented out to large companies as show-rooms for their newer products. The commercialization of the space likewise has also forced out many of the original artists whose work was instrumental in bringing the space into the limelight as an important arts venue.

Essentially, Huashan has become Taipei’s most important venue for cultural events, large-scale exhibitions, art galleries, pop-up stores and markets, theater productions and musical performances in addition to also being home to a number of on-site restaurants, coffeeshops and bars. The great thing about the park is that there is always something happening, and with the rate of which things change, you’ll find yourself drawn back for multiple visits.

Home to ‘Legacy’, one of the nation’s most important concert venues for the emerging Taiwanese Indie music scene, as well as SPOT, an independent movie theater, you’ll find a mixture of hip young people, who have come to enjoy their favorite bands in one area of the park while famed directors, actors and actresses hang out nearby.

A local busker putting on a performance for a weekend crowd of visitors.

I could write pages of text introducing the park, most of which has already been written before, so taking into consideration that the restoration of Japanese-era heritage sites is a subject where I have spent a significant amount of time researching, I’d prefer to take a moment to highlight why I personally consider the park to be such a resounding success, especially with regard to the ‘profitability’ aspect of the park mentioned above.

For people like me, the importance of Huashan’s success is that it has become a model for the conservation of other heritage sites in Taiwan and as mentioned earlier, the success of this park has spawned a number of other venues around the country.

Note: These sies most notably include the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (松山文創園區), Taichung Station Railway Cultural Park (臺中驛鐵道文化園區), Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center (駁二藝術特區), Hualien Cultural and Creative Industries Park (花蓮文創產業園區) and the Taitung Railway Art Village (鐵道藝術村), each of which was converted from a Japanese-era industrial site or railway station.

The key thing to remember is that the success of Huashan has proven to any of the bureaucratic naysayers that these large heritage sites can be converted into cultural parks or tourist destinations, attracting crowds on a regular basis. Having large venues like these available within Taiwan’s major cities offers the people of Taiwan a space to explore the history of the nation, while also promoting arts and culture. Additionally, these larger parks, when profitable, allow the government to focus its financial resources on the continued restoration of historic buildings, which can in turn become cultural parks or serve a role in the public-private partnerships introduced in the article I linked earlier.

Most of us appreciate Huashan simply for the art and cultural experiences that we can enjoy on a regular basis, to others, it has also served a much more greater role in the preservation of Taiwanese history, which has been a monumental success and in turn we all end up profitting from the continued investment in the nation’s heritage.

With more than two dozen buildings, it would be difficult (and time consuming) to go over the architectural design of each of them like I usually do. That being said, taking into consideration that Huashan was originally a distillery, most of the buildings within the park tend to be generic warehouses anyway, so there isn’t much to talk about with regard to their design. There are, nonetheless, a number of buildings within the park that are quite beautiful, so don’t let the ‘generic’ description fool you.

With regard to the photos I’m sharing today, it is admittedly difficult to gain access to the buildings when they’re empty as they’re always in some sort of transition period - So if I’ve got photos of the buildings, I’ll provide them for better reference, but this is an aspect of the article where I’ll provide updates as I continue visiting and collecting more photos.

On the map above, I’ve numbered each of the buildings, and below I’ll briefly explain their original purpose, and what they’re used for today, so that you can have a better understanding of each of them.

Today, the former distillery is split up into four different sections, namely, the ‘East’ (東區), ‘West’ (西區), ‘Central’ (中區) and the ‘Plaza’ (廣場區) sections - At any given time, the best way to know what is taking place at the park is to check out the map on the official Huashan website as these things are constantly changing; Admittedly, the Chinese-language map is the one that gets updated more frequently, so I’d suggest checking that one out instead of the English one.

Link: Huashan 1914 Creative Park: Map (English) | 地圖 (中文)


Eastern Section (東區)

  1. Garage Workshop (車庫工坊)

One of the first buildings you’ll encounter on a visit to Huashan is the distillery’s historic garage and workshop. Over the years the building, which is split in two has been used for a number of purposes, most notably as a fire-prevention garage for the distillery. Later it was used as a distillation room, storage space and rest space for the winery.

Today the buildings continue to be split into two spaces, the smallest section home to a shop while the larger section is reserved as a restaurant space that can be rented out.

2. Red Wine Storage Warehouses (紅露酒貯藏庫)

One of the areas where a lot of the writing and research about the Taipei Distillery gets lost in translation is with regard to four of the most important exhibition spaces within the park. Mistakenly translated at times as the ‘Chinese Red Wine Factory’, these four buildings weren’t actually involved in the production of alcohol. If you’re asking me, a better translation to describe the buildings is probably ‘Red Wine Storage Warehouses’ as they were constructed as storage space for all of the alcohol that imported to Taiwan prior to being sent out to the market.

Also known as the ‘four-connected buildings’ (四連棟), the buildings as they appear now differ in their appearance from how they would have when they were originally constructed in 1933 (昭和8年) - This is because in the early 1980s when the government was widening Jinshan North Road (金山北路), the size of three of the buildings had to be reduced.

Now, each of the four rectangular-shaped warehouses varies in length. Nevertheless, the buildings were constructed with reinforced concrete and steel beams to help stabilize the roof, which is supported by iron roof trusses. As one would expect with a warehouse, the interior space is simply a corridor-like space with various steel beams throughout that help to stabilize the roof.

Somewhat generic in their architectural design, one of the cool things about the buildings is that they have been overtaken by nature and are completely covered with Japanese ivy (爬牆虎), a type of vine that is somewhat hilariously translated into English literally as ‘Wall-Climbing Tiger.’ The vines cover much of the facade of the buildings, also covering up the their arc-shaped windows and stone-washed lattices, but admittedly do a pretty good job giving the buildings more character.

Today, the four buildings are reserved specifically as exhibition spaces and there’s always something interesting happening inside them. Whenever you visit Huashan, it’s quite normal to find lines of people outside of the buildings waiting to get into an exhibition or taking photos against the wall with the vines.

3. Plum Wine Distillery (烏梅酒廠)

The Plum Wine building is one of the newer buildings within the historic distillery, dating back to 1931 (昭和6年), it is architecturally distinct from the other buildings on-site. The long rectangular-shaped building was constructed with concrete and differing from the other buildings in with distillery, features iron roof trusses to help stabilize the roof. The sides of the building feature some windows, but in order to control the amount of natural light entering the building, they are equipped with window grills to ensure that the wine isn’t disturbed during its distillery process, but also allowing for some natural air to come into the building through the windows.

Today the building is referred to as the “Umay Theater” (烏梅戲院), “Umay” being a romanized transliteration of “smoked plum” (烏梅), and is used primarily as a space for performing arts, with a stage constructed within for live events. As an event space, the building isn’t open to the public as often as some of the others on site, so unless you’re attending an event within, it’s difficult to see what’s inside!


Central Section (中區)

The most complicated section of the park, the “Central Section” is home to a number of buildings that served as the beating heart of the distillery, especially with regard to the production of alcohol. The buildings within this section are not only some of the most important, but are also some of the largest within the park, and serve a number of roles today.   

4. High Tower Building (高塔區)

The so-called ‘High Tower Buildings’ section of the distillery are a collection of three buildings that are likely to be part of your first impression of Huashan as they’re the closest to the main entrance. The ‘high’ part is simply a three-storey ‘tower’, and not really all that high when you compare it with, uh, Taipei 101. The other two parts of the building consist of a a two-floor section and a single-floor section, all of which are connected.

Prior to doing research for this article, I had assumed that these three buildings were used as the administration area of the distillery, given their appearance, but in actuality they were integral parts of the production process. Split into three sections, the front sections were home to a research laboratory and a quality-control facility while the brick section later become home to a fruit wine production area.

One of the reasons why I assumed that the buildings were part of an administrative headquarters was in part due to their location near the front of the distillery, but the other was because of their architectural design. Constructed in 1920 (大正9年), the exterior of the two larger buildings feature a meticulous attention to detail, especially with regard to their symmetry.

The walls were finished with stucco, something that the other buildings on-site weren’t afforded and they both feature vertical windows on the upper levels, and beautiful arched windows on the ground level.

The longer rectangular section of the building was constructed with red brick, and looks as if it were a later addition to the other buildings. Although the roofs on each of the buildings are basic in their architectural design, you’ll want to take note of the direction that the slopes face, with the highest level and lowest level facing the same direction, while the middle building faces the opposite direction, a deliberate design technique for controlling the flow of rain water.

Today, the three buildings are split into six sections, each of which serves a different purpose - Home to a Tourist Information Centre (服務中心), restaurants, and stores that focus on Taiwan-centric design products. Together with the ‘Huashan Forum’ (華山劇場), a patch of grass in front of the buildings, this section of the park is always one of the busiest areas of the park as there is always something happening.

5. Sake Distillery (清酒工坊)

Dating back to 1914 (大正3年), the Sake Distillery building was one of the first buildings constructed within the Houji Distillery and as you might have guessed, it was used for the production of Japanese rice wine with the head office of the company located on the second floor. As one of the most important buildings within the complex, the sake distillery was constructed with Taiwan’s climate in mind with one-meter thick concrete walls that kept the interior of the building cool in summer and warm in winter.

Sadly, even though the Sake Distillery is regarded as the oldest building within the park, its important to note that it underwent some refurbishment in the 1960s which altered its appearance. Nevertheless, while the building is lacking in decorative elements, it does feature beautiful arc-shaped windows on all four sides of the second floor where an ample amount of natural light is able to enter the building.

Today, the second floor is used as a multi-functional cultural exhibition space while the first floor is home to the Fab Cafe, an interesting space where designers get together to discuss projects, hold seminars and workshops, while also acting as a space where the general public can enjoy light meals and hand brewed coffee.

6. Wine Production Buildings (紅酒米酒作業場)

One of the largest sections of the historic distillery, located directly in the middle of the park, you’ll find a collection of warehouse-style buildings that were once home to production facilities for Red Wine (紅酒) and Rice Wine (米酒). Although it may seem like this section of the park is just one large inter-connected building, it’s actually three workshops constructed side by side and sharing the same roof.

Constructed in 1933 (昭和8年), these two-storey buildings were constructed with reinforced concrete and bricks, and like the warehouses mentioned above feature iron truss columns that rise up from the floor to help stabilize the roof. Each section of the roof features a slope that runs north-south, perpendicular to the alleyways that run between the buildings, where you’ll find a number of trees and plants were planted to enjoy the rainwater that fell from the roofs.

Given that these buildings were instrumental in the production of alcohol, the doors are quite large, allowing for the alcohol to be easily transported elsewhere. The interior space of these buildings would have been quite spacious during the distillery’s heyday, but this is one area where the restoration of the park took some liberties to ensure that the large space could be used much more efficiently. The three parts of the warehouse are currently split up into eight sections with the larger front sections serving as exhibition spaces while the rear area has been opened up for private partnerships that feature restaurants and stores.

7. The Compounded Liquor Distillery (再製酒作業場)

Possibly one of the most popular buildings within the park today, the historic ‘Compounded Liquor Distillery’ dates back to 1933 (昭和8年) and is once again just a long rectangular warehouse. Unlike some of the other warehouses on site though, this one features a more traditional elevated roof, which was constructed with wood and doesn’t require columns within the interior to help keep it stabilized. This traditional approach to the building’s architectural design has become quite important given that the space is currently used for 'Legacy,’ one of Taipei’s most important concert venues.

Thanks to the large spacious interior, converting this space into a concert venue was one of the best decisions that could have been made, and as the building is nearing its centennial, the name ‘Legacy’ seems quite fitting. That being said, unless you’re attending a concert within the building, it’s not likely that you’ll just be able to walk in whenever you want. There’s a lot of expensive sound equipment inside and they don’t want random tourists messing around with it.

Link: Legacy (Official Website)

8. Packaging Factory (包裝工場)

Strategically located to the rear of the distillery, you’d find the Packaging Factory, which served a dual-role as a packaging and storage facility for all of the products passing through the distillery. Located to the rear of the distillery, products would have been easily transported the short distance to Huashan Station (Kabayama Station 華山駅) where they could be easily transported across the island.

The building dates back to 1931 (昭和6年) and its design is similar to most of the other rectangular workshops within the park. Divided between its eastern and western sections, the longest part of the building is a single-floor section with an arched roof while the western section is a modern-looking two-storey building with a flat roof. Over the years the western partition of the building served a number of roles with the Monopoly Bureau having offices within and in the post-war period, a police presence was added for security.

Suffice to say, even though the packaging and storage building was once one of the busiest sections of the distillery, it was also the area that suffered the most when the distillery was abandoned in the 1980s. During the restoration process, parts of the building weren’t able to be saved, but that also allowed for the restoration team to take some liberties as the plan for this section of the park was to install a movie theatre.

Losing much of its historic appearance, the packaging building today is home to the SPOT Huashan Cinema (光點華山電影館), the SPOT Design Studio (光點生活) and SPOT Cafe Lumiere (光點咖啡時光). Under the direction of the Taiwan Film Culture Association (台灣電影文化協會) and famed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), the theatre has become a popular spot for independent film and film festivals in the city and often holds events where people in the film industry show up with the local media following along.

Link: SPOT 光點 Huashan Cinema (Official Website)

9. Maintenance Workshops (維修工廠)

Located to the rear of the Sake Distillery, you’ll find the ‘Maintenance Workshop’ buildings, each of date back to 1931 (昭和6年). This space is split up into three different sections and was important with regard to the upkeep of the factory and its operation. The largest building appears similar to many of the other rectangular warehouse buildings within the distillery, but it was where the on-site engineers would repair machinery.

Within the same building was the Electricity Distribution Building (配電室), or the ‘Switching Room’, which housed an electrical substation that ensured that power was never an issue. Finally, to the rear of the building was a separate building, one of the smallest within the park, and was essentially just a nicely designed tool shed.

Today the main workshop building is reserved as a space for performance art events and exhibitions while the tool shed is often rented out for a variety of pop-up shops. Notably, the exterior of the building is home to a beautiful banyan tree and a space where people often sit to chat with friends and enjoy some of the street performers who occupy the space on the weekends.

10. Distillery Building (蒸餾室)

Constructed in 1933 (昭和8年), the three-storey distillery building was connected directly to the Rice Wine Workshop and helped to streamline the distillaition process with a space that was reserved specifically for distilling the alcohol rather than doing it all in the same building.

The interior of the three-floor building features circular perforations in the floors that allowed the tall distilling machines to stand upright without wasting space. Like many of the other buildings on site, the building features large arch-shaped windows and was constructed using thick reinforced concrete to help keep the heat of the hot summer out of the building.

Today the building is used as an exhibition space and a spot for pop-up stores selling locally-made products, and is located within the beautiful covered corridor where you’ll find a number of restaurants and shops.

11. Broiler Room and Smokestack (鍋爐室 + 煙囪)

Dating back to 1931 (昭和6年), the Broiler Room and its iconic smokestack were added to the distillery during the same expansion project as the Maintenance Workshops mentioned earlier. As the main source of power for the distillery, the building was home to a brick furnace that was a hub for supplying steam to the various buildings in the distillery. The exhaust from the generation process was released through the smokestack, which has a diameter of about 2.5 meters at its widest and is 50 meters high, although it was shortened in the 1970s when the boiler fuel was changed from coal to oil.

The Broiler Room is used today as a venue for performances and exhibitions, but to tell the truth, despite visiting the park on dozens of occasions, I’ve sadly never actually had the opportunity to enter the building as it tends to be one of most elusive places to gain access to within the park.


Western Section (西區)

12. Camphor Refinery Buildings (紅磚六合院)

The red-brick camphor refinery section in the north-west of the park are (for me) the most interesting buildings in the park, at least architecturally speaking. Dating back to 1917 (大正6年), the collection of seven buildings oversaw both the rise and the fall of the camphor industry in Taiwan, and were one of the most important processing facilities in the north, especially since they had direct access to the main railroad line via Huashan Station.

Originally a joint venture with the Mitsui (三井) and Suzuki (鈴木) companies, the refinery later became the Taipei Branch of the Nippon Camphor Company (日本樟腦株式會社台北支店).

Constructed with red-brick and reinforced concrete, the six buildings in this section (currently split into seven) feature the most decorative elements out of any of the buildings within the park today.

Despite the interior space of the buildings generally just consisting of open corridors, the exterior is where you’ll find much of the decorative elements and designs that are more Japanese in their inspiration.

Thanks to the reinforced concrete walls, each of the buildings feature a large number of windows on all four sides, which allow an ample amount of natural light. The roof of each of the buildings is supported by a genius network of wooden roof trusses within the interior that allow it to distribute weight evenly and eclipse the base of the building in size.

While not as decorative as what you’d expect from the roofs of more traditional Japanese-era buildings, the buildings festure double-layered four sided irimoya-style (入母屋) roofs that slope on both sides. Constructed with a ‘courtyard’ type of design, the buildings have beautiful passageways that would have offered easy access to anyone working in the refinery. Today those passage ways are lit by beautiful Japanese-style street lights that help to illuminate the beautiful red brick at night, making this a popular space for photoshoots.

Today, the largest of the seven buildings are used as exhibition spaces while others are reserved for private partnerships, which include restaurants, pop-up stores and coffeeshops. If it weren’t already obvious from the amount of photos I have of this section, this space is favorite part of any trip to Huashan as it tends to be a lot quieter (depending on what exhibitions are taking place) and because of the way that nature has been allowed to take control of the area, making it quiet and providing a comfortable amount of shade during the hot summer days.

Getting There

 

Address: #1, Section 1, Bade Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei

中正區八德路一段1號

GPS: 25.04381,121.52887

Conveniently located within the heart of Taipei, the Huashan 1914 Creative Park is a short walk from Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT Station (忠孝新生捷運站), making getting there quite easy. A visit to Huashan is made even better in that visitors can also take some time to pay a visit to the nearby Qidong Street Dorms (齊東街日式宿舍), another recently restored set of Japanese-era buildings that have been reopened as a culture park.

Likewise, you’ll find the popular Guanghua Digital Plaza (光華商場) and Syntrend (三創生活園區), two of Taipei’s most popular technology shopping centers nearby. A visit to the area can include both a look at the history of the capital as well as its future with Taiwanese technological prowess on display nearby!

MRT

  1. Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station (忠孝新生捷運站) - From Exit 1 (1號出口) walk straight down Zhongxiao East Road (忠孝東路) for three to five minutes and you’ll arrive at Huashan.

  2. Shandao Temple Station (善導寺捷運站) - From Exit 6 (6號出口) walk straight down Zhongxiao East Road (忠孝東路) for about five minutes until you reach Huashan.

  3. Taipei Station (台北車站) - From MRT Exit M2, walk straight down Civic Boulevard (市民大道) for about ten to fifteen minutes until you reach the rear of Huashan. On the way you’ll pass by the Sun Yat Sen Memorial House (逸仙公園), a Japanese-era hotel where Dr. Sun Yat Sen once stayed during a short trip to Taiwan

Bus

Conveniently located a short distance from the front entrance to Huashan, you’ll find four major bus stops that will help you get to the park quite easily. Of the four, the most convenient is the Huashan 1914 Creative Park Bus Stop, but there are also a number of other options close by.

  1. Huashan 1914 Creative Park Bus Stop (華山文創園區站) - 247, 205, 212, 220, 232, 257, 262, 276

  2. Huashan Park Bus Stop (華山公園站) - 669

  3. Taipei Technological University Bus Stop (台北科技大學站) - 205, 257, 276

  4. Zhongxiao Elementary School Bus Stop (忠孝國小站) - 202, 212, 231, 232, 299, 600, 605

Click on any of the bus routes above for the route map and real-time information for each of the buses. If you haven’t already, I recommend using the Taipei eBus website or downloading the “台北等公車” app to your phone, which makes it easier to map out your trip and find the nearest bus stops to wherever you are located.

Link: Bus Tracker (臺北等公車) - Apple | Android

Youbike

Making your visit to Huashan even more convenient, the park is surrounded by three Youbike docking stations where you can pick up a bike or drop one off for your visit. Serviced by both Youbike 1.0 and 2.0, you’ll be able to ride a bike from wherever you are in the city.

You’ll find one of the docking stations to the left of the main entrance on Zhongxiao East Road (忠孝東路), the second next to Syntrend along the Civic Boulevard (市民大道), and the third at the rear entrance to the park along Beiping East Road (北平東路).

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend downloading the Youbike App to your phone so that you’ll have a better idea of the location where you’ll be able to find the closest docking station.

Links: Youbike 1.0 - Apple / Android | Youbike 2.0 - Apple / Android

Rich in history, the Huashan 1914 Creative Park brilliantly puts on display the artistic and creative future of Taiwan. As I mentioned earlier, no visit to the park will ever be the same, and as part of the beating cultural heart of Taipei, there is always something new and exciting to see and do whenever you visit - Whether you’re there simply as a tourist, or for one of the exhibitions, a concert, or just for a meal - a visit to Huashan is always going to be an interesting experience.

If you’re traveling to Taiwan, I can’t recommend enough that you take some time to pay a visit to the park. And if you’re living here, it’s also a pretty idea to keep track of the events and exhibitions that are taking place in the park, as there is always something interesting happening.

References

  1. Huashan 1914 Creative Park | 華山1914文化創意產業園區 (Wiki)

  2. Taiwan Monopoly Bureau | 專賣局 (Wiki)

  3. 臺北州 | 樺山町 (Wiki)

  4. 建國啤酒廠 | 高砂麥酒 (Wiki)

  5. 臺北酒廠 (國家文化資產網)

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