Bangka (艋舺)

The oldest district in the modern metropolis of Taipei goes by many names - To some it is “Bangka” (Báng-kah khu) or “Monga” (艋舺) and to others it is “Wanhua” (萬華區). Whatever you prefer to call the district, it is one of the most important districts in the city and is steeped in history, culture and religion. 

Once one of the most prosperous districts in the city due to its proximity to the Xindian River (新店溪), the district served as a centre of commerce for over three hundred years. The area was originally settled by the Pinpu Kaitakela tribe, then Hokkien (閩南人) immigrants from Fujian Province and most recently by Chinese refugees of the civil war. 

Today the district is in a period of decline and has an aging population that is regarded as the “fattest” in the city - It is well known for its historic sites which include Longshan Temple (龍山寺), Taipei’s most popular temple as well as the Qingshui Temple (艋舺清水巖), Bopiliao Historic Street (剝皮寮老街) Huaxi Night Market (華西街夜市) and Ximending (西門町), Taipei’s answer to the hip and modern Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo. 

If you want to experience the historical side of Taipei, there is no better place to visit than Bangka. This area is unlike any other area of Taipei - Not only will you find history, but walking around gives you the distinct feeling that you travelled back in time to an older, livelier and somewhat seedier version of the city. 

So far my series on Bangka has been split up into three sections. The next three sections will be some simple street photography and I plan on ending it all with a post on Longshan Temple. These posts will consist of street photos of the residents of Bangka around the park, in the temple and on the streets in the historic area of the district. This area is a great area for street photography and I hope to show a bit of what life is like in the district through the photos. 

---

Qingshan Temple and King Festival (青山宮/青山靈安尊王) 

Part 1 | Part Two | Temple

Street Photography posts

Bangka Park | The temple | Streets of Bangka

View fullsize

1. Old Lion

The Longshan Temple area has a lot of ancient images of lions, phoenixes, dragons and other mythical Chinese creatures. The temple front park especially has a lot of cool looking statues dedicated to these legendary creatures. In this shot there is an elderly man sitting in front of a bronze lion at the gates of the park. I chose to title it “Old Lion” because of a play on words in Chinese that sounds like the word “teacher.”

View fullsize

2. Pillar of the Community

The majority of the people who hang out in the Longshan temple front park are elderly members of society. Bangka is one of the oldest and coincidentally most unhealthy districts of Taipei and that fact is put on display in front of the temple where people so often go to hangout. The aging population of the district has become a major problem in recent years despite efforts by the city government to revitalize things as young people leave for other areas of the city. It would be sad if the Bangka district lost both its identity and distinct culture when these people pass on.

View fullsize

3. Reflection

One of the difficulties street photographers deal with are ethical dilemmas - Street photography is all about taking photos of the human condition but it is generally frowned upon to take pictures of people who are homeless or otherwise suffering in some way. I thought long and hard about whether or not I should post this shot as I'mnot entirely convinced that this guy is homeless and it could be that he had just finished a long day of work. What I like about the shot is the expression on his face and the way he has his hands cupping his face and staring off into the distance.

View fullsize

4. Going Solo

Any time you visit Bangka park or any large park in Taiwan for that matter you will no doubt notice groups ofold men playing Chinese checkers. My photographer friend Darren loves shooting these guys in action as they are always deep in concentration while playing. There are usually crowds of other people standing around and analyzing every move the players make. It is an interesting contrast to North American parks where people play chess. In this shot a man is enjoying a solo practice game on his own and probably waiting for a worthy competitor. It's not a common sight at this park to see an empty checkers table so I did my best to get the shot quickly.

View fullsize

5. Reading

Most of the people who hang out at the park spend their days chatting with friends, drinking eating and hanging out. This guy interested me because he was very involved in whatever he was reading even as the people around him attempted to strike up a conversation. The park is full of people but it's not an overly loud place most of the time. It's probably a nice place to sit next to a dragon and read a good book while people pass by.

---

Gallery 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Old Doors

View fullsize

I've recently come to the odd realization that over the past few years I've subconsciously become strangely attracted to taking shots of the entrances of people's homes. It came to my attention while I was sorting though my catalogue of photos on my computer and moving files over to one of my external hard drives.  

It is just me or does it seem strange for a photographer to randomly take pictures of the entrance to someone else's home? I thought about it for a while and decided to do a Google search to try to find out if other people had a similar interest or if there were some sort of deep rooted psychological problem behind it. Unfortunately, just like all my Google searches, I eventually just started watching YouTube and wasted a few hours of my day on something completely unrelated. 

View fullsize

Have a seat, we'll be right with you. 

View fullsize

A door with parking. 

However, after thinking about it for the past few weeks I've come to the conclusion that there are a few things that interest me about these doors. The first is more of a cultural difference - homes in Taiwan are much different than what I am used to back in Canada and older homes here tend to be much simpler than the more modern versions. Homes in Taiwan tend to be built on top of each other and there is no space in between them and of course no room for a yard. 

The other reason I suppose is a bit more philosophical in that doors can offer a glimpse of the life of a family while also offering a bit of mystery. Doors provide both protection and privacy and when you see someone outside of their home, you often wonder if they are the same person behind closed doors. 

In this way doors may seem like the close us off from the rest of humanity, but they also provide a sense of safety from persecution and allow people to be who they want to be in the privacy of their own homes. 

View fullsize

Epic Door Bell

View fullsize

Old sliding panel doors

To make this all seem a little less strange, I think I should clarify what I actually mean by "doors." What I'm actually referring to are Taiwanese homes with old-style doors. When I say "old-style" doors, I'm referring to the type that aren't the reinforced steel garage doors that are controlled by a remote control which bar up a home as if it were a jail. 

I'm taking shots of older homes with wooden doors or Japanese sliding doors. What attracts me to them is that while the house is usually falling apart, the doors are usually brightly coloured and they look really cool aesthetically in contract to the home and even the neighbourhood around them. If you have a chance to walk through an older neighbourhood in Taiwan you should pay attention to these doors as they usually stand out. 

Anyway, now that I've noticed this recent interest, I'll try to share a bit more from time to time. I have a library full of shots that I took but haven't bothered working on however all of the shots I'm sharing today are relatively new and were all taken in Daxi (大溪), Hukou (湖口), Beipu (北埔), Taipei (台北) and on Keelung's Peace Island (和平島) 

View fullsize

I found this old home in the old residential section behind Beipu Old Street (北埔老街) and really liked the colours of the house, the fading Chinese characters that were beside the door and the sun that was setting at the time that I took the shot. 

View fullsize

This door was probably once really pretty, but for security reasons the owner of the house put up bars around the windows to make it hard for anyone to break in. I'm pretty sure the door would be easy enough to kick down, but its the thought that counts. This one was on Peace Island in Keelung where a lot of the buildings are quite old. 

View fullsize

好

View fullsize

春

These two doors were in a military village in Taipei. In the shot on the left, the blue door has the word 「好」on it which means good. The door on the right has an upside down 「春」which refers to "spring" or new beginnings. It is common to place wishes on doors during the Spring Festival in China and Taiwan and most houses will have some sort of greeting on them. Military villages across the country are disappearing and this one has been preserved. I question a bit of its authenticity, but I do like the faded concrete with the bright painted doors.   

View fullsize

Taiwanese Political Divide? 

The last shot I'm going to share is one that I took before realizing I had this strange obsession. I don't think I took this shot because of that though. What I noticed while walking by was the colours. To me it was almost a harmonious reflection of Taiwan's less-than-harmonious political spectrum. The green door on the left represents the Pan-Green coalition of political parties which work towards dejure independence and nationhood (which I find strange since Taiwan is already a country) and the blue door represents the Pan-Blue coalition led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) which favours better ties and ultimate reunification with China. The fact that both of these can live together in harmony though is a reflection of Taiwanese society. 

---

Gallery 

Hukou Old Street (湖口老街)

View fullsize

The Hukou Old Street (湖口老街) is the smallest of Hsinchu county’s three “old streets” which also includes the popular Neiwan (內灣老街) and Beipu Old Street’s (北埔老街) 

Hukou’s story is a lot like what I described with the Daxi Old Street – In the case of Daxi, the village was economically prosperous due to its position as a way station for goods coming down from the mountains and being transported up the river to Taipei. Hukou’s story doesn't relate to a river, but the reason why it became an “old street” is because the train station which used to be in the town was moved to another area closer to the coast when the Taiwan Rail System completed the newer “Ocean Line” (海線)

The loss of the train station was enough to divide Hukou between “Old Hukou” (老湖口) and “New Hukou” (新湖口) which is a relatively newer area with modern housing built up around the train station. 

In Taiwan, it is safe to say that the centre of most towns is the train station as most cities have been developed from the train station in an outward fashion. When Hukou’s new train station was completed, it pretty much killed the chance for Old Hukou to survive as it once had. 

View fullsize

Near empty streets on a "busy" day.

Due to the separation though, Hukou was left the way it way and didn't really develop the way most towns in Taiwan do (by tearing down the old buildings.) All the original buildings that were in the town are still left standing and are quite similar to what you would see in Daxi, except that the colour of the bricks are red, and the majority of all the houses are at least two storeys. 

Just like in Daxi, the buildings were originally built in the 1890s and had an exterior in the baroque style while the interior of the buildings were mostly Japanese-style.

View fullsize

Old style Baroque and a renovated building beside it.

When the Hsinchu county government designated the area as an “old street” they went about a project of urban renewal that was supposed to restore the old street to its former glory. The county government boasts that the baroque style facades on the buildings are the most intact of all the old streets – however I think that this is somewhat of a disingenuous statement due to the way the street was given a facelift. 

When I compare this street to Daxi, it is really easy to see that they tried a little too hard to beautify it and in the process lost some of its historical allure. Even though it seems to have lost some of its originality, the Hukou Old Street is still quite nice to walk around. 

View fullsize

The interior of the Hukou Old Street church

When I arrived at the old street I parked near a church which was erected in the same location where the train station had originally been. I walked through the old street rather slowly, but it didn't take long to come to the end. 

At  the end there is a Hakka temple called “San Yuan Temple” (三元宮) dedicated to the three earth gods (三官大帝) which represent water (水官), earth (地官) and heaven (天官.)

I found that walking down the road parallel to the temple had some examples of houses that were not as well-kept and as on display as those on the “old street” and figured that those were probably much better representations of what the street looked like before renewal. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I think that the biggest problem with the Hukou Old Street is that there is nothing to really draw big crowds. Daxi Old Street has its dried tofu (豆干) and woodwork. Beipu has its Hakka restaurants and Hakka Leicha (擂茶.) Both attract tourists by the busloads – Hukou however doesn't really have anything to attract crowds other than the buildings, which would be enough for me, but the average Taiwanese tourist is one that loves to be fed delicious foods! 

I went on a Sunday, which by normal standards should be an extremely busy day for an old street, but it was almost empty which more or less proves my point.  

As you walk by all the old houses it seems that less than one in ten are doing any form of business and I think there was really one one vendor selling sausages to visitors and another selling fresh coffee from the back of his bicycle. 

View fullsize

A lazy Sunday with the dog.

History it seems isn't enough to attract tourists, so for Hukou to start attracting people, they need to come up with something to make the street “famous” for all the residents to capitalize on. If the Taiwanese news one day reports that there is something tasty to eat there, the next day will have people lined up! 

As it is now, I wouldn't really recommend Hukou Old Street unless you were passing through the area on your way somewhere else. If you are planning to make a day trip out of it, there  are much better options in a relatively close distance (Daxi, Neiwan, Beipu) so Hukou wouldn't be your best option! 

If you're on the fence about visiting, take  the time to check out all the pictures in the gallery below, or click on the link to my Flickr album and then make your  decision! 

Getting There

 

---

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)