New blog in English
Since I am going to Brit for the graduate level study, I decide to start this blog in English. Reason number one: to practice my writing skill. Reason number two: to share my thoughts with friends who cannot understand Chinese.
The layout still needs some design work, though. It's still in the stage bum, hence the name. But I am busy (and lazy), so...
Ximen Market
Constructed in 1908, Xinmen Market is the oldest public shopping centre of Taipei. The bazaar, consist of a two-storey octagon-shaped structure and a one-storey crucifix-shaped building built with red bricks, reflects the city’s transition over the past century.
After China’s Qing Dynasty was defeated by Japan in a sea war in 1894 (see
the First Sino–Japanese War) , Taiwan was ceded to Japanese by China in the consequent treaty. Japan began colonising the island in 1896 and decided to modernise it to fill the Japanese financial needs.
Since the late 19th century, merchants had been gathering outside of the western gate of Taipei to sell goods conveyed from the nearby river port. Japanese administration first constructed some shacks for traders in 1896, and then used stones, cement and bricks to build 2 architectures linked together in 1908 as the market expended and needed better space.
The marketplace, which is generally called Ximen Market now, was of mixed Japanese and European style and had its principal part complete around 1910. Inside it was divided into many stalls, a common design in East Asia, whereas outside in the front it resembled a European church. Serving as a shopping center famous for fresh fruit and vegetables, the place played an important role in Japan’s early city planning and citizens’ daily lives.
After the KMT gained control of Taiwan when the World War II ended, a Chinese, Chen Hui Wen, took over the market in 1950s and redecorated the second floor for performances like dramas and storytelling. It soon became a very popular theater to the Chinese who retreated to Taipei with KMT.
Then, Hollywood movies readily emerge as townspeople’s favorite in the 1960s, so the owner made another business decision: renovating the upper storey as a film theater, whilst retaining food service downstairs. For the nearby area was the biggest shopping complex in Taiwan at that time, this move turned out to be a success.
During the 1970s and 1980s, as the urban area grew, the once elegant architecture was gradually surrounded by buildings constructed without licenses. The whole area gradually looked disorderly and confused, but the government did not intervene and normal citizens’ visits diminished.
At the same time, with the copyright laws installed, the movie theater was forced to play cheaper pornography because they could not afford to pay for mainstream western movies. It attracted many homosexuals and helped to enrich some special underground culture, yet for the society was still conservative, its popularity decreased greatly.
In the 1990s, the theater was finally shut down and abandoned. However, amazed by the buildings’ good foundation and unique style, the government designated Ximen Market to be a third-rate historic relic and decided to remodel them in an effort to revitalize the whole area.
Following several years of planning and negotiating with the inhabitants, the government began the renewal project in 2001. In the next year, the octagon-shaped structure ahead often referred as “Red Theater” reopened, within which are a drama theater upstairs and a coffee and souvenir shop downstairs. Afterwards, the back crisscross building became a restaurant, and a commercial complex along the main structures was constructed.
Perhaps for the government’s lack of experience regarding similar issues, the grand plan up to this day does not carry out very well. Although the architectures are generally well built, the whole area is short of a coordinating sector and not managed well, resulting in a deficiency of visitors.
“For its good location (near downtown Taipei and a subway station), if they can’t make this place attract people, they will fail in other similar projects inevitably,” says Huang Yung-chuan, founder of Ximen's Red Theater Culture and Humanity Studio.
Also a third-generation florist at the Ximen Market, Huang points out this cultural and commercial complex as a whole lacks target consumers. He says the theater of elegant style is aimed at drama fans, but the seafood restaurant behind seems to attract blue-collar workers, whereas the side new shopping building of 2 floors has no real identity.
Indeed I find he made some valid points. In one night of the weekends, I saw scarce customers in this area compared to the crowded Shimentin section just nearby. I actually kind of like the serenity, like a retreat away from the turmoil of the outside world, but I cannot imagine how can the merchants make a living for themselves. No wonder the second floor of the new building can only lease out one-tenth of its stands.
Over the years, this market appears to show the contemporary spirit in some way, no matter good or bad. With further proper planning, I hope it can succeed this time and be an example for other “newbies” transformed from “oldies.”
Shilin Market
Taipei’s most popular bazaar, Shilin Market, is set in a temporary shelter right now. “Temporary” for three years and counting.
The Shilin Market, listed in many travel guides list as Taipei’s must see, generally refers a large outdoor and indoor area combined of 5,710 square meters in Shilin’s Xiao Bei Street. It has stores opening day and night in different part, selling different kinds of food, clothes and pets and providing both folk and high-tech entertainment—all in cheap prices.
Everything seems to be ok, except for the market’s former dwelling, now a city-designated historic spot. Considering it too small and dilapidated, the city government decided to renovate the house made of wood and red bricks, so the food vendors was moved to a nearby shelter in 2002.
The vision is beautiful for the market, but the reality is not. Promised to be completed in 2005, the project is suspended indefinitely without reasons. Not to mention that the historic relic is as ruined as ever now without proper preservation.
Like many similar marketplaces in Taiwan, Shilin Market was emerged near a temple in the beginning of the 19th century naturally for the location could attracted worshipers.
In 1915, Japanese colonists constructed a little brick house to help the vendors settle down. The building was mainly used as a day market, selling seafood, raw meat, fruit and vegetables, while the food stands expanding in front of the temple served as a night market.
Taipei’s population grew constantly after the Second World War, and so did this market. Hundreds of vendors filled some roads in Shilin, so the administration constructed a steel house in 1970s to “temporarily” place the food stalls in, according to the city government.
The situation remained until 2002, when the building was demolished and the vendors, along with the day market sited in the old brick house, were moved to a nearby shelter.
One reason the government want to remodel the area was the 70’s steel building was too small and battered. Of course, the transient house endured nearly 30 years, making it hard to satisfy the customers who liked clean and comfortable environment.
History seems to repeat itself. The vendors were moved to a temporary house and the long-term project was postponed. Now the business is ok, some stalls suggest, after a self-governing institute established by the stall owners solved the leaking and draining problem, which occurred not long after the peddler moved in. But the historic brick building is left deserted in the original location, and provisionality appears to last forever.
Chung Hwa Bazaar
It may be a little strange, at least for first-timers, to see a simple overpass with a sign of “bazaar” but having nothing resembling it. But such is the memorial thing in Taipei downtown.
On Chung Hwa Road Section 1 in Taipei, Taiwan, where the Chung Hwa Bazaar existed from 1961 to 1992, there is a steel-made flyover with a glass wall connected to it. On the transparent wall, four red Chinese characters hang: “中華商場(Chung Hwa Bazaar)”. Towering, the symbols seem to try hard to remind citizens of something in the past.
Back to the 1970s, this was the most bustling marketplace in Taiwan. Composed of 8 concrete buildings with 3 storeys, Chung Hwa Bazaar had a total length of 1171 meters, stretching like a long gray dragon on the middle of the road close to downtown.
The bazaar was actually constructed for political reasons: after Chinese Communist Party took over the mainland China in 1949, many Chinese fled to Taipei and was placed in the bamboo sheds on Chung Hwa Rd by the KMT government. In the next 10 years or so, this community grew in a sort of jumble without proper plans, which prompted complaints from inhabitants.
Finally, the city government decided to renovate this area. It built 8 concrete architectures having 1,644 commercial slots in total, and each slot had an area of 72 square feet. The city let these spots to the Chinese immigrants to appease them. For the train station and downtown Taipei both were close, those buildings quickly emerged as the most popular shopping place in Taiwan.
In Chung Hwa Bazaar’s heyday, about the 1970s to the mid-1980s, almost everything could be had there. Want some food? There were 2 buildings where immigrants from different parts of mainland China offer diverse cuisines. Fashion? The season’s new clothes, shoes, ornaments and cosmetics were just in another building. You could even have hair and suits carefully custom-made if you wanted. Also, don’t think those Taiwanese electronic gadgets suddenly burst out in the 21st century, as the bazaar were already selling Walkmans and portable game consoles more than 20 years ago.
I was born in 1979, and the marketplace was all the rage when I was a little kid. Along with my family, I visited there a lot during the weekends. While I enjoyed the toys, video games and snacks, my senior family members would look for the fancy stuff of their own liking.
However, after the late 1980s, with many fresh department stores and supermarkets constructed in other areas of the city, I found the shopping complex gradually losing its appeal due to lack of sanitary, compared to its competitors. It still attracted many people working nearby, yet Chung Hwa Bazaar was no longer the trendiest place for ordinary citizens. Some even regarded it old and out of style.
In the early 90s, as the traffic situation in downtown was worsened by some new construction projects, such as the subway system, the city government decided to pull down the bazaar in 1992 to make room for cars on the road. The business establishments there oppose it in vain, and had to settle for small amounts of compensation.
The once peerless was demolished in 10 days. Not until several years later did the nearby area regained its commercial vitality.
The government just left a memorial glass wall.
For people not familiar with that area, they just assume this is “necessary remodeling of the city”. But for people who made a living out of the market, this is much more.
“It’s much harder to make money in another place,” says Mrs. Cho, who was an occupant of the market. Cho were allotted to an underground mall as late as 1999 according to administration’s plan, and had to change her profession from a shoes retailer to a cook.
Recently, I looked for the remnant and found many retailers there had similar fate. Some electronic equipment shops moved together to another building and business decreased sharply. The food stalls scattered around Taipei for they didn’t like government’s allotting plan, and only few famous ones survive to this day.
And yeah, the traffic does improve, as the cars now have the space the bazaar originally occupied. The place where that old market was is now a multi-lane road with some shade trees. However, it is just a main line of transportation, nothing special compared to the old glorious days.
What remains is the unusual memorial glass wall, where the 4 red Chinese character “中華商場 (Chung Hwa Bazaar)” hang.
Jian Cheng Round Building
Walking on Zhong Qing North Road, Taipei, you can see a 3-storey fish bowl made of glass…oh, wait, there is nothing swimming inside. It’s a strange transparent building with some food stalls inside.
Jian Cheng Round Building, while looks like a modern architecture, can be dated back to the early 20th century. Its outlook has changed over the years according to policy and consumers’ needs; unfortunately, not always the latter the better.
In 1908, the Japanese administration built a round park where 4 routes met. The people came there to relax, so some food stalls gathered along. The busiest Taiwanese river port around that time was close, so a few dancing clubs emerged in 1920s near the park, which was believed to have the first night market in Taipei to attract club-goers.
However, when the Pacific war broke out between Nippon and America in 1940s, Taipei was bombed often, so Japanese administration suspended the market and reconstructed the park to be a shelter. After the ROC government took control of Taiwan in 1949, the round marketplace resumed and was as exuberant as ever.
Being near the main bus and train station, it had a very good location both for the customers and merchandise transportation. In addition to many food stands selling Taiwanese dishes like chicken rolls and rice-puddings, there were also some antique and grocery stores, with some musicians singing folk songs on the nearby streets.
“Its most prosperous time was between 1960 and 1971. Customers of the clubs would like to have some snacks after clubbing, so they all went to this place, making it stay crowded till the dawn,” says Chen Zhen Sheng, a third-generation inhabitant selling
Taiwanese oyster pancake there.
In the 1970s, as the traffic grew, the city government widened the Zhong Qing North Road and separated the market from the nearby buildings. So the round bazaar, containing mainly food shops then, looked like a “land islet” drifting in the centre of the intersection of 6 avenues, and gluttons had to walk cross the streets to enjoy the flavours.
Though the marketplace’s business went down gradually, store owners there managed to make profits, for the place had unique eating style and friendliness.
Chen says:” The middle of the round house was a small parking area, and there were some small routes, so you could just leave your motorcycles there and go out to get snacks from the stalls one by one. Owners were familiar with each other, so the last vendor you visited can count the total amount. Many people like this unique shopping way.”
However, the whole building became dilapidated after 2 huge blazes in 1990s. The situation grew to a point that some city councilors wanted to rebuild the area, so this market was reconstructed to be the Jian Cheng Round Building in the early 21st century. The architecture made of steel and glass is by the sidewalk, has award-winning design and is said to be environment-friendly.
But there used to be 97 food stands in the market. Now the number is less than 10.
It is a 3-storey building. The third floor, planned to be a coffee shop surrounding with a garden, is deserted now. The second floor had some restaurants which were soon abandoned. Only few vendors in the first survive.
Chen still has the same business in there, but he is disgruntled with how the government handles this issue.
“They never really listened to our opinions when planning this renovation project. That famous architect, who built the highest building in the world (Taipei 101), for his reputation had the final say.”
“Yes, this building did win an architecture award in Japan, but it doesn’t mean much. The business is sluggish here. We told the architect that its allotments are too small for cooks, that the customers’ vision is blocked by the columns, that this place can only contain less than 80 consumers at most, a relatively small figure compared to the staff.”
He was in fact saying those with a smiley face, but I can feel his anger, perhaps a little pain. Some old owners and the customers don’t recognize it as the classic round market, he says.
This is as bad as a reconstruction project goes. Professional urban planners have different views on the way to revitalize it, however, all their proposals require heavy investment.
Astonishing in some way, a shining new building sometimes functions much worse than the former worn one.
Oldies and Newbies in Taipei
Just like many other cities in developing countries, Taipei has been through much reconstruction in the last 20 years or so. Most traditional architectures are demolished, but a lot are remodeled into something claimed by the city government resembling their predecessors, something like a live museum. As a Taipei resident for more than 20 years, I have always been astonished by the way these oldies transform to newbies.
Hoping to find the connection between the past and the present, perhaps just for nostalgia reasons, I visit several old marketplaces undertaking reconstruction and try to trace back: When was it built? What it has become and how? Why is it changing to the way it is today?
For their relationship with daily life, those emporiums of diverse forms are deeply rooted in my memory, and I believe many citizens feel the same way. The city transforms rapidly, and slick new department stores and supermarkets seem to be everywhere, but some people just tend to remember the small shop fronts in the brick house.
I always think the city that doesn’t know its past will not understand its future. So here I write some little stories about little places, trying to pull them from the dusts of history, in the hope of giving you, the readers, some glimpses of the big picture of Taipei—if there is really such a picture.
Link:
Wikipedia’s view on Taipei, Taiwan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TaipeiTaipei City’s official wesite
http://english.taipei.gov.twSee Taipei from a satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Taipei&spn=0.168623,0.234180&t=k&hl=enTourist information
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/taiwan/taipei/Latest culture events in Taipei
http://express.culture.gov.tw/E-map of Taipei
http://addr.taipei.gov.tw/aspx/englishmap.aspx
