Things to do in Da'an, Taipei: The Best Historic Sites

Oolong has been cultivated on Dong Ding Mountain as early as the mid-19th century, when local villagers started harvesting “qing xin oolong" in preference to the native “wild tea”. By this time, the Chen family of Yoshan Tea were already knee-deep in their exploration of Taiwanese oolong. It is now Yoshan Tea’s mission to preserve and continue the art of making this classic tea.

The Dr. Yin Hai-Kwong Residence was completed in 1945 in Alley 16, Lane 18, Wenzhou St., a neighborhood designated by Taihoku Imperial University (present-day National Taiwan University, or NTU) during the Japanese colonial. They were intended for professors’ dormitories, and nestled in a kind of lushness that was unique to academia. After relocating from mainland China in 1949, Dr. Yin Hai-Kwong taught philosophy at Taihoku Imperial University while contributing articles of political criticism to the Free China Journal. As a man who would rather die a critic than live muted, Dr. Yin was a warrior fighting with a pen despite the rigorous censorship. He stood up bravely against the then-authoritarian regime with unbridled political criticism, exerting a strong influence on Taiwan’s progress toward democracy, as an iconic figure in the history of Chinese liberalism. The residence is a one-story, Japanese-style wooden structure built on a triangular base, adjacent to the other dormitories. In May 2003, the Taipei City Government designated it as a historic site that housed a significant collection of cultural assets. The Dr. Yin Hai-Kwong Foundation in November 2008 took over the operation and maintenance of the residence, recently serving as a facility for NTU’s outdoor education activities.

The Former Residence of Liang Shi-Qiu on Yunhe Street in Taipei City is a one-story, 81-ping (i.e., 267m2), classic wooden structure. After its inauguration in 1933 as the dormitory for Category-3 high-ranking officials in the Japanese colonial period, the house was taken over in 1951 by the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) to accommodate the teaching staff of the school’s Department of Economic Management. Liang moved into the house when he was appointed the Head of NTNU’s Department of English in 1952. Considering Liang’s far-reaching influence as a great educator, editor of English-Chinese dictionaries and high school English textbooks, his former residence was therefore listed among Taipei City’s cultural assets in 2003 to commemorate his standing as a paragon teacher.

Class 3 Historic Site Type: Residence Built in the 2nd Year of Emperor Guangxu (1876 AD) Yifangju Estate was built by the early settlers of the Chen family. The Chen family’s ancestors came from Anxi County, Quanzhoufu of Fujian Province. During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, the early Chen members traveled to Taiwan as pioneers. It wasn’t until the early Guangxu era that they invested a huge sum of money to construct the Yifangju Estate. This traditional sanheyuan (a three-section compound) was typical of the ancient residences of the Taipei basin area. The main hall was constructed in a U-shape design; the walls of the main hall and ancillary halls (to the left and right of the main hall) were built with bricks, and few windows and doors were present. In addition, a firearms cabinet was built on the second floor of the ancillary halls to guard the residence against robbers. Furthermore, most of the window frames were made with rocks produced in Taipei. The door plate of the residence indicated that it was constructed around the 2nd year of Emperor Guangxu. Due to the rapid modernization of Taipei City, traditional residences like Yifangju Estate continue to dwindle in number. It is important that those that remain are preserved as testimony of Taipei’s development history.

During the 1910s, Japanese colonists erected a massive prison in Taipei and another one in Tainan as part of the move to suppress the anti-colonial uprisings that were intensifying across Taiwan. In a style common among 19th century correctional facilities worldwide, the now-defunct Taipei Prison featured cell blocks that radiate outward, and high walls made of stones up-cycled from the Taipei Prefecture bulwarks demolished in the 1910s. The prison wall is historically significant in part because they are composed of andesite and Qilian stone sourced during Emperor Guangxu’s reign from hillside quarries in Dazhi or Neihu, and transported to the shores of Keelung River; next they were shipped to the Hegoutou Wharf via Tamsui River by boat. The long-winding journey added to the worth of the wall.