From Wasteland to Capital: Taipei Past and Present

文／Discover Taipei

Many of the world’s great cities developed either on the sea or by a river. Taipei is no exception, lying on the bank of the wide Tamsui River, yet at the same time it’s quite different, for the city grew up on the site of what was once a lake! In a large natural basin once mostly marshy wasteland, construction and development took place step by small step, as today’s international metropolis slowly developed. The city’s genesis is a nigh perfect example of the ancient Chinese expression canghai sangtian (沧海桑田), “from sea to mulberry fields.”

Before Taipei City, A Great Lake

In the summer of 1697 a Qing dynasty (清朝) official named Yu Yonghe (郁永河) entered the Taipei Basin (台北盆地) on a mission to mine sulfur. At the time the area on which Taipei now sits was still largely covered in muddy water and marsh. When he wrote his Small Sea Travel Diaries (裨海纪游) and the Taiwan Map of Kangxi (康熙台湾舆图), he described how the basin lake he called the “Kangxi Taipei Lake” (康熙台北湖) had formed as a result of land subsidence caused by earthquakes. When the Japanese took measurements for topographic mapping of the basin about a century ago they found there were still vestiges of the Kangxi Taipei Lake, in the form of natural ponds, notably the Bangka Lotus Pond (艋　莲花池), Shuanglian Pond (双连埤), Daan’s Longan Reservoir (大安龙安陂), and the ponds and lakes of Neihu (内湖; the name literally means “inner lakes”).

In Small Sea Travel Diaries, Yu Yonghe described the giant marshy lake as a wasteland of creeping mists choked with weeds, inaccessible and unvisited. Just 12 years after his visit, or in 1709, however, an official land-reclamation contract was issued that would change the history of the basin.

Pioneers Come to Taiwan, Open Up the Land

The peoples of a number of prehistoric cultures have settled in the Taipei area at different times, notably the Yuanshan Culture (圆山贝冢), Taipei Zhiwuyuan Ruins (台北植物园遗址), and Zhishanyan Culture (芝山岩文化). In the period before Han Chinese immigrants began settling, the flatlands-dwelling Ketagalan (凯达格兰) people lived here. In addition to hunting and fishing, the Ketagalan also engaged in agriculture, and there is evidence that some utilized simple methods of irrigation. For a glimpse into the world the ancients inhabited, visit the Zhishanyan Natural History Educational Center (芝山岩展示馆) in Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Garden (芝山文化生态绿园), where there are many intriguing displays.

In 1684, Taiwan came under Qing dynasty rule, and Han Chinese from China’s Fujian (福建) and Guangdong (广东) provinces began coming to the island in great numbers to open up the land for agriculture. The immigrants, skilled at rice-paddy cultivation, began growing crops in the Taipei Basin in the early 18th century. According to modern-day research into historical documents, during the early Qing period, in the 48th year of the Kangxi emperor (1709) the Chen Lai Zhang Land Development Association (陈赖章开垦集团) was granted the first official permit to open land in the Taipei area. The associated was given rights to a large parcel of land called Tagala (大佳腊) in Taiwanese, which encompassed present-day Taipei’s Bangka (艋　), Galaya (加蚋仔), Dalongdong (大龙峒), Dadaocheng (大稻埕), and Xikou (锡口) plus the New Taipei City (新北市) areas of Xizhi (汐止), Zhonghe (中和), Yonghe (永和), Bali (八里), Sanchong (三重), Luzhou (芦洲), Taishan (泰山), and Xinzhuang (新庄).

From River Port Settlement to Taiwanese Capital

From 1740 through 1770, a period of relative calm with fewer natural and manmade disasters, turmoil and disorder, government offices were set up along the Tamsui River in the settlements of Xinzhuang and Bangka, irrigation works increased, land was cleared, rice was grown, and small Han Chinese settlements sprouted. Rice and other crops were gathered in Xinzhuang’s riverside streets and put on boats for export. Because of silting along this stretch of the river, however, Xinzhuang later went into decline. The settlements of Bangka and Sanxia (三峡) flourished, selling camphor and Strobilanthes cusia (from which indigo dye was extracted). In the latter half of the 19th century the fortunes of Dadaocheng rose abruptly with the rise of the Taipei Basin’s tea trade. With the basin’s economic rise, the city of Taipei took form and replaced Tainan (台南) as the island’s capital.

Bangka’s modernization process saw the area develop from a riverside indigenous settlement into a Qing dynasty commercial entrepot with a port, streets and temples; then, thanks to the formalized planning and building of the Japanese period, which saw improvements to street-layout, construction of railroads and public-facilities, moved the district from traditional settlement to a place among old Taipei’s three market towns (台北三市街) with a distinctive fusion of old and new, traditional and modern.

Taipei City, 130 Years in the Building

In the 1880s, during the waning years of the Qing dynasty, Taiwan’s first governor, Liu Mingchuan (刘铭传), launched a series of large-scale improvement projects, including strengthening coastal defenses, opening up the mountains and pacifying the aborigines, and carrying out a cadastral survey and land-tax reform. He also initiated modernization projects as a railway, submarine cable, postal service, street lighting, telegraph, coal service, and school modernization enterprises.

Since the commissioner Shen Baozhen (沈葆桢) advocated making Taiwan a full province, with three counties and Taipei the capital in place of Tainan, turning the city into the island’s political and economic center in 1880s. The Qing court chose unused land between the settlements of Bangka and Dadaocheng for the location of a new walled city. Though Taipei was founded later than the walled cities of Magong (马公) in Penghu (澎湖), Tainan, and today’s Hsinchu (新竹), its walls were second in size only to Tainan’s, at approximately 5,000 meters in length, and a little larger than those of Hsinchu. Having taken the lead in construction, the city soon overtook the others and surged ahead.

Within a few years of the walled city’s completion, Taipei was not only Taiwan’s most modern population center, but the island’ political, cultural, economic, and social core. This was reflected in the progressive transformations undertaken on many fronts during the Japanese era, in street improvements, urban planning, railway building, public bus services, electric lighting, telecommunications and postal services, and the building of new sewerage and drinking water systems, hospitals, parks, museums, and public-assembly halls. There were also developments in the availability of education, and exhibitions were staged. The range of new leisure and cultural facilities, social campaigns, public-spaces, and civic cultural transformations was comprehensive.

A Convenient, Eco-Sensitive International City

Though Taipei is still a comparatively young city, and does not have the scale of such great cosmopolitan urban centers as New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Shanghai, the freedom of movement enjoyed by its inhabitants, convenience, and its focus on environmental protection are all unmatched by other international metropolises. Among its countless noteworthy features are the superb quality and range of food, night markets, Taipei Free Public Wi-Fi Access network, and Keep Trash Off the Ground (垃圾不落地) program. An ultra-convenient, friendly living environment is provided for both residents and visitors; greatly enhancing the city’s international visibility and competitiveness and helping it leap past many other cities.

Among the lasting impressions left with past visitors is the density and range of the city’s 24-hour convenience stores, and the convenience, cleanliness, and courtesy enjoyed while using the city’s public transportation, notably the bus and metro systems. What many do not know about is the city’s Keep Trash off the Ground policy, under which garbage trucks arrive at set locations at set times each day so that people can most conveniently handle their garbage. Trash is also sorted and recycled, thus becoming a renewable resource. On another eco-friendly front, the city’s still-expanding YouBike (微笑单车) public bicycle-rental system has become extremely popular. The network combines convenience with solid environmental benefits, and the bikes have become favorite companions on Taipei citizens’ leisurely explorations of its many neighborhoods. The bikes satisfy demand for a convenient, healthy, low-carbon, low-cost mode of transportation, and are playing a key role in Taipei’s quest to be a sustainable green city.

Now its progression from a barren marsh into a thriving city is complete, Taipei has the same advantages as other cities, but also others that it’s created. From lake to shining metropolis, this city’s great pooling of energy has brought it down the road to great prosperity in the past century, and is sure to bring continued good fortune in the next.

Information

Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Garden 芝山文化生态绿园

Add: 120, Yusheng St. (雨声街120号)

Tel: [phone]