Tainan’s Sinhua District (新化) is a treasure trove of history and natural beauty. It is an area rich in cultural and recreational resources. According to oral history, the 17th century Chinese hero Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功) landed his army in what is now Fong Rong Village (豐榮里) and set up base.

During the Japanese colonial period, commerce between Sinhua and Tainan City reached a fever pitch. Sinhua was the political hub at the center of nine neighboring towns. Wealthy landowners and educated gentlemen congregated here. The buying and selling of daily necessities such as tea, rice, and salt also took place in this bustling market town. One can imagine how splendid Sinhua looked back in its glory days.

Sinhua Old Street is the hub of the entire Sinhua District. The contrasting architectural styles of its buildings—Baroque and modernist—lend it a unique charm. Each building on the old street has been meticulously decorated. The walls of concrete and Chinese fir were hand-carved to represent living, breathing decorations and relief. Whether it’s the luxurious mansions built without rebars to mimic a Baroque style fused with traditional elements; or the modernist buildings of cement and steel from Japan’s Showa Era; everything serves to show how special and unique Sinhua Old Street is. 

Turn your gaze backwards in time: to many residents of the greater Tainan area, Sinhua is a repository of history and memory; for example, Hutoubei (虎頭埤) was a popular place for young lovers to meet—in the 1950s and 60s. Wandering through the lanes of Sinhua Old Street, if you pay attention, you’ll easily find buildings more than a century old. Many historical figures also lived here, so their former residences have been transformed into museums: like Su You-jhih (蘇有志), one of the leaders of the Tapani Incident; Liang Dao (梁道), first “Street Chief” (街長) of Sinhua; and Taiwanese novelist Yang Kui (楊逵).

When Glory Has Gone and Pride Has Passed

For too long, the cultural treasures of Sinhua were not adequately preserved, maintained, or vitalized. Important points of interest on Sinhua Old Street were buried under a jumbled jigsaw puzzle of street ads and signs. As time went by, the Old Street gradually lost the glamor of being the center of the region’s development. 

Whether it’s due to the original owners moving away; or because they became elderly and did not realize the full potential of their historic old houses; but these houses were sold or lent to other people to do with as they pleased. Old houses became stores; one by one they disappeared. The sterilized, commercialized buildings disintegrated the local identity that once shaped the old town. The Old Street was no longer glorious, and people lost pride in those buildings. Businessmen from the outside world came in and ran their shops from a purely commercial perspective. The first thing they did when they moved in was to remove all the old things from the house and renovate it completely. The removal of these historic artifacts also destroyed the threads that bound the local culture, knowledge, and living memory together. Eventually, the very land that gave the old street its identity seemed to erode away.

Reflecting on the Preservation and Revitalization of Historic Buildings Through Community Creation 

From 2011 to 2016, we led local NGOs to fulfill their calling of serving society. We improved the living environment around the old street, increased the number of visitors by over 30%, and worked with over thirty local stores to promote tourism. We helped the community engage in the revitalization of farming villages and the building of communities, and we stalwartly refused to let the eighth largest pesticide company in the world to build a plant in Sinhua. We promoted a campaign to make life here more friendly, and we combined tangible and intangible resources in the region to promote educational activities. 

Even though we accomplished much, we looked back at Sinhua Old Street and found problems. The old houses were being sold one by one to outside businesses that very efficiently dismantled any trace of the old culture and renovated the buildings to do their business. This pained us deeply. We underwent a period of self-reflection and consideration as we brainstormed about how we could remake this community.

After a year-long review, we decided to use property investment strategies in our community building. Starting in 2017, we negotiated favorable terms with house owners, or rented the houses from the owners, and took steps to preserve the cultural artifacts and investigate the history of each house that came under our control. We also strategically highlighted the old street’s culture; at the same time we used culture to generate a new atmosphere for business in this area, so the owners of old houses could have a different understanding of what they should do with their property. 

Our goal was to preserve the living history of these old houses. We wanted to recreate its interior so the presentation of its living history can be combined with commercial purposes. We also wanted to attract like-minded teams to come work to preserve the old street’s culture and prosperity. In the end, we wanted the old street to be like a living museum without walls. 

Have you read?
♦ Tainan: Old House, New Soul
♦ Taipei: Returning to Old Taipei at the Astoria Cafe
♦ Keelung: Cruises Restore Glory of Keelung, Once Taiwan’s Largest Port

Using “Rice” to Revitalize Sinhua’s Historic Neighborhood

This year (2018), the neighborhood around Sinhua Old Street was designated the Sinhua historic area. On both sides of the street, artistically decorated buildings and modernist architecture stood tall and proud. Walking along the streets and lanes, you can easily find century-old houses and the former residences of local heroes. But, even in such a beautiful neighborhood, the shells of old houses and their original memories and stories are still being erased. 

In recent years, the “Pickup Trend Workshop” (拾荒流工作室) successfully got the house owners’ approval to help maintain and do business out of two century-old buildings: the “Chang Tai Pharmacy”(長泰西藥房) and “Jin Fa Rice Store” (晉發米穀商店). They planned to launch a new campaign: “Revitalizing the Tainan Sinhua historic neighborhood with ‘rice’” (巡迷臺南新化歷史街區以『米』創生計畫). 

Translated by Jack C.
Edited by Sharon Tseng