{"id":1153,"date":"2020-04-04T00:27:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T00:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saviowong.com\/travel\/?page_id=1153"},"modified":"2024-02-12T04:58:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T04:58:47","slug":"tainan-2020","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saviowong.com\/travel\/tainan-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Tainan 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/span><\/strong>Tainan City (\u81fa\u5357\u5e02)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The city of Tainan is situated in the southern part of Taiwan.\u00a0 In fact, in Chinese, the Tai-Nan, which literally can be translated into Platform – South.\u00a0 It was the cultural and political centre for Taiwan for an extended period of time. The city has about 1.8 million inhabitants and it is known for its historic buildings and food.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were in Tainan for three days but managed to cover a lot of ground.\u00a0 We visited the Anping District (\u5b89\u5e73\u5340) a couple of times, where a number of Dutch and British\u00a0 colonial buildings have been restored. This was where the Dutch East India Company had its base.\u00a0 The Dutch colonized Taiwan between 1624 to 1662 also built a number of forts in this part of island. Despite its fortification, the Dutch was eventually expelled by the Chinese General Koxinga. Koxinga was the title bestowed onto him by a Ming Emperor. Although in the west he is better known by his title, in Taiwan he is usually referred by his Chinese name Zheng Cheng Kung (\u912d\u6210\u529f).\u00a0 Although Zheng was not a native Taiwanese, he is well respected and statutes of him could be found all over the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following are some photos from Anping District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map of the five foreign merchant houses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tait & Co. Merchant House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tait & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chinese calligraphy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Statue of Zheng Cheng Kung<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Old Fort of Anping<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Random store sign in Anping<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Former German merchant house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Former home of a famous person<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Eternal Golden Castle was built by the Qing Dynasty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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General Shen Baozhen who commanded the castle <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Dutch are coming…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A short video on Anping District<\/a>: bit.ly\/anping__2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chihkan <\/em>Towers <\/strong>stands as one of Tainan’s most famous historic landmarks. \u00a0 In the 1650s, the Dutch constructed Fort Provedentia <\/em>in this area and locals called it the \u201dTower of Red-haired Barbarians\u201d.\u00a0 On the day we visited which coincided with the last day of the Spring Festival (the 15th day of Lunar New Year) and we chanced upon a loud and boisterous parade.\u00a0 Copious amounts of firecrackers were set off at warding off evil spirits. This was the early days of the COVID-19, even though some people wore masks, not as much social distancing was seen that afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Parade adjacent to Chihkan Towers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Parade
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Parade stretched for several city blocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Smoky because of the firecrackers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Boxes of fireworks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chihkan Towers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Supposedly, evil spirits do not like round entry way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the rooms in the upper floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Evil spirits can’t jump, hence the low floor barrier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I took a couple of short videos of the parade; make sure you have your speakers on to hear the loud firecrackers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n