Jiufen
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Jiufen, also spelled Jioufen or Chiufen (), is a seaside mountain area in
Ruifang District Ruifang District () is a suburban district in eastern New Taipei City, Taiwan. History During Japanese rule, Ruifang was called , and was administered as part of of Taihoku Prefecture. Mining was an important industry in Ruifang (then kno ...
,
New Taipei City New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
.


History

During the first years of the
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
, the isolated village housed nine families, thus the village would request "nine portions" every time shipments arrived from town. Later ''Káu-hūn-á'' () would become the name of the village. Despite the earliest reference to the production of gold in the island dating to 1430, and multiple rediscoveries by early inhabitants, visiting Japanese, Dutch occupiers, and
Koxinga Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...
's retainers, awareness of the wealth of Taiwan's gold districts did not develop until the late Qing era. In 1890, workmen discovered flakes of gold while constructing the new Taipeh-Kelung railway, and in 1893 a rich placer district was discovered in the hills of ''Kau-hun'' that produced several kilograms of gold a day. In the next year, the promise became greater than ever after a Chinese "expert" with experience gained in California found gold-bearing quartz in the said hills. The resulting
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
hastened the village's development into a town, and reached its peak during the
Japanese era The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...
. In ''The Island of Formosa, Past and Present'' (1903), American diplomat James W. Davidson wrote, "Kyu-fun au-hunis as odd looking a settlement as one could find. ..never before has the writer seen so many houses in such a small space. Some appear to be partially telescoped in adjoining buildings, other standing above as though unable to force their way to the group, and each structure seems to be making a silent appeal to its neighbor to move over." Water ran "in many small streams, directed so as to provide each building with a little rivulet, passing sometimes by the doorway or even over the floor of the building." The claim was owned by the Fujita Company, the first Japanese company to mine quartz in Taiwan and which occasionally made an income of a few thousand yen per month from the Kau-hun gold operations. Many present features of Jiufen reflect the era under Japanese colonization, with many Japanese inns surviving to this day. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, a POW camp named
Kinkaseki Jinguashi (Chinkuashih; ) is a town in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, notable for its historic gold and copper mines. It was also known as Kinkaseki in Japanese and was under Taihoku Prefecture during Japanese rule. From 1942 to 19 ...
was set up in the village, holding Allied soldiers captured in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
(including many British) who worked in the nearby gold mines. Gold mining activities declined after World War II, and the mine was shut off in 1971. Jiufen quickly went into decline, and for a while the town was mostly forgotten. In 1989,
Hou Hsiao-hsien Hou Hsiao-hsien (; born 8 April 1947) is a Mainland Chinese-born Taiwanese film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a leading figure in world cinema and in Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice ...
's ''
A City of Sadness ''A City of Sadness'' () is a 1989 Taiwanese historical drama directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. It tells the story of a family embroiled in the " White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government (KMT) after their ...
'', the first film to touch on the February 28 Incident, then a taboo subject in Taiwan, won acclaim around the world. As a result, Jiufen, where the film was set, revived due to the film's popularity. The nostalgic scenery of Jiufen as seen in the film, as well as appearances in other media, charmed many people into visiting Jiufen. For the beginning of the 1990s, Jiufen experienced a tourist boom that has shaped the town as a tourist attraction. Soon
retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...
-Chinese style cafés, tea houses, and souvenir stores bearing the name "City of Sadness" were built. Jiufen also became popular in 2001 due to its resemblance to the downtown in the Japanese
anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
movie ''
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distrib ...
'' by
Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...
. Jiufen soon attracted Japanese tourists. Many Japanese travel magazines and guide books about Taiwan introduced Jiufen. It became a must visit place among Japanese tourists. However, Miyazaki himself denied that Jiufen was the model city of the movie. 台湾の九份は「千と千尋の神隠し」のモデル地ではない
/ref> At present, Jiufen is a renowned tourist attraction representative of Taiwan. It draws many tourists from
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
during the weekends.


Gallery

File:Jiufen at night lantern glow.jpg, Jiufen at night File:Jiufen.jpg, Jiufen, Taiwan Image:TW9-Beef-Noodle-0.jpg, Jiufen at night File:九份山村與八斗子漁村.jpg File:Jioufen.jpg, Jiufen, Taiwan File:Jioufen_mountain_view.jpg, Jiufen Mountain View File:Nine_share_town.jpg, Traditional Architecture File:Shengping_Theater_entry_20050612.jpg, Shengping Theater File:Jioufen2012.JPG, Jiufen Mountain View File:Night_in_Jioufen_view_from_Mt._Keelung_20130711.jpg, Nightview of Jiufen from Mt. Keelung


Transportation

*As Jiufen is a mountain town, the roads that lead there are mostly steep, curving, narrow, and possibly dangerous. *The town is served by buses that run from Keelung, Taipei, etc. *The nearest train station is
Rueifang Station Ruifang () is a railway station in New Taipei, Taiwan served by Taiwan Railways. History The station was opened on 5 May 1919. Structure There are two island platforms and one side platform. See also * List of railway stations in Taiwan There ...
of the TRA
Yilan Line The Yilan Line () is the northern section of the Eastern Line of the Taiwan Railways Administration in Taiwan. It has a length of 95 km. History This railroad was completed in 1924 as the Giran-sen during Imperial Japanese rule over Taiwan. ...
, which is 15 minutes away by bus.


Foods

*A-Zhu Peanut Ice Cream Roll *Ah Gan Taro Balls *A-Mei Tea House *Wu Di ‘Flower Lady’ Taiwanese Sausages *Zhang Ji Traditional Fish Balls *Ah Lan Glutinous Rice Cake


See also

*
Mining in Taiwan Mining has been practiced in Taiwan for hundreds of years. Sulfur was an early important resource collected on the island. Coal mining expanded in the 19th century to keep up with demand from increased foreign trade. Heavy industry was further exp ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* This article uses translated material from the equivalent Japanese-language Wikipedia article (retrieved 26 February 2006). Both articles are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. *


External links


Jiufen attractions, from the Rueifang government website

Article on AmCham Taipei site
{{coord, 25.107, N, 121.843, E, display=title, source:dewiki Geography of New Taipei Tourist attractions in New Taipei Former gold mines