The Meinong East Gate Tower () is a historical

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

Meinong District Meinong District (WG: Meinung, Hakka: 瀰濃 Mî-nùng, ) is a Hakka district in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Meinong is one of the four districts in Kaohsiung that is the central focus of Hakka cultural development, the others being Jiasian District, Shanl ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

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

The tower was constructed in 1755 to become the defense installation on the east side of Minong Village. The tower was destroyed during the revolt against

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

in 1895. In 1937, the tower was upgraded by local merchants and dignitaries. During the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

in the 1940s, a small extension of the tower was added at the top in which a large bell was hung to be used as an air-raid alarm. However, both of the extension and the bell were removed after the war. In May 2000, the gate was designated as a county-level ancient monument by the Kaohsiung County Government.

Architecture

The tower was constructed with

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-speak ...

architecture with a height of exactly 10.63 meters from its foundation to its highest peak. The front of the gatehouse hangs the banner of ''Initiation of Civilization'' which refers to the simulation of a local elite's inscription, which witnesses the changes of Meining in time.

References

1755 establishments in Taiwan Gates in Kaohsiung Buildings and structures completed in 1755 {{Taiwan-struct-stub

History

Architecture

See also

References