Qidong Street Japanese Houses () is located in the
Zhongzheng District
Zhongzheng District (also Jhongjheng District) is a district in Taipei. It is home to most of the national government buildings of the Republic of China (Taiwan), including the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Control Yuan, the ...
of
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 ...
,
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 ...
. During 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 ...
, Qidong Street was a major lane for transporting rice from the Taipei basin to harbours along the river. Prior to the construction of the
Taipei City Walls in 1884, one could travel from Bangkah (today's
Wanhua District
Wanhua District, known in Taiwanese Hokkien as Báng-kah khu and historically as "Monga" or "Monka", is a district in Taipei, Taiwan. It is Taipei's oldest district. The district is home to historic buildings such as the Bangka Lungshan Temple, ...
) past the East Gate area and along Qidong Street which joined Bade Road, leading to modern-day
Songshan,
Nangang, and eventually
Keelung.
The history of Qidong spans the
Qing era, 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 ...
, and contemporary times. The group of dwellings, located in the center of a modern-day residential district for city officials, housed Japanese civil servants and later provided housing for Republic of China central government figures.
During Japanese rule, the area belonged to the ''Saiwaichō'' civil servant housing group (
幸町職務官舍群), of which most of the architecture dates from the 1920s to the 1940s. The buildings feature distinctly Japanese architectural features and their overall layout remains largely complete, a state rarely seen in the current day. The house at #11, Lane 53, Qidong Street, currently the
Taipei Qin Hall, is particularly well preserved with original porch, doors, and interior spaces as well as a sculptured garden.
In addition, Taipei is home to approximately 2,000 wooden structures built during the Japanese rule of the island between 1895 and 1945, as well as some 4,000 trees that have been growing in their surrounding gardens since that time.
Transportation
The street area is accessible within walking distance west of
Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station
Zhongxiao Xinsheng (, formerly transliterated as Chunghsiao Hsinsheng Station until 2003) is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by the Taipei Metro.
Station overview
The station is a three-level, underground station with two island platfo ...
of
Taipei Metro
Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), branded as Metro Taipei, is a rapid transit system serving the areas of Taipei and New Taipei in Taiwan, operated by the government-owned Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, which also operates the Maokong Gondo ...
.
See also
*
Taiwan under Japanese rule
The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu, Penghu Islands, became a Dependent territory, dependency of Empire of Japan, Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Province, Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty ...
References
{{coord, 25, 02, 30, N, 121, 31, 44, E, source:kolossus-zhwiki, display=title
Buildings and structures in Taipei
Houses in Taiwan