A Day in Town: Xinying, Yanshuei, Beimen, Xuejia (Tainan City)

I just completed my fourteenth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Tainan City, the oldest city and one of the six special municipalities in Taiwan. Along with Chiayi County and Chiayi City, Tainan City was the worst hit by Typhoon Danas, so during the trip I still observed traces left by the storm that had struck Taiwan three weeks earlier. There are 37 districts in Tainan City, and I visited four of them during the trip: Xinying, Yanshuei, Xuejia, and Beimen.

On the first day, I took a train to Xinying, the northernmost railway station within Tainan City. From there, I started exploring on foot, visiting nine of the 23 villages administered by Xinying District. The name Xinying literally means "new camp", referring to the site where Koxinga's army camped after arriving in Taiwan in the 17th century. Once an area less developed than its prosperous neighbour, Yanshuei, Xinying is now home to the second administrative center of the Tainan City Government. Sugar production was the most important industry in Xinying, and the factory in Xinying is one of the three major production sites of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation.

With an iconic statue of Nezha standing atop it, Xinying Taizegong is the largest of its kind in Taiwan and a landmark of Xinying District. Taizegong literally means "prince temple", the Taoist temple that worships Jinzha, Muzha, and Nezha─the three brothers described in Chinese mythological work The Investiture of the Gods. Standing in front of Tongjigong, an inconspicuous temple worshipping the Chinese sea goddess Mazu in Tiaxianchiao area of Xinying District, I was amazed to learn that the place used to be a seaport─a good part of Xinying and its neighboring areas were part of a lagoon called Tò-hong-lāi-hái until 150 years ago.

On the second day, I visited Yanshuei District. I first took a train to Xinying Railway Station. From there, I walked to Yanshuei District, visiting seven of the 13 villages there, then rode a Youbike back to Xinying Railway Station. Alongside Tiaxianchiao (today part of Xinying District), Maogangwei (Xiayin District) and Madou (Madou District), Yanshuei (then known as Yuejin) was the four major ports of  Tò-hong-lāi-hái. Among the four, Yanshuei was the largest, as described in the proverb: "One Tainan,  two Lukang,  three Bangka, four Yuejin"─referring to the most prosperous port cities in Taiwan in the 18th and 19th centuries: Tainan (Anping), Lukang, Bangka (Wanhua), and Yuejin (Yanshuei).

There were many historical sites and relics, through which I could easily envision the exceptional prosperity Yanshuei achieved centuries ago. One of them is the iconic Bajiao (Octagon) Building, once owned by sugar businessman Yeh Kaihong. Its building materials came from Fuzhou, Fujian Province of China and construction took ten years to complete. The other one is Yanshuei Martial Temple, where the Chinese deity Guan Gong is worshipped. It hosts the nationally renowned Yanshuei Beehive Fireworks Festival each year  during the Lantern Festival in Taiwan.

On the third day, I visited Beimen, the northwestern corner of Tainan City and once part of a lagoon. I began by taking a bus to Jiali, and transferred to another bus to  reach Jingzaijiao Village. From there, I explored on foot, visiting five of the ten villages administered by Beimen District. Beimen was a coastal boom town, thanks to its strong salt evaporation business. With its salt evaporation ponds all closed, its population shrank to just over 10,000, nearly halved from its high of 19,000 in 1971. Interestingly, the renowned Beimen Senior High School is located in Jiali District, instead of Beimen District, because both areas were part of "Beimen County" during Japanese rule.

Beimen was the hometown of two famous figures in 20th century Taiwan history. The first one was Hung Tung, an illiterate, spiritual medium-turned self-taught painter, notable for his folk style and vivid colours. He had a significant influence on the direction of Taiwanese modern art in the 1970s and was a forerunner in the Taiwanese Nativist art movement. The other one was Wang King-ho, a doctor who worked to combat "blackfoot disease" (arsenic poisoning) for 25 years by offering free medical services to patients from Beimen and the surrounding regions.

On the fourth day, I visited Xuejia, the district sandwiched between Beimen and Yanshuei. Just like the day before, I first took a bus to Jiali, and transferred to another bus to reach Dawan, the southernmost village of Xuejia that borders Jiali District. From there, I started exploring on foot, and visited six of the 13 villages administered by Xuejia District. Before reaching Xuejia, I stumbled upon a monument in Jiali that highlighted its historical importance: the seat of Zhuluo County during the Qing Dynasty, established in 1684, which ruled the vast land of Taiwan north of the Yanshui River. Interestingly, after wandering into Xuejia District I came across another monument in commemoration of an even earlier historical event: the landing of the Koxinga's army in Taiwan (1662).

Unbeknownst to me, Xuejia was the hometown of a few notable figures who are well known across the country.  To this end, I visited  the humble birthplace of Hou Yu-li (February 11, 1900 — June 23, 1989), a Taiwanese cloth merchant and entrepreneur who was known as a Tainan textile capitalist. He was one of the leaders of the "Tainan Gang" in the business community of Southern Taiwan, and alongside Wang Yongqing, the founder of Formosa Plastics Group, was known as Southern Hou & Northern Wang. Amazingly, before ending my day in Xuejia I spotted a rare pair of black swans by a pond.

The hostel I stayed at this time was in downtown Tainan, near the renowned National Tainan Senior Girls' High School and a 15-minute walk fron Tainan Railway Station. Every morning, I saw the students arriving at school for a new day and felt that I, too, was setting off into the unknown, unsure of what I might discover in the day ahead. I ended my journey by sitting at a coffee shop near Tainan Railway Station, starting to write this post and waiting for my train home.