A Day in Town: Bade, Daxi, Longtan, Pingzhen (Taoyuan City)

I just completed my twenty-third trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in Taiwan. My destination this time was Taoyuan City, the latest new founding special municipality, with the fastest population growth of any city in Taiwan in recent decades. Home to Taoyuan International Airport, over 110,000 foreign workers, and many industrial parks and tech company headquarters, Taoyuan City administers 13 districts. Since I had visited four of the 13 districts during my last trip here a year ago, this time I visited another four: Bade, Daxi, Longtan, and Pingzhen, which collectively form the central part of the city. 

I spent my first day in Bade, previously known as Bakuaicuo, which literally means "eight homesteads" in reference to the eight Chinese families surnamed Hsieh, Hsiao, Chiu, Liu, Lai, Huang, Wu, and Lee that first settled here about 250 years ago. With an area of just over 33 square kilometers and a population of over 216,000, Bade is the smallest district by area and the fourth most populous district in Taoyuan City (after Taoyuan,  Chungli and Pingzhen). I began by taking a train to Fengming Station, which is located in Yingge, a neighboring district of Bade that belongs to New Taipei City. From there, I hiked westward to Bade. Soon after I set foot in Bade, I stumbled upon an inspiring quote displayed on the wall of an unimpressive house, which read: "No success can compensate for failure within the family." As I passed by one pond after another, I realized why Taoyuan City was once called "country of thousand ponds", for there were thousands of ponds dug for irrigation purposes in the old days and many of them remain to this day.

About two hours later, I arrived at Bade Pond Ecological Park, a pond-turned-public park and the largest of its kind in Taoyuan City, with a few geese wandering along the pondside. I continued exploring northward to reach Bade Danan Forest Park, a popular recreational park repurposed from an abandoned military camp. From there, I rode a Youbike to Chungli District to check into my hostel. On this day, I visited 25 of the 54 villages administered by Bade District. 

On the second day, I visited Daxi, previously a center of trading and transportation between Taipei and the south. Now Daxi is still known for its old street, one of the most-visited tourist attractions in Taiwan, where Fong Fei-Fei, arguably the most popular and accomplished singer in 20th-century Taiwan, was born. I started by taking a bus to Xiaoli Grand Pond, an important irrigation work in Taoyuan's agricultural history, which was famously completed through cooperation between the indigenous Xiali people and Chinese settlers in the 1740s. Having walked around the pond, which was in the northwestern corner of Daxi, I continued exploring eastward. Two hours later, I came across a giant bottle standing on the roadside, signifying that a nationally renowned soy sauce was produced here.

Having hiked for four hours, I switched to Youbike and rode to Daxi Longsan Temple, a Buddhist temple built in 1868 by bunrei from the historical Bangka Longsan Temple. Standing there, my mind wandered 130 years back in time because it was the site where the Battle of Sanxia, a combat between the Japanese army and the resistance militias in northern Taiwan, took place in July, 1895. The army was sent to support the takeover of Taiwan, which was ceded to the Empire of Japan by the Qing Dynasty per the Treaty of Shimonoseki. During the three-day battle, the Japanese army suffered hundreds of casualties, the largest since its arrival in Taiwan a month earlier. I ended my day in Daxi at its iconic old street, where visitors could have a bird's-eye view over the Dahan River. The river was not navigable now, yet the remnants of a prominent wharf were still there, testifying to Daxi's prosperous past. On this day, I visited 17 of the 28 villages administered by Daxi District.

I spent my third day in Longtan, home to the headquarters of the Republic of China Army and a number of military bases, as well as a few research installations, among them are the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology and the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research. In addition, Longtan houses a few industrial parks and a part of Shimen Reservoir, which supplies water for not only Taoyuan City, but also Hsinchu City, Hsinchu  County, and New Taipei City. I began by taking a bus to Fanzeliao, a stop in Daxi District bordering Longtan, and started hiking around. An hour later, I arrived at Sanken, once a busy village along the Dahan River that served as an important river gateway for Longtan and other interior areas in the south. Having realized that the area was too large for me to explore on foot, I switched to Youbike.  As I rode near Shimen Reservoir, endless tea fields appeared, signifying Longtan's leading role in Taiwan's tea manufacturing industry.

Having reached the downtown area, I resumed walking, and strolled around Longtan Lake, an iconic landmark from which the district was named. I continued strolling around the neighborhood and paid a visit to Longtan Library, which was opened in 2018, alongside a memorial house dedicated to Teng Yu-hsien, a composer of Hakka descent hailing from Longtan. Teng passed away at the young age of 37, but his numerous works, including Taiwanese ballads and pop songs, are time-tested and have remained popular to this day - 82 years after his passing. Along the way, I visited 16 of the 33 villages administered by Longtan District.

On the fourth day, I visited Pingzhen District, which is surrounded by districts of Chungli, Bade, Daxi, Longtan, and Yangmei clockwise from top. With a population of approximately 230,000, Pingzhen is the third most populous district in Taoyuan City after Taoyuan and Chungli. As my hostel was near the border of Chungli and Pingzhen, I set out from my hostel on foot. 30 minutes later, I passed by Pingzhen Senior High School, nationally renowned for its athletic achievements in baseball and Taekwondo. About two hours into my exploration, I arrived at Nanshi Elementary School, a 114-year-old school and the first elementary school ever established in Pingzhen area.

I continued southward and reached the area that was traditionally called Sanzeding, which literally means "mountain top". Interestingly, contrast to its name which implies remoteness or rurality of the area, the neighborhood is home to a few military institutions and has been densely populated and well developed. I turned around to head north and continued by Youbike. About 45 minutes later, I arrived at Longgan Grand Field, a training facility of the Republic of China Army and a landmark where the districts of Pingzhen, Chungli, and Bade intriguingly adjoin. On this day, I visited 20 of the 46 villages administered by Pingzhen District. 

Concluding my day in Pingzhen District, I also completed my second trip in 2026 - a gift I earned for my 67th birthday. My hostel was only a five-minute walk to Chungli Train Station, which made my daily travel easy, though the temperature dipped below 10 degrees Celsius in the past few days, the coldest weather I have experienced during backpacking. On the other hand, I felt warmed when I passed by a local restaurant in Longtan District, which my wife and I, together with our two little kids, often visited after our family outing to Shimen Reservoir 25 years ago. A quarter of a century has passed and our kids are grown up and independent, while my wife and I have both retired. I felt grateful that we are all still around and doing well in our respective journeys in life.