Sansia Township (三峽鎮), Taipei County is widely known as a well-preserved traditional town, but time and tourists had taken their toll, and even the most picturesque parts of the town had began to look a little down at heel. But now, after three-years of renovations and NT$300 millions of funding from Council for Cultural Affairs (文建會), the town is ready to show tourists the best that it has to offer. And the timing couldn't have been better, as the newly refurbished town decks itself in all its Lunar New Year finery.
The story of the Mincyuan old street (民權老街) in Sansia Township began in the Qing Dynasty. Situated at the confluence of Sansia (三峽溪), Tahan (大漢溪) and Heng rivers (橫溪), the small settlement quickly became a hub of the then thriving waterway transport network and grew wealthy from the trade in tea, dyed goods, timber and coal.
The town's Golden Age faded as river transport was superseded by railways and highways. Young people moved to the cities for a better future as their elders were left behind reminiscing about the past glory of Sansia's old street.
In many ways, it is a typical story of old centers of wealth giving way to new conurbations, but in this case, the decline was halted when the Taipei County Government launched the renovation and preservation project on Mincyuan old street in 2004.
"The most difficult part of the project was not the renovation work itself but the seemingly ceaseless communication with the locals to involve them in the planning process," said Chen Kuan-hua (陳冠華) from the Urban Design Division of Taipei City Government (台北縣政府都市計畫課).
Considering that many houses are owned jointed by many heirs, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, reaching a consensus on the renovation projects was a herculean task. But the effort seems to have paid off as the street has been restored to as good an approximation of its original look as knowledge and technical know-how permit.
Boasting more than a 100 buildings dating from the final decades of the Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), the thoroughfare is lined with street houses adorned with Baroque-style columns and refined sculptured facades. It is a fine example of the popular architectural styles of that time. The facade of each house is stamped with the residents' surname and their trade. Back in the old days, arched arcades, a traditional architectural form commonly seen in the hotter and wetter southern regions, were the social place where locals did their businesses and gathered to socialize.
Various businesses have now taken over the street. Most notable are the tea houses, handicraft shops and stores selling hand-dyed clothing using traditional indigo-dyeing techniques unique to the region. Particularly worth visiting are the antique stores that stock items dating back to the Japanese colonial era.
Located on the old street is the town's primary attraction, the Sansia Tsushih Temple (三峽祖師廟), dedicated to Master Chingshui (清水祖師). Originally built in 1769, it has undergone numerous renovations, most recently by artist Li Mei-shu (李梅樹, 1902 to 1983), who led a almost half-century restoration project that began in 1947. The painstaking restoration is widely recognized as being some of the finest work of its kind in Taiwan. The temple's Chinese cypress and camphor wood ceiling and beams are covered in gold leaf and the exquisitely sculptured stone columns featuring birds, dragons, sages and gods are a feast for the eyes.
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