As Typhoon Soudelor approached Taiwan in August, Hsieh Ming-feng, director of Tainan’s Fengshen Temple (風神廟), asked the temple’s Wind God (風神爺) if he should cancel an event to be held as the storm was about to make landfall.
The deity told him there wouldn’t be a problem, but the event, a creative market, was cancelled anyway.
“It didn’t even drizzle,” Hsieh says.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
The original market was moved to last weekend, and, despite the threat of rain, it was all clear skies. The Wind God was watching.
Starting from his grandfather, Hsieh’s family has run the near 300-year-old temple — unique in Taiwan that the Wind God is its main deity — for the past 150 years. In the old days, the wind god protected seafarers crossing the Taiwan Strait — then known as the perilous “black ditch” (黑水溝). The temple also houses water, fire, thunder and lightning deities.
Hsieh says that his temple worships “nature deities” instead of those based on a certain historic or mythical figures. But as transportation became less reliant on natural forces and with the modernization of society, his temple was slowly forgotten.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
Fengshen Temple is part of a district now known as Wutiaogang Cultural Park (五條港文化園區), has experienced a revival with many young entrepreneurs moving into the historic residences, opening up innovative businesses and remodeling them in a way that preserves the ancient atmosphere with flourishes of modern chic.
A quick walk through the district’s winding paved alleys yields various creative studios, a menu-less restaurant in a 139-year-old residence, classical musicians rehearsing for a free afternoon concert, a “life swap shop” where people can trade anything (including money) for workshops and goods … and the list goes on.
These new businesses coexist with the old, with numerous temples and traditional establishments such as barbershops. Culture is everywhere, and even at the Matsu Tower (媽祖樓) there’s a painting-on-roof tiles contest.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
Many who grew up in Wutiaogang are also following suit, combining modern ideas with local history and tradition.
Tsai Tsung-sheng (蔡宗昇) runs a hostel out of his childhood home, which he named Sai Kau Kin Old House (屎溝墘客廳). Sai Kau means “feces ditch” in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) referring to the channel underneath the house that was used to transport manure.
Tsai has a new idea he wants to play on his establishment’s location between the Matsu Tower and a temple worshipping the Emperor of the Mysterious Heavens (玄天上帝).
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
“I want to open a store with no storekeeper,” he says. “I’ll just put goods there and let people put money into a box. After all, there are two gods watching what people do in there.”
There’s something interesting at every twist and turn. Hsinyi Street (信義街) is known for its cafes and restaurants, including Bookeater (烹書) which serves food based on literature, while Shennong Street (神農街) contains many cozy bars.
The buildings all follow a similar format — they look small from the front, but seem to expand forever with endless nooks and crannies to explore. Most renovations either retain the original wood-and-brick decor, or find materials that evoke a similar antique feel.
Some businesses are simply “spaces,” such as Flying Fish Memory Museum (飛魚美術館), which contains a wedding dress and photography studio, a gallery and performance space, a kitchen, a reading room and guestrooms. Anything is possible, locals say.
Flying Fish’s housekeeper says she moved from Taipei to Tainan “to live life,” also a phrase that’s often heard in Wutiaogang.
“To live life” is what brought Tang Wen-cheng (唐文正) here, who runs Mu Red Bean, (慕紅豆) a firewood-cooked red bean soup and ice shop on Minzu Road (民族路) in a former traditional Chinese medicine clinic. Formerly a computer salesperson, he quit his job to find a “happy way of living and working.”
He saw how his father would prepare extra red bean soup to share with hospital volunteers.
“When he did that, I saw that he was happy that day,” Tang says. “The formula of ‘sharing plus red bean soup equals happiness’ appeared my head. So I tried to prove it through living my life.”
Tang says Tainan is a perfect place for what he calls “life experimenting” (生活實驗), due to its slower pace and lower cost of living. Since it’s less commercialized than other large cities, people can afford to put their personal style into what they do, he says.
“People can also be bolder here,” he adds. “How can you experiment in Taipei when you have to pay NT$30,000 per month for rent? I feel that in Tainan, many things are possible that aren’t other cities.”
GETTING THERE
Take the High Speed Rail from Taipei Main Station (台北車站) to Tainan Station (台南站). Wutiaogang District is about a 40-minute taxi ride from the HSR station for about NT$400.
A cheaper alternative is to head to the Taiwan Railway Administration’s Shalun Station (沙崙), which is next to the HSR station, and take the train to Tainan Railway Station for NT$25. Wutiaogang is about a seven-minute taxi ride away for about NT$140.
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