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Historic opposition haven reopened after renovations

Chou Yu, owner of the Wistaria Teahouse, introduces the 90-year-old establishment to the media as it reopened after being renovated yesterday. The renovation of the historic building in downtown Taipei was part of efforts by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs to revive municipal heritage sites. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

The Wistaria Teahouse (紫藤盧), a cultural landmark that played an important role in the history of the dangwai (黨外, “outside the KMT”) opposition movement of the 1980s, reopened yesterday after a one-year renovation project.

Located on Xinsheng S Road, the 90-year-old wooden teahouse was surrounded by a small pond and wisterias. The renovation crew repaired its wooden structure and renewed the plumbing while preserving the cultural and historical aspects of the teahouse.

In addition to the renovated structure, the teahouse now includes an exhibition space for artists.

To continue promoting its tea culture, teahouse founder Chou Yu (周渝) has also brought back a great variety of teas from China.

“Wistaria has been at the forefront of the nation’s social and academic activities and provided an open and forgiving space for activists to share their passions and dreams,” Chou said at a reopening ceremony at the teahouse yesterday.

“This place played a role in the opposition movement, but I expect it to become a cultural site where people with different backgrounds and ideologies will be able to share conversations and ideas,” he said.

Celebrating the reopening with various artists and academics yesterday, political commentator Sisy Chen (陳文茜) described the teahouse as an “immortal legend.”

She said she expected the teahouse to revive the refined cultural tradition of tea drinking.

Former vice minister of education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠), who used to be an activist in the opposition movement, thanked Chou for having provided the dangwai movement with a democratic and open space for discussing and planning activities against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.

Chou and opposition activists’ liberal expression of their political views at the Wistaria in the 1980s eventually attracted the attention of the authorities.

Several unsuccessful attempts were made to shut the place down, until the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs recognized its cultural and historical significance and listed it as a municipal monument in 1997.

The department spent NT$9 million (US$296,300) on the renovations to the teahouse last year.
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