Insight Guides: Taiwan by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Taiwan
Publisher: APA
Published: 2013-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Buddha statue at Baguashan.

Dreamstime

The towns and villages are centuries old, and still move to older rhythms, with a noticeably slower pace than in the cities. The land given over to farming is steadily shrinking, and many of the young leave village or town to pursue education and then work, only some returning to their roots when older.

Crafts and model construction

About 20km (12 miles) from the city is Caotun, where the Taiwan Craft Culture Park (Taiwan Gongyi Wenhua Yuanqu; www.ntcri.gov.tw; Tue–Sun 9am–5pm; free) contains an extensive display of local handicrafts and modern manufactured goods. The site’s four-story, air-conditioned building houses bamboo and rattan furniture, Chinese lanterns, lacquerware, ceramics, stonecraft, woodcraft, curios, jewelry, cloisonné, and textiles. All items on display are for sale at fixed prices.

Just 2km (1.2 miles) from Caotun is Zhongxing Village (Zhongxing Xincun), the former seat of Taiwan’s now defunct provincial government (the central government absorbed provincial affairs in the 1990s). Given its past importance, Zhongxing was designed as a model ‘new’ village, built along US lines, with detached houses surrounded by gardens and tidy suburban-looking streets. With the dismantling of the provincial government in 1998, however, the area fell on hard times, and this was compounded by the 9-21 Earthquake, which did enormous damage to the community. Today, it’s a pleasant place to pass through, for a brief look at yesteryear.

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