Keelung - Yesterday and Today

Once on a tour to Yehliu, a Scottish professor told me that the rock formations here are unique. 　Unique?　They never seemed that special to me.　 Was he just being polite?　 When the professor saw doubt in my eyes, he explained that he had been to many countries but had never seen rock formations like these.　 Well, I started to pay more attention to these things!　Whenever I travel now, I always look for geological differences between other countries and mine.

Photo by Jun-Chieh Chou	Photo by Bo-Tung Lin

Yehliu is a good place for people to look at our local geology.　 Of course there are the famous rock formations such as the Queen's Head Rock, the Fairy Shoe, the Beehive Rocks and the Candlestick Rock.　 But if you have the time, you should go and visit Ho-Ping Island Park.　 You'll need a full day to see the sea-eroded trenches, the mushroom rocks, the bean curd rocks, the potholes, the dissolved basins and all the other fantastic rock formations that can be found here.

Photo by Ming-Ling Li

Inside Fan-Tzu Cave, characters carved by Dutch soldiers disclose the invasion history of western forces.　 In 1626 the Spanish arrived at Ho-Ping Island and built San Salvadore fort in response to the arrival of Dutch troops two years earlier.　 However in 1642 this fort was taken over by the Dutch and renamed Noort Hollant.　 In 1661 it was the Dutch turn to get expelled - this time by the legendary general Koxinga of the Ming Dynasty.

Photo by Long-De Li	Photo by Wei-Kuang Tang

After Taiwan was subsumed into the Ching Dynasty in 1683, more conflicts arose.　 China fought against England during the 1840 Opium War.　 Then there was the Mutan Village Incident with Japan.　 In 1884 the Sino-French War began.　 The Taiwan governors of the Ching Dynasty built more than ten western-style forts on the island to defend against foreign incursions.

Hai Men Tian Sian was a highland gun emplacement which protected the Keelung Harbor. Another gun emplacement was put in Dawulun above Lovers’ Lake to guard against land attacks from Danshuei, the Jinshan to Keelung area, and from the East Sea. Both of these historical sites and the French Cemetery are good places to learn about the defense of Keelung Harbor. Photo by Chia-Hsing Chen

 

Keelung Harbor is called the "Rain Port" because, being on the windward side of the northeast monsoons, it rains a lot there.　 Not only is it an important fishing port, it is also the largest container port in Northern Taiwan.　 Because of all the activity here, food can be found in the Keelung Temple Space (Miaokou) 24 hours a day.　 The famous local specialties include pastries and (of course) all kinds of seafood.
Photo by Shin-Jung Hsu		Photo by Film Specification

 

The Ghost Festival is a great event in Keelung. During the entire seventh month of the lunar calendar, people participate in ceremonies and make offerings commemorating the Dead who perished while trying to cross the turbulent Taiwan Strait from mainland China.　One highlight occurs on the 14th night, when water lanterns are put on the sea in order to guide the ghosts to banquets and rest places prepared for them. Photo by Eugene Yeh

 

Photo by So-Chian Jiang	Photo by Si-Chuan Huang	Photo by Fong-Rong Chen
Jioufen Village is an interesting place close to Keelung.　 It used to be a flourishing gold mine full of gold miners.　Today people can relive the gold-mining experience at Gold Ecological Park.　The movie "City of Sadness" was filmed here. It conveys some of the confusion and fear that the Taiwanese people suffered during the 1950's as the Japanese withdrew and the Kuomintang forces of Chiang Kai-shek entered from the mainland. Jioufen Village is a popular place for Taipei residents to escape from their cement jungle for a cup of tea with friends, a sampling of the local snacks, and a re-acquaintance with the old crafts and toys from the old days.