Keelung

Agenna Shipyard Relics (阿根納造船廠遺址)

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Today, I’m going to introduce a historic shipyard in northern Taiwan that has been abandoned for quite some time - and was for quite a while been a favorite for local urbex photographers.

In recent years, this ‘secret’ location (which has been hiding in plain sight) came to the attention of the world at large, and has arguably become the most popular abandoned site in the entire country. It’s transformation from an obscure property into an overnight social media sensation however has been interesting to watch while it has also become somewhat of a contentious issue for the local government, given that there are some serious safety concerns involved.

It’s safe to say that a number of factors contributed to turning this ruin into a social media sensation, but what I find most interesting is that in a city that features a long list of beautiful tourist attractions - this dilapidated structure has the ability to attract a wide range of visitors ranging from local Instagram celebrities to tour buses full of senior citizens. 

It has also helped to promote the Urban Exploration hobby, with a growing community of local explorers, who have started out here and gone on to discover some very photogenic ruins across the country!

Nevertheless, with the shipyard’s newfound popularity as a tourist attraction, you’d think that there would be a multitude of resources available with information about its historical significance, yet even though you can find numerous Chinese-language articles about it, few of them feature little more than basic facts.

While I’d like to help alleviate that problem with this article, I first have to give some major props to my friend and fellow blogger, Alexander Synaptic, who was one of the first people (in any language) to write extensively about the shipyard with an article (linked below) that I strongly recommend you take some time to read.

I highly doubt that my attempt could ever be as good as his article, but I’ll do my best!

Link: Agenna Shipyard 阿根納造船廠 (Spectral Codex)

Below, I’ll provide an introduction to the history of the shipyard, and its current predicament and conclude by providing some info about getting to the area, which is something I rarely do when it comes to my urbex-related posts. Although, I’m not really sure if this one can really be considered urban exploration anymore.

Feel free to debate that one amongst yourselves!  

The Agenna Shipyard Ruins (阿根納造船廠遺址)

Located within Keelung’s Zhengbin Fishery Harbor (正濱漁港), just next to the bridge that crosses the Bachimen Channel (八尺門海峽) to Peace Island (和平島), the Agenna Shipyard was constructed on a historically significant plot of land that dates back as far as the Qing Dynasty.

Predating the shipyard by almost a century, the development of the shoreline along the channel is somewhat unclear, but archaeological evidence suggests that industrial activity started in the area decades prior to the arrival of the Japanese in Taiwan in the late 1800s.

Looking at maps of the area from the 1920s however, we can see that a branch railway was constructed to transport coal from nearby mines to the first iteration of a port, which shipped the coal back to Japan. 

As the amount of shipping traffic increased at the primary port of Keelung, the colonial government planned to have the commercial and fishery industries split between two ports with the “inner" port of Keelung servicing commercial traffic, and a newly re-developed “outer” port area near (what was then known as) the ‘Hasshaku-mon Channel’ becoming the newly established 'Keelung Fishery Port’ (基隆漁港 / きいるんきーるん) in 1935, which at the time was Taiwan’s largest fishery port having enough space to dock four hundred boats in addition to processing facilities and a market along the shoreline. 

Note: Today, several of the larger buildings constructed during in the 1930s for the fishery port are in the process of being restored and re-opened to the public as tourist attractions, making this area of the city an attractive one that will provide an excellent experience for tourists. 

While construction on the fishery port was taking place, the Nippon Mining Company (日本礦業株式會社) was simultaneously in the process of constructing a twelve kilometer-long branch railway, which became known as the ‘Kinkaseki Branch Line’ (金瓜石線 / きんかせきせん). The narrow-gauge line stretched from Suinando Station (水湳洞駅 / すいなんどうえき) to Hasshaku-mon Station (八尺門駅 / はしゃくもんえき), running along the northern shoreline transporting gold and copper ore to the harbor, where it was loaded onto barges to be sent across the harbor and then back to Japan. 

The significance of the branch railway, especially with regard to this article, is essentially because Hasshaku-mon Station was strategically located next to where the shipyard would eventually constructed. During the Japanese-era, the land was used as an ore dock, creating the first iteration of a dock in this location.

Interestingly, the Japanese authorities had some lofty development plans for the area, especially with regard to Sharyo-to (社寮島 / しゃりょうとう), the island we know today as Peace Island (和平島), with maps from the 1930s showing how the area would have been developed. Coincidentally, the island we know today was originally a collection of three islands, Sharyō-to (社寮島), Nakayamako-tō (中山子島), Okeban-sho (桶盤嶼).

If you look at the historic map provided above, you can see the red lines that indicate planned development, which would have artificially connected two of the islands. In the decades since, it’s apparent that those plans carried over with the new regime as it is currently a single island. 

When the Japanese-era ended in 1945, and the Chinese Nationalists took control of Taiwan, the newly established regime sought to continue to capitalize on the island’s natural resources, with the assistance of the already established infrastructure. Yet just over a decade or two of Chinese Nationalist control, almost everything of value had already been taken from the ground and with the mines depleted, the branch railway became unnecessary with the section between Badouzi Station (八斗子車站) and Bachimen Station (八尺門車站) suspended. 

With service on the branch railway officially coming to an end on August 26th, 1962 (民國52年), the ore dock and the space that Hasshaku-mon-turned-Bachimen Station occupied was suddenly freed up, and the Taiwan Metals Mining Company (臺灣金屬鑛業股份有限公司) lost interest in maintaining the property. 

The solution to their problem came a few short years later when in 1966 (民國55年), Thomas Hsueh (薛國航), an US educated engineer and entrepreneur, leased the land and opened the ‘Argonaut Shipbuilding Company’ (阿根納造船廠). Specializing in the construction of luxury yachts, Hsueh made use of his network of business contacts in America, and Taiwan’s cheap and skilled labor to earn a fortune with the shipyard.

Working as a sub-contractor for the Florida-based Chris Craft Industries, the shipyard specialized in the construction of smaller pleasure-craft, and was able to quickly adapt to Chris Craft’s transition to constructing ships with fiberglass in the 1970s and 1980s.

Note: There is a bit of confusion with the naming of the site, so let me take a minute to explain: The name we currently use for the site, “Agenna Shipyard” is simply the romanization of the Chinese-language name. More specifically the pinyin is ‘ā gēn nà zào chuán chǎng’ (阿根納造船廠). Does that name have any meaning in Chinese? No, not really. The name was actually a direct transliteration of the English word “Argonaut” into Chinese. The Taiwanese-American owner of the business essentially required an official Chinese-language name to register the company here in Taiwan, as well as an English name to register the company in the USA. This is a common business practice for multi-national corporations in Taiwan.

Architectural Layout of the Shipyard

Working primarily with Chris-Craft since its inception, the shipyard constructed several of the company’s flagship yachts for a number of years. Unfortunately, the fate of the Argonaut Corporation, and the shipyard were tied too close to that of Chris-Craft back in the USA. So, when economic recession hit the US in the late 1970s and global sales declined, that company was forced to restructure, with its assets and trademarks sold to another investment group in 1981. 

Link: Chris-Craft Corporation (Wiki)

Faced with a loss of its most important partner, and coupled with a worldwide economic downturn, the Argonaut Corporation was left frantically searching for new partners. Ultimately, the company’s poor management structure served as the final nail in its coffin, and after a couple of years of inactivity it closed its doors completely in 1987 (民國76年).

With the end of Argonaut’s business operations, the land once again became a burden to the Taiwan Metals Mining Company, which had also fallen on hard times and was going through bankruptcy in the late 1980s. With most of that company’s assets sold off to pay off their creditors, what little remained of the company was merged with the prosperous Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台灣糖業公司), the current owner of the property.

In the four decades since, the land has been leased to a number of businesses, each of which didn’t end up last very long. Then, in 2008 (民國97年), the land was put on a 20 year lease to a local industrial company (阿諾瑪實業公司), which made national headlines when they did what many other corporations around the country had done in the past, and rolled up onto the property with a bunch of construction equipment and started an illegal demolition of the shipyard.

Link: Agenna Shipyard demolished for safety, firm says (Taipei Times)

The sudden demolition of the historic property was widely condemned, with the mayor of Keelung threatening hefty fines for failing to secure construction permits. The Keelung City Council likewise moved quickly to have the site granted heritage status under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產之保存), which was passed by the Taiwanese legislature that same year.

Unfortunately, by the time demolition was halted, considerable damage had been done to the shipyard, which is one of the reasons why the site is considered to be unstable and unsafe for the amount of people visiting on any given weekend. 

The future of the historic shipyard remains unclear with the Keelung City Government hoping to eventually have it restored, but given that the land remains is the property of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, there are a number of legal matters to be resolved before anything can be done. The shipyard has lingered in its current condition for a number of years and is essentially one or two large earthquakes from falling over on its own.

As I mentioned earlier, there were a number of factors that contributed to the shipyard becoming Taiwan’s most widely-visited and most popular abandoned ruin. One of those factors was the widespread media attention (and condemnation) that came as a result of the short-lived demolition of the ruins. What was probably the number one factor in bringing the shipyard to the attention of the public at large was when Captain America himself, Chris Evans filmed a trailer for one of the Call of Duty games on-site in 2014.

All it took after that were some clever Instagram posts to help the ruin achieve overnight popularity. 

Link: Actor Chris Evans spotted in Taiwan filming commercial at Keelung Shipyard (ICRT) 

To conclude, it’s important to remind readers that a visit to the area doesn’t have to be just to see the abandoned shipyard - While there you can also enjoy the view of the equally Insta-famous rainbow colored buildings at Zhengbin Harbor (正濱港口彩色屋). You could also visit the historic Sheliao East Fort (社寮東砲台), Peace Island Coastal Park (和平島海角樂園), and many of the other tourist attractions within the downtown core of Keelung City. Don’t make a trip to the area just to visit the shipyard, make sure you enjoy some of the city’s other excellent tourist spots! 

Getting There

 

Address: Lane #116 Zhengbin Road, Keelung City (基隆市中正區正濱路116巷)

GPS: 25.153660, 121.771810

Something I rarely do when I write about urbex-related ruins is provide an address or a location.

With this one, there isn’t much point in not sharing that info with you - The shipyard has become so popular that there is a spot marking its location on Google Maps, making it relatively easy to find on your own.

Located next to Keelung’s Zhengbin Harbor (正濱港口), just before you cross the bridge to Peace Island (和平島), the shipyard is a relatively easy one to reach, but is a bit of distance from the city’s railway station.

This means that if you don’t have access to a car or a scooter you’ll have to make use of public transportation. It’s important to note that the narrow road along the harbor is home not only to the shipyard, but also the popular Zhengbin Harbor Rainbow Buildings (正濱港口彩色屋), and acts as the entrance to the Peace Island Coastal Park (和平島海角樂園). The area can be quite busy on the weekends and during national holidays. 

With that in mind, I’ll preface this by letting you know if you’re driving a car, you’re likely going to have some trouble finding parking near the harbor - The very narrow road that leads you to the harbor and across the bridge to Peace Island wasn’t ever set up with cars and buses full of tourists, so I’d highly recommend you find somewhere to park well before you arrive at the harbor. 

Of course, it’s not impossible to find a spot when you arrive, so if you are traveling to the area and are feeling brave, you can turn into the harbor, and then make another turn on Lane #116 where the shipyard is located and attempt to find a roadside parking space near the Keelung City Indigenous Cultural Hall (基隆市原住民文化會館), a short walk past the shipyard. Given that there are a number of buses that stop at the harbor, the traffic situation can be quite precarious meaning that if you turn in, you may find yourself stuck in a line of traffic that moves very slowly.

If on the other hand you’re in the area with a scooter, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a spot on the side of the road near the shipyard where you can park for a short time.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time to talk about public transportation. 

Once again, I’m going to preface this by saying that I love Keelung, it’s one of my favorite cities to visit in Taiwan - It is however a far cry from what most tourists would consider a convenient place to visit.

The traffic in the downtown core of the city is often congested, and unlike other major Taiwanese towns and cities, you (currently) don’t have access to YouBikes, GoShare, WeMo, etc.

If you have a drivers license, I highly recommend renting a scooter for the day near the train station. If not, you’ll be stuck relying on public transportation, which isn’t very efficient or reliable.

Below, you’ll find a list of bus routes that’ll get you to Zhengbin Harbor. I’ll provide links to each of the buses so that you can click on them to find their route map and schedules: 

Zhengbin Harbor Heping Bridge Bus Stop (和平橋頭站)

Located next to the harbor, you’ll simply get off the bus at the station before crossing the bridge to Peace Island and walk up Lane #116 to find the shipyard. 

  • Keelung Bus #101 (Peace Island 和平島)

  • Keelung Bus #102 (Peace Island 和平島)

  • Keelung Bus #109 (Tianxian Temple 天顯宮)

  • Keelung Bus #205 (Peace Island 中信 - 和平島)

Zhongzheng - Zhengbin Intersection Bus Stop (中正路正濱路口站)

Located along an important road between Keelung and Badouzi, getting off at this stop requires you to walk into the harbor area and then up Lane #116 to the shipyard. The distance between this bus stop and the one above is only about a two minute walk, but not all buses turn into the harbor area. 

  • Keelung Bus #103 (Badouzi 八斗子)

  • Keelung Bus #104 (Xinfeng Street 新豐街)

  • Keelung Bus #108 (Chaojing Park 潮境公園)

  • Taipei Bus #791 (Guojia New Village to Fulong 國家新城 - 福隆)

  • Keelung Bus #1051 (Rueifang to Guojia New Village 瑞芳─國家新城)

I can’t personally vouch as to whether or not you’ll be able to enter the former shipyard and explore the ruins as they’ve started preventing people from visiting. Whether or not this is constantly enforced, I’m not particularly sure. Still, you need to keep in mind that a visit to the shipyard might result in disappointment.

You can still view it from afar, but descending the old stairs to the old workshop area might not be an option.

If that’s the case, don’t worry too much. While in the area you’ll also be able to enjoy the beauty of the harbor as well as crossing the bridge over to Peace Island, which is pretty cool place to visit. 

As a historic structure, it would be nice to see the local government do something to fix the area up in order to keep the ruins available for the foreseeable future. That being said the structure would likely require quite a bit of public funds to clean up. Currently, its existence and popularity are an accident waiting to happen and an insurance nightmare for the city, so if its closed when you arrive, don’t be too surprised. 

There are an incredible number of abandoned structures throughout Taiwan, so if this kind of thing interests you, I suggest you start exploring and finding things on your own! It’s actually surprisingly easy to find some really cool places to visit. Stay safe if you do, and most importantly remember to keep these places to yourself, otherwise they might end up like the shipyard. 

To conclude, I’m going to doing something I rarely ever do, show a picture of myself striking a pose at the ruin.

Yours truly.

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The Fairy Cave Temple (仙洞巖 + 佛手洞)

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Taiwan’s northern port city of Keelung has always been one of the nation’s most international cities. Having experienced periods of Dutch, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese rule, control of the northern port has always been the gateway to Taipei and the rest of Taiwan.

The Keelung of the modern era is a vibrant international port city with cruise ships from around the world docking in the harbor as well as a large number of cargo container ships coming and going.

With a history dating back several hundred years, the city has a number of historic destinations for tourists to visit and to learn about the special city, and its development over the centuries.

Unfortunately, something I’ve come to realize over the years is that Keelung rarely ever receives a fraction of the attention in the English-language as other areas of the country. I’ve always wondered if this was because some of the history in the area isn’t as well-documented or well-preserved, of its simply because it rains so much that most tourists prefer to just check out the night market whenever they’re in town.

Suffice to say, as a history buff, I’m a big fan of Keelung and over the next few months I’ll be introducing a number of the city’s tourist destinations. In this one I’m going to introduce a pretty cool, yet somewhat obscure Keelung tourist destination that (like so many other of the city’s attractions) has received little-to-no attention, or promotion in English-language tourism spheres. Obviously not every foreign tourist is as interested in Taiwan’s places of worship as I am, but when it comes to this one, I’m surprised that the tourist bureau hasn’t put in a little more effort given that it is located within a large cave next to the ocean.

If advertised properly, it could be one of those ‘mystical places of worship’ that foreign tourists are attracted to, especially since it is reminiscent to the beautiful Tham Khao Luang Cave (ถ้ำเขาหลวง) just outside of Bangkok in Thailand.

The so-called ‘Fairy Cave temple’ and the ‘Buddha’s Hand Cave,’ are both part of the same network of mountainous sea caverns located next to the port of Keelung and just like the rest of the city, this place of worship has a history that both spans the several eras of Taiwan’s colonial history, and even though it has evolved throughout the years, you’ll find that history written all over its walls.

No matter how much has changed at the cave throughout the years, it has always remained a place of worship steeped in local legend, and with the calming sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline, it can be a quiet place of refuge for anyone seeking a bit of solitude in the busy international port city.

Fairy Cave Temple (仙洞巖最勝寺)

With thousands of places of worship throughout Taiwan, tourists and locals alike are afforded a wide variety of religious destinations to visit. It’s safe to say however that only a handful of them have been constructed within a natural sea cave, allowing them to stand out from the rest.

The so-called ‘Fairy Cave’ (仙洞巖) as it is currently known has gone by a few different names over the past few centuries, but it has been a place of worship for much of Keelung’s recorded history.

Prior to becoming a place of worship, the cave was regarded as a natural refuge for local fishers when the weather turned foul, as it so often does along Taiwan’s north coast. Eventually setting up a shrine within the cave, the fishers made use of the space to pray for safety while out on the water.

It’s unclear as to when organized worship at the cave officially started, but in renowned poet Lee Feng-Shih’s (李逢時) poem titled “The Eight Scenic Wonders of Keelung” (雞籠八景詩), he references the cave by saying “You don’t have to have the ability to fly to become a fairy” (不必飛昇人亦仙), with references to the cave from other scholars to around sometime in the mid-nineteenth century.

View from the main entrance.

Note: The Chinese characters used for “Keelung” in the poem mentioned above is pronounced “jī lóng” (雞籠) in Mandarin or “Ke-lâng” in Taiwanese. While the Mandarin pronunciation remains the same today, the original characters are loosely translated as “Chicken Cage” (雞籠), and was the original name used for the area prior to 1876, when it was officially changed to the name we use today.

To answer an age-old question that many foreigners have - the reason why we refer to the city today as “Keelung” in English instead of “Jilong” is because that is the Taiwanese-Hokkien pronunciation (Ki-liông / Ke-lâng) of the city rather than the Mandarin one.

Link: 【臺灣地名真相】基隆叫基隆，是因為長得像雞籠嗎？

Without a clear recorded history prior to the Japanese-era, it is understood that the place of worship within the cave has gone by several names over the years being referred to as “Zuisheng Temple” (最勝寺), Rinzai Myōshin-ji Zuisheng Zen Temple (臨濟宗妙心寺派最勝寺), Dai-Ming Temple (代明宮) and Benten Shrine (辨天宮), among others.

These days it is referred to simply as the “Fairy Cave Temple” (仙洞巖), but formally retains its full name “Zuisheng Fairy Cave Temple” (仙洞巖最勝寺).

In 1872 (清同治11年), during the latter stages of the Qing Dynasty, a formal place of worship was constructed within the cave known as Dai-Ming Temple (代明宮), dedicated to Buddhist practice.

A few decades later when the Japanese took control of Taiwan in 1895, Keelung, or “Kiirun” (きーるん) as it became known, was one of the first areas where the Japanese were able to set up official administrative agencies. This was in part due to the port, Taiwan’s northern-most, becoming instrumental in transporting people and supplies to the island, in addition to already having an established, yet rudimentary railway link between the port and the capital.

Praying to one of the carved images on the cave walls.

The early years of the colonial era saw a considerable amount of Japanese nationals coming to the island for work (on a temporary or long-term basis), bringing with them knowledge and expertise as well as their cultural and religious practices. So, in addition to several Shinto Shrines constructed in the port area, a number of Japanese Buddhist groups started setting up roots in the city, most notably the Jodo (淨土宗), Soto (曹洞宗), Shingon (真言宗) and Rinzai (臨濟宗) sects.

Most notably for the Fairy Cave, the Myōshin-ji (妙心寺 / みょうしんじ), headquartered in Kyoto and the largest group within the Rinzai sect, initially seized upon the opportunity to set up shop in the ‘Fairy Cave’ but there are conflicting reports as to how long that shrine within the cave lasted.

Links: Huguo Rinzai Temple (臨濟護國禪寺) | Puji Temple (普濟寺)

There are differing accounts on what happened in the early 1900s, as there are claims that the shrine within the cave has always remained a Buddhist place of worship while others argue that the Buddha’s were re-located elsewhere in 1906 (明治39年), and a Shinto Shrine constructed on the site shortly after. The surprising thing is that the official records on the subject aren’t actually as clear, leading to debate within academic circles. Photographic evidence of the site makes it ‘somewhat’ clear that the Fairy Cave was converted into a Shinto Shrine in the late Meiji era.

With the consecration of a Shinto Shrine on the site taking place in 1911 (明治44年), it’s highly unlikely that any of the Buddhist-related materials remained within the cave as there are accounts that the statues of Shakyamuni (釋迦佛) were removed and sent elsewhere.

As a Shinto Shrine, Benten Shrine (仙洞弁天宮 / べんてんみや), predated the Keelung Shinto Shrine (基隆神社 / きーるんじんじゃ), and was one of a dozen shrines constructed in the Keelung area during the Japanese era.

Similar to the Keelung Shrine, the shrine was dedicated to Amaterasu (天照皇大神), the Three Deities Of Cultivation (開拓三神), Ōmononushi (大物主命), Emperor Sutoku (崇德天皇), and Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa (北白川宮能久親王) in addition to Benzaitian (弁才天 / べんざいてん), or ‘Ichikishima-hime-no-mikoto’ (市杵島姫命 / “Heavenly Princess Ichikishima”), the goddess of water, music, arts, wisdom, wealth and fortune, whom the shrine was named after.

Link: Keelung Martyrs Shrine (基隆忠烈祠)

With a several decade history as a Shinto Shrine from 1911, until the colonial era ended in 1945, I’d venture to guess that some of the confusion with regard to the Fairy Cave is due to the fact that some of the Buddha statues enshrined there today originated in Japan and date back to the colonial era. What gives people the biggest headache trying to figure all of this out however was that the Goddess Benzaiten is a figure that was introduced to Taiwan with the arrival of the Japanese, and is worshipped interchangeably as both a Buddhist figure and a Shinto kami (deity).

Location of the cave marked on a Japanese-era map of the port of Keelung

Note: Belonging to a group known as the “Seven Lucky Gods” (七福神 / しちふくじん), Benzaiten is one of the most prominent deities within Japanese religious traditions that is worshipped in both Buddhism and Shintoism. Representing the syncretistic mixture of influences that have defined Japanese religion over the last thousand or more years. Originating as the Hindu Goddess Saraswati, and then incorporated within Buddhism and China and moving onto Japan, she has been a popular figure within Japanese religious traditions since the 6th Century. Given her prominent role within both religious traditions, worship of Benzaiten was one of the few ‘foreign’ influenced religious practices that was able to escape the separation of Buddhism and State Shinto during the Meiji Restoration (明治維新 / めいじいしん).

Academics point to historic photos of the exterior of the Fairy Cave taken during the Japanese-era with a torii gate (鳥居), and a traditional ‘walking path’ (參道) leading toward the cave as evidence that the place of worship was converted into a Shinto Shrine, given that these types of gates are almost always an indication of a Shinto Shrine. With regard to this specific goddess, that actually isn’t the best indicator as her worship is often the exception to the rule when it comes to these gates. As a syncretic goddess, both Shinto Shrines and Buddhist temples dedicated to her worship feature a torii gate. Fortunately, there’s a photo of the interior of the shrine (below) which clearly indicates that it was a Shinto Shrine as there is a ‘shintai’ (神体), known as a sacred mirror and is the repository of a Shinto deity.

Shrine located within the cave during the Japanese-era featuring a ‘sacred mirror.’

Interestingly, when the the colonial era came to an end and the Fairy Cave was converted back into a Buddhist temple, nothing changed with regard to the worship of Benzaiten, which continues to this day.

In the post-war era, the place of worship within the Fairy Cave was restored to its original name ‘Zuisheng Temple’ (最勝寺), and over the years it has been restored on a few occasions becoming a Keelung City Protected Heritage Site (基隆市古蹟) in 2006.

Now, let’s get into some specifics about the Fairy Cave in its current form.

As mentioned above, the cave was once a safe haven for fishers in the Keelung area, and as it predates the port, its formation took place over many thousands of years with erosion caused by seawater. As we know it today, it has a depth of about 80 meters and varies in width in the various sections of the cavern, but has a total space of about 1650㎡ (500坪).

Having recently gone under a period of restoration, the path to the Fairy Cave features a newly constructed ‘paifang’ gate (牌坊), a Chinese-style gate that demarcates the name of the cave and the temple within. Amazingly, the path that leads to the main entrance remains the same as the original ‘visiting path’ from its days as a Shinto Shrine, although the walkway was recently restored as well.

At the entrance to the cave you’ll find what looks like the facade of a typical Chinese-style place of worship that adds a bit of traditional decoration to the entrance as well as serving a practical role of stabilizing the cave-front, which could easily be destroyed by a land slide or an earthquake. The artificially constructed cave-front ‘temple facade’ features beautiful golden calligraphy that reads “仙洞巖” (Fairy Cave), and has a double-layered temple roof with a dharma wheel on the apex, indicating that a Buddhist place of worship is found within.

To the right of the main entrance you’ll find a large cement pedestal with a giant statue of the Buddha on it, but what interested me the most about the cave-front are the remnants of the Japanese-era Shinto Shrine on the opposite side of the giant Buddha where you’ll find some objects dating back to the early years of the Showa era.

Although the temple within the cave is primarily a Buddhist place of worship, like so many other temples throughout Taiwan, you’ll find a mixture of figures from both Buddhism and Taiwanese folk religion, with several interesting shrines inside. While space is obviously quite limited in the cave, you’ll find almost as many shrines as you would in a typical several-floored temple indicating a pretty good use of space.

The interior is essentially divided into three sections or ‘halls’ with the two largest known as “Yuantong Hall” (圓通寶殿) and “Mahavira Hall” (大雄寶殿), with a much smaller offshoot cave featuring a small shrine.

As soon as you enter the cave you’ll find yourself in the ‘Yuantong Hall’, with a shrine devoted to the Maitreya Buddha (彌勒佛), an offering table and an incense table very close to the front door. On both the left and right sides of the shrine you’ll find statues of the Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王), who are generally regarded as protector deities.

Passing by the first shrine, you’ll walk down a set of stairs and will find another shrine dedicated to a number of important Buddhist figures, including a couple variations of Guanyin (觀世音菩薩), accompanied by Skanda (韋馱菩薩), Samgharama (伽藍神) and the Earth God (土地公), a folk religion deity. On either side of the shrine you’ll also find a display of the famed eighteen arhats (十八羅漢), the Buddha’s most important disciples.

To the direct left of this shrine you’ll find the entrance to the smallest shrine room in the Fairy Cave, an extremely narrow several meter long path that is only wide enough for one-way traffic, and in parts becomes so small that you’ll have to crouch and twist and turn to get yourself through.

If you’re even a little claustrophobic, this path isn’t for you as it’s likely to give you a panic attack.

All of the hard work getting through the narrow path doesn’t really pay off for most people as once you get to the end you’re met with a simple shrine in a dark room where the air is a bit stagnant. The shrine at the end of the cave is dedicated to Benzaiten (弁才天 / べんざいてん), the Buddhist and Shinto figure mentioned above and is a fitting tribute to the Fairy Cave’s history.

The Benzaiten Shrine

Passing from the first part of the cave into the main area, you’ll find some beautifully carved images along the cave wall. These images took several years to create, and you’ll often find visitors praying next to them as they depict important Buddhist figures, including Manjusri (文殊菩薩), Ksitigarbha Buddha (地藏菩薩) and four images of Guanyin (觀世音菩薩). Unlike some of the other carvings on the cave wall that date back hundreds of years, these are relatively new as they were created in the early 1970s.

The Guanyin Shrine

As I mentioned earlier, the largest and widest section of the cave is home to the main shrine, known as “Mahavira Hall” (大雄寶殿), which doesn’t sound very Chinese, right? It is actually one of the most common titles used for Buddhist shrines throughout East Asia, translated directly from Sanskrit and literally means “Precious Hall of the Great Hero,” but is often translated simply as “Great Hall,” which I think loses a bit of its intended meaning.

In the dim-lit cave, the main shrine almost glows as you approach it with the large golden ‘Three Treasure’ Buddha statues (三寶佛). In the middle you’ll find Shakyamuni (釋迦牟尼佛) with the Medicine Buddha (藥師佛) and Amida Buddha (阿彌陀佛) on either side, accompanied by dozens of smaller Buddha statues surrounding them to the rear and sides. As the main attraction of the Fairy Cave temple, this area is usually the busiest with visitors stopping by to pray while others grab a cushion to sit on the floor to meditate.

It can be a busy place, but also quite peaceful at the same time.

Within the main cave you’ll also find three smaller shrines, two of which are housed in cute miniature temple-looking buildings. To the left of the shrine you’ll find the Goddess of Childbirth (註生娘娘), a local folk religion deity. The other miniature temple is dedicated to the legendary Chinese scholar and poet, Lu Dongbin (呂洞賓), who is most well-known today as one of the ‘Eight Immortals’ (八仙).

The Japanese Jizo statue

Finally, the last of the smaller shrines is located on the right of the main shrine - a nod to the cave’s history there is a small shrine to Ksitigarbha Buddha (地藏菩薩), better known in Japan as ‘Jizo’ (じぞうぼさつ), and is one of the nation’s most loved and respected religious figures. In this case, it’s important to note that the Jizo that appears in this shrine is a Japanese-style Buddha, although its history is unclear, it might possibly be one of the original statues from the Japanese-era.

Calligraphy etched into the walls

Finally, I think it’s important to mention that there are a number of carvings on the walls throughout the cave, some of which are not only historic, but are quite beautiful in the calligraphy that they present. With a collection of almost two dozen phrases and idioms ranging from the late Qing Dynasty through to the Japanese-era, it would honestly take me far too long to translate each of them for you, so I’m not going to bother at this point, but if you find yourself in the cave, I highly recommend taking some time to check them out even if you can’t understand what they say.

Buddha’s Hand Cave (佛手洞)

Entrance to the Buddha’s cave

Located less than thirty meters away from the entrance to the Fairy Cave, you’ll find a footpath that wraps around the mountain to reveal another cave entrance, this time to the ‘Buddha’s Hand Cave’ (佛手洞).

Prior to receiving its most recent name, the cave was home to a habitat of bats, and locals simply referred to the caverns as ‘the bat cave’ (蝙蝠洞). During the Second World War, the cave was used as an air raid shelter while allied bombing runs targeted the nearby port, and other military installations in the area. With so much human activity in the caves, the number of bats declined and eventually they had enough of all the humans invading their space and moved out.

Consisting of a number of caverns, at some point the local government poured a bunch of concrete on the cave floor and electrified areas to provide some extra light within the cave in order to better promote it to local tourists. While not entirely necessary, given the amount of natural light that comes into the caves, it probably saves people from injuring themselves on wet days, which lets face it is most of the time in Keelung.

Walking through the lit caverns of the Buddha’s cave

Remarkably quiet, save for the sound of tourists, the natural sea-eroded cave features a high ceiling and smooth cave walls thanks to thousands of years of weathering and erosion. With natural mountain water dripping from the ceiling, the cave can be damp at times, but the sound of water drops is sometimes all that you’ll hear while exploring the cave, which is a welcome break from the busy city.

The current name of the cave is derived from a naturally designed pattern on part of the cave ceiling that appears similar to a giant hand, similar to the image of the Buddha’s hand, which has become a well-known image within Buddhist iconography, signifying generosity and peace. The design, caused by natural weathering in the rock has turned somewhat green and is easily noticeable while exploring the cave.

If you find yourself visiting Keelung on a hot summer day, the cave can be a great place of refuge from the sun as the various entrances allow for a nice amount of air to blow through proving a natural air conditioner for visitors.

Can you see it?

If you’re like myself and aren’t particularly impressed by all the rock formations that are popular tourist destinations with the locals in Taiwan, never fear, exploring the cave is already a cool enough experience that you don’t really have to spend too much time checking out the so-called Buddha’s hand, even though I have to admit, it does actually look like a hand.

Getting There

 

Address: No. 1, Renan St, Zhongshan District, Keelung City (基隆市中山區仙洞里仁安街1號)

GPS: 25.145208°N 121.748374°E

Located on the western side of Keelung Harbor, both the Fairy Cave and Buddha’s Cave are located within a historic area of the city, but also a pretty remote section of town. As a somewhat popular tourist attraction, you’ll often find quite a few visitors on weekends and national holidays. However, unless you have your own means of transportation, getting to the cave is somewhat of a hassle for anyone unfamiliar with the city.

If you have access to your own means of transportation, simply input the address provided above into your GPS or Google Maps and you should have no problem arriving at the cave. Fortunately, there is an ample amount of parking nearby, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a spot, even if the cave is busy. It’s important to keep in mind though that the area is often frequented by large trucks transporting things back and forth out of the port, and the road conditions are often a bit difficult with what seems to be perpetual construction between the area where the station and the cave are located. If you’re driving a car, you may find yourself stuck in traffic while road work is taking place.

If you’ve ever read any of my articles about Keelung, you’ll probably have already seen my complaints regarding public transportation in the city - I absolutely love visiting Keelung, but without access to sharable bicycle and scooter systems like YouBike and GoShare, it makes getting around somewhat difficult for anyone coming from out-of-town without a car.

So if you’ve arrived in Keelung and are looking for a way to get around on your own, I recommend visiting one of the scooter rental shops opposite the train station where you can rent a scooter for the day.

If you don’t have a scooter license, your options will more or less rely on walking, taxi’s or city buses.

From the train station, the cave is about a thirty-nine minute walk, making a visit a major time investment, especially if you have other places to visit on your itinerary. Taking a taxi there and back can also be quite expensive, so your best option is to simply take one of the public buses that stop nearby.

To get to the Fairy Cave, you have the option of the following three bus routes:

  1. Keelung Bus (基隆公車) 301 (Taibaizhuang 太白莊)

  2. Keelung Bus (基隆公車) 302 (Zhongshan Senior High School 中山高中)

  3. Keelung Bus (基隆公車) 304 (Gaoyuan New Village 高遠新村)

For each of the buses, you can hop on at a bus station near the Keelung Train Station (基隆火車站), and you’ll get off at the Fairy Cave Stop (仙洞巖站) where both caves are a two minute walk away.

When you’re done, simply hop on one of the buses back to the train station.

For bus 301 and 304, you’ll find the bus stop at the South entrance to Keelung Station (基隆火車站南站) while 302 can be taken from the Keelung City Bus Station (基隆火車站總站) nearby.

While it might seem like somewhat of an obscure tourist destination, exploring a place of worship within a cave is actually a pretty interesting experience. The Fairy Cave is damp, and the air inside is a constant haze of incense, but the temple certainly stands apart from all of the others that you’ll come across in Taiwan.

A visit to both the Buddha’s Cave and the Fairy Cave will only require about an hour of your time, so if you’re in town to check out the famed night market, a stop over at these caves will be a cool adventure.

References

  1. 仙洞巖 | Xian Dong Yan (Wiki)

  2. 仙洞巖 | Fairy Cave (基隆旅遊網)

  3. 仙洞巖 (國家文化資產網)

  4. 仙洞巖 (台灣宗教文化資產)

  5. 仙洞巖與佛手洞 (地球上的火星人)

  6. 仙洞巖．佛手洞．大武崙海灘 (Tony的自然人文旅記)

  7. 佛手洞 (基隆旅遊網)

Khóo Tsú-song Mansion (許梓桑古厝)

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Over the past few months I’ve spent quite a bit of time either in or around Taiwan’s northern port city of Keelung, one of my favorite places to visit. While some might argue that it’s an old, uninteresting city that is constantly raining, I tend to see it in a different light as these things are part of its romantic charm.

Walking around Keelung never fails to be a rewarding experience, and you can learn much about Taiwan’s history while exploring the city. This is especially true in recent years as the city has invested quite a bit in its history, with the restoration of a number of historic buildings that have been reopened as cultural attractions.

With historic attractions spanning from Dutch and Spanish Formosa, the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese-era and the post-war period, a visit to Keelung puts travelers in a unique position to be learn about places of interest that span a wide variety of Taiwan’s history.

With so many historic buildings being restored and re-opening as cultural attractions, especially those from the Japanese-era, I have a long list of places to visit, as well as a long list of places that I need to write about. So, I’ll happily be spending a considerable amount of time exploring the city over the next few years as it seems like there is always something new to see and do in Keelung!

Today, I’ll be introducing an historic Japanese-era mansion that sits atop a hill within the downtown core of the city. While it has received a bit of attention in recent years, the long abandoned mansion, once home to a prolific local political figure, lays ruined as decades of abandonment have been rather unkind. While only a short walk from the city’s popular night market, the mansion remains somewhat obscure and is surprisingly only popular among those interested in history or urban exploration, like myself.

Unfortunately, even though the Keelung City Government has invested a considerable amount of public funds restoring historic buildings within the city, it doesn’t seem like this beautiful old mansion is on the list of properties to restore. There are of course a number of reasons for this, which I’ll detail below.

Thankfully, local civic groups have taken an interest in its upkeep, and have striven to clean it up and maintain the grounds until the time comes when it can receive some official attention.

Until recently there has been very little coverage about the mansion in the English language, save for an excellent article by my friend at Spectral Codex, I figured it was about time to provide my own take on the mansion and its history. I highly recommend anyone reading this to take some time to read his piece on the mansion as he’s a much more thoughtful writer than I am.

Link: Khoo Tsu-song Old House 許梓桑古厝 (Spectral Codex)

Before I start introducing the mansion, I think it’s important to first offer a brief profile of the prolific figure who lived in it, so that you can better understand its historical significance.

Khóo Tsú-song (許梓桑)

Walking nearby the historic mansion today, you’ll find one of the typical brown road signs that indicates a cultural or historic attraction. The sign reads, “Xu, Zi-Sang Historical Home (許梓桑古厝).”

Likely to confuse most foreign tourists, the name “Xu Zi-Sang” is the pinyin romanization of “Khóo Tsú-song,” who arguably happens to be one of the most prolific Taiwanese-born figures in Keelung’s modern history, known locally by another name: the First Person of Keelung (基隆第一人).

Why they chose to go with the pinyin romanization rather than using the Taiwanese-Hokkien pronunciation is a head-scratcher - it’s certainly not how anyone would have addressed him while he was alive.

Born in Keelung in 1874 (同治13年), Khóo was brought up by his mother, who was widowed when he was quite young. The heir to the Khóo family and its fortune, as a young child he was afforded the opportunity of receiving a private education, at a time when a formal education was a rare thing in Taiwan.

Preparing for years to take the Civil Service Exam (科舉), Khóo was highly regarded for his literary prowess, especially when it came to poetry. Suffice to say, by the time he was prepared to take the exam, China found itself at war with Japan, resulting in an embarrassing defeat, and the loss of Taiwan in the process.

When Japanese forces arrived in Keelung to take control of the island, many of Khóo’s intellectual contemporaries, couldn’t accept being ruled by a foreign power, so they hopped boats with other Qing officials and left the island. The reality of Khóo’s situation however was a bit more complicated. As the twenty-one year old head of his clan, it would have been difficult for him to abandon his family, their fortune and their land holdings here in Taiwan.

So, instead of becoming a refugee from his place of birth, he made the decision to instead work with the incoming regime as the Japanese authorities sought out local scholars to work together to assist in stabilizing the political vacuum left by the outgoing regime.

This is where opinions on the man diverge as some would point their fingers and call him a traitor, while others would laud the great contributions he made over a life as a public servant - No matter what political side you take, it would be an understatement to say that Khóo’s legacy continues to reverberate in the city today, and his efforts to maintain local cultural traditions have ensured that we are still able to celebrate those traditions today.

Starting his career as a public servant at the age of twenty-one, Khóo assisted in the effort to maintain social order with the income regime, and was quickly appointed as an official in the Keelung City Office (基隆街庄長事務所書記). Keeping in mind that the Japanese used the port city as a staging point for their armed forces to make their way further inland, it was of the utmost importance that Keelung remained stable, and Khóo played an important role in ensuring that the transition went smoothly.

Having been afforded a private education while growing up, Khóo took it upon himself to adapt to the new reality by establishing a Japanese-language school (國語訓練班) for locals, and hired a private tutor to accelerate his own learning process. For his efforts, in 1901 (明治34年) he was awarded a ‘blue-ribbon’ award (藍綬紳章) by the Governor General, a highly prestigious award for someone of his youth.

Amazingly, in 1903 (明治36) at the age of twenty-nine, Khóo was appointed to a position that was essentially mayor of Keelung (基隆街庄長), and as time went by his career continued to advance as the mayor of Keelung District (基隆區長), and as congressperson of Taipei Prefecture (臺北州協議會員), receiving numerous commendations from the Governors Office in Taipei throughout his career.

Still, it’s important to keep in mind that apart from his career in public service, Khóo remained in his role as chief of the Khóo clan, as well as a prominent member of society making time to take part in local literary societies as well as serving as head of one of Keelung’s most important places of worship.

As one of the administrators of Keelung’s Qing-an Temple (慶安宮), Khóo’s influence ensured that the temple’s Mid-summer Ghost Festival remained the most prominent religious celebration in the city throughout the colonial era. Thanks to his political power, the scale of festival was larger than any of the other local religious festivals, especially those held by the local Shinto Shrines. This is one of the areas where Khóo’s influence continues to reverberate today as the annual Ghost Month celebrations in Keelung continue to be one of the busiest times of the year in the city, steeped in tradition that goes back hundreds of years.

Note: If you find yourself visiting Keelung checking out the mansion and the night market, I can’t recommend enough that you also stop by the beautiful Qing-an Temple, one of the prettiest and most historic places of worship in the city, dating back to 1780 and is one of the three most important temples in Keelung (基隆三大廟).

Interestingly, despite all of his achievements, little is known about his personal life, and even though he constructed a giant mansion for himself in the middle of the city, much of his prominence came crashing to the ground when the Japanese were forced to surrender Taiwan at the end of the Second World War.

Given the atrocities that took place when the Chinese Nationalists took control of Taiwan in the post-war era, its safe to say that Khóo saved himself quite a bit of misery by instead passing away at the at the age of seventy-one that same year.

Despite all of his achievements, his collaboration with the Japanese throughout his career would have landed him in a precarious situation with the nationalists and he would have likely ended up being just another one of the nameless faces floating face up at the port of Keelung.

In retrospect, one could argue that even though he worked with the Japanese to advance his career, he spent a considerable amount of time and effort working to preserve Taiwanese culture and traditions at a time when things like this were frowned upon - and given the era for which he lived, the architectural design of his mansion is arguably a pretty good indicator of what kind of man he was.

Qìngyú Hall (慶餘堂)

Growing up in what we’d consider prime real estate within Keelung, the Khóo family constructed their family home in what was known during the Qing Dynasty as ‘Hsintien town’ (新店街), stretching from the harbor front and encompassing much of the city’s historic economic district. Home to three of the city’s most important places of worship, Dianji Temple (奠濟宮), Qing’an Temple (慶安宮), and the City God Temple (城隍廟) as well as the Kanziding Fish Market (崁仔頂魚市), it would have been the most important section of town prior to the city’s expansion during the Japanese-era.

Within a few short years of the Japanese occupation, the colonial government proposed some pretty ambitious urban renewal and development plans (市區改正) for many of Taiwan’s major towns and cities. In the early 1900s, planning for Keelung was finalized, and with Khóo at the helm, the government went ahead with some unpopular land-expropriation initiatives. Little is written on the subject, but I can imagine that official messaging on the touchy subject went over a little smoother when citizens realized that not even the Khóo’s family home would be spared in the process.

Link: 臺灣日治時期都市計畫 (Wiki)

Having little to no public works in the city, the renewal plans essentially re-shaped Keelung and modernized it by improving roads, adding an electricity grid, and constructing public works that took care of sanitation and sewage as well as offering citizens access to clean running water for the first time.

In 1909 (明知42年), the family moved to a new home where they would live for the next two decades. It was in this home that Khóo famously held his poetry and literature society meetings, promoting Chinese classics and Taiwanese literature.

At the age of 57, close to retirement, Khóo had a new mansion built for his family on a nearby hill, nicknamed by locals as “Major-General’s Mountain” (少將腳), given that it was also home to one of the Japanese forces commanders in Keelung.

Note: It’s reported that when was asked why he constructed his mansion on the hill, he remarked that in his golden years that he hoped for peace and quiet and a house constantly full of visitors couldn’t really achieve that. Basically he wasn’t just retiring from a life as a civil servant, but also as a public figure.

Completed in 1931 (昭和6年), the Khóo family mansion was officially named ‘Qìngyú Hall’ (慶餘堂), a pretty common title for traditional residences, hailing from an ancient Chinese idiom about ‘longevity’ and ‘greatness’ (積善之家，必有餘慶). In this specific case however, I find the name of the mansion interesting given Khóo’s background as an administrator at the nearby Qing-an Temple (慶安宮), which shares the same first Chinese character as the name he chose for his mansion. Coincidence? Possibly.

While technically located within the same area of the city as the family’s original residence, this time the mansion was constructed on a hill overlooking the commercial district and the port. With other well-off neighbors, the hill would have been a nice spot to live with great views of the hustle and bustle of the city.

That being said, the family were only able to live in the mansion for about a decade until the Second World War brought with it allied bombing campaigns and Keelung one of the most important targets. For their own protection, the family moved to another location on what they thought would be a temporary basis, however even though the mansion escape destruction, Khóo Tsú-song never returned.

Passing away just as the war ended, the mansion became home to several families of Chinese refugees who illegally squatted in the building for quite a while, and as time passed by, the ownership rights of the family seems to have deteriorated, and weren’t recognized by the new government. While it is not entirely supported by evidence, there are claims that the ownership rights of the family were disregarded by authoritarian government of the time as Khóo was considered a ‘collaborator’ with the Japanese Colonial Government and was a traitor, despite his legacy being one that is fondly remembered by locals. Nevertheless, the continued confusion as to the status of the mansion’s ownership is one of the main reasons why the Keelung City Government has been powerless to have the site fixed up.

When the mansion was ultimately abandoned is unclear, but it’s been empty for decades and the years have not been kind as much of the wood has rotted, the roof caved in, and anything on the interior was looted. As mentioned above, local civic groups however have taken an interest and over the past decade have been organizing volunteer groups to assist in cleaning up the site, which attracts quite a bit of garbage.

But its not likely that we’ll see much official effort to restore the building for the foreseeable future.

Architectural Design

As mentioned above, what remains of the mansion today is merely an empty shell of its former glory. Nevertheless, from what little remains and with the assistance of historic records, we can get a pretty good idea of how the mansion would have appeared in the 1930s.

Before I go into detail, I think it’s important to point something out that I briefly touched on earlier - I haven’t really seen this mentioned in any of the articles I’ve read about the man, or the mansion while researching for this article, so I’d like to point out that the narrative that Khóo Tsú-song was somehow a race traitor is a questionable one.

Khóo was a highly-educated man and especially gifted when it came to Chinese literature. However, when it came time for him to take his Imperial exam, the Japanese took control of Taiwan and the Qing Dynasty ended shortly thereafter. As a young man having to adapt to Japanese Colonial control, he dedicated his life to a career of public service and the development of the city he called home.

When it came time for Khóo to start considering retirement, he constructed a new mansion in his home town. Built during the Showa-era (昭和), when construction techniques in Taiwan were at their most refined, he could have easily had a Japanese-style mansion built for himself, and it would have been beautiful given the views of the city and the port at the time - But he didn’t do that - he paid homage to his heritage and constructed a traditional Fujian-style mansion on that hill almost as if he was making a bold statement about his cultural heritage.

That being said, Keelung is and always has been an international city, so even though the mansion takes most of its architectural inspiration from the traditional Fujian-style architecture that is so common in Taiwan, it is also an eclectic mixture of Japanese and Western influences in addition to making use of modern construction materials and techniques.

A traditional three-sided courtyard building (閩南式三合院建築), Khóo’s mansion is a two-floor structure that also included a basement. Essentially a three floor building, it was constructed with a mixture of brick and concrete using the ubiquitous Taiwan Renga (台灣煉瓦株式會社) red bricks made during the colonial era.

Note: These famed bricks can be found in many of the buildings from that era and amazingly remain in great shape today. So, if you look closely while touring the mansion, you may find bricks with “TR” printed on the top of them.

Suffice to say, the vast majority of the three-sided courtyard houses that you’ll find in Taiwan these days are single-floor buildings. This one remains quite special because it was constructed on the side of a mountain, which was carved in a way that allowed it to have a basement and two floors. The top floor was where the traditional design was most prevalent featuring a main section and ‘guardian dragon’ wings (護龍) on the left and right as well as a courtyard in front.

Interestingly, the ‘courtyard,’ here appears similar to its contemporaries, but is mostly just a flat section of the roof that covers the floors below. With this in mind, the top floor of the mansion is considerably smaller than the two floors below, but is also the most ornate part of the building. Likely used by the family as an ancestral shrine (given Khóo’s position as the head of the family) as well as providing a living space for the family’s servants within the wings, the architectural prowess used here was quite genius in its design.

Note: The Neihu Red House (內湖紅樓) might be of interest regarding brick Japanese-era mansions constructed with a fusion of architectural design.

Like many Hokkien-style buildings, the mansion was beautifully decorated with ornate cut-porcelain carvings (剪瓷雕) of flowers and birds and features some pretty cool bamboo windows (竹節圓窗) on either side of the door on the main wing. Similarly, one of the distinctive design features of the building are the ox-eye windows (牛眼窗) that you’ll find on each of the wings, which are Western Baroque-inspired inclusions.

Unfortunately there isn’t much I can say about the design of the floors below as they have been pretty much emptied out. The stairs and anything else that once existed inside on both the first floor and the basement have disappeared over the years as the mansion was left to rot and open to looters.

The last thing I’ll highlight about the design is the stone-washed triangular staircase located in the center-front of the building that allowed visitors to reach the top floor from the outside. Today, this set of stairs is pretty much the only method for visitors to reach the top floor of the building as the wooden stairs within the interior of the building have rotted away and were removed at some point over the past few decades.

The stairs are part of a network of stairs that were constructed especially for the mansion as there are two paths from ground level that were constructed for the building.

In the records that I’ve seen, it was reported that when the mansion was under construction, it was far too expensive to have laborers carry the bricks for the building up the hill, so Khóo enlisted the help of local children who were paid a cent for every brick that they carried up the hill.

Today, the mansion lies in ruins with the roof having already caved in and the staircases between floors taken away (likely by volunteers for the safety of those visiting). Although it is an empty shell of its former self, the building has interestingly been overtaken by nature with trees and roots growing along the outer walls of the mansion reminiscent of the popular Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) in Tainan.

The Keelung City Government for its part has set up some plaques with information about the mansion’s history, and the set of stairs that leads you from ground level to the mansion has been adorned with some interesting murals depicting the building in its original state. Unfortunately for the reasons mentioned above, that’s about the extent of what they’re able to do at this point until the legal situation of its ownership is settled. Visiting the mansion is pretty easy as it is a simple detour from the popular Miaokou Night Market area, so if you are planning on enjoying a day exploring the city, it shouldn’t take you too long to get there to check it out.

Getting There

 

Address: #15, Lane #2 Aisi Road, Keelung (基隆市仁愛區愛四路2巷15號)

GPS: 25.127360, 121.744070

Situated on a hill that overlooks Keelung Harbor, the long-abandoned mansion is currently obscured by all of the modern buildings that have been constructed around it. For decades it has been hidden in plain sight within close proximity to the city’s famed Miaokou Night Market with most unaware of its existence.

These days, it is a bit more well-known, but still somewhat of an obscure tourist site within the city that the vast majority of tourists tend to miss.

The area around Keelung Harbor is very walkable, so if you find yourself in the city looking for something to do before the sun goes down and the night market comes to life, a stop by this historic mansion is a pretty great option given its close proximity.

In a departure from my usual style, I’m only going to be providing walking directions for this one. The reason for this is because the mansion is in pretty close proximity to the night market, so if you take the train to the city, you can get there pretty easily. On the other hand, if you’re driving a car, you’re going to have to park in one of the parking garages near the night market and you’ll end up walking from the there.

The narrow roads near the night market don’t really make the route to the mansion accessible most of the time, and if you attempt it, you’ll likely find yourself stuck for quite some time, without any opportunity to find a parking spot nearby. So, if you’ve got a car, park it somewhere near the harbor and walk around the downtown core. It’ll be a far more enjoyable experience, I promise you.

Walking through the night market area on Rensan Road, you’ll make a right turn on Aisi Road (愛四路) where you’ll continue walking until the narrow road starts to curve right. When it does you’ll notice a set of stairs on the left side of the road with a brown sign that (probably still) reads “Xu, Zi-Sang Historical Home.”

From there you’ll simply walk up the hill where you’ll find the mansion at the end.

Along the way you’ll want to take note of some of the murals on the walls that depict how the mansion originally appeared.

Once you arrive, you’ll want to be careful of where you’re walking as you explore as some of the sections of the mansion aren’t as stable, especially in the areas where the stairs between floors once existed.

Watching over the modern development of Taiwan’s Northern Port City for almost a century, the old Khóo mansion is one of the city’s historic treasures, and even though it is in pretty bad shape, its continued existence is an important look into the history of the city. While it might seem like a somewhat obscure tourist destination, if you find yourself in Keelung and have a bit of time, visiting won’t take too much of your time, and you’ll be rewarded with a nice view of the city when you’re there.

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