On the rainy afternoon of 13^th, January 2017, we gathered together in front of No. 3 Exit of Taipei Metro Beimen Station for visiting Dadaocheng.  Today’s tour was arranged by Masa, one member of our class and one experienced cultural tour narrator.  Dadaocheng was an important trading port in the 19th century in north Taiwan, and is still a major historical tourist attraction and shopping area.  Today’s visit was with profound insight to us.  Let’s follow Masa’s steps into the historical scenes of Dadaocheng.

The first place we visited was the house of Lee Lin-Chiu(李臨秋) who was the lyricist of Longing for the Spring Breeze(望春風).  The third son of Lee Lin-Chiu himself was as our docent.  He started the exquisite story from the wooden ladder.  The ladder has two doors.  One is normal and another is operated in different direction and covered the whole upper side of the ladder to avoid enemy breaking in.  The house was constructed in 1920.  The original builder was Chen, Tian-Lei(陳天來), a famous tea merchant at those days.  This kind of house we called traditional town-house(傳統街屋) today is a combination of living and commercial venue.  Usually, the traditional town-houses are connected in a line to resist the frequent earthquakes in Taiwan.  The Lee’s family moved in this house in 1953.  Many antique toys and articles have been maintained in the house, leading us to think  of ancient time.  Some precious manuscripts of Lee Lin-Chiu are also displayed on the wall.  In the main room of the house, Mr. Lee told us that there were three factors of his father’s writing, “Deep night, wine, and tuberose.”  He led us to sing Longing for the Spring Breeze to wrap up our significant visit today.

Next, we went to the Li Chun-sheng(李春生) memorial church.  This building is located in Guide Street(貴德街) where, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, was a foreigner living area.  The church was constructed in 1935 for memory for Li Chun-sheng.  Li Chun-sheng was an active businessman in Qing-era.  Li was born in Xiamen(廈門), Fujian, mainland China, but he moved to Dadaocheng, Taipei, Taiwan in 1868.  He possessed good business managing skills and was highly influential in Taiwan in his time.   In 1866, Li was the comprador of British businessman John Dodd.  He suggested that John Dodd imported Fujian Anxi tea and cultivated in the north of Taiwan.  It is said that he translated “茶” into “tea” in English, thus someone called him as “The father of Taiwan tea.” The church was renovated in 1980, but its building features are still maintained.  This building style is unique in the Taipei City.

Through the visiting today, we have known more about the history of Dadaocheng, a region to witness the ancient elegance.  We saw many old houses transformed into cultural creation stores.  We really hope this region can open another new period of glorious age.