The Not-So-Secret Garden: The Hsu Family Mansion in Dashe

I haven't felt like commenting on current affairs this week; if I have nothing unique to say, I don't necessarily see the point of blogging for the sake of it. 

But here's what I do want to talk about: Kaohsiung! I go for work a few times a year, and try to arrive early so I can meet up with friends and enjoy the city. Just before I got COVID -- and remained positive for a highly irritating 18 days -- I took one of these trips, stopping in Taichung on the way. In fact, that's probably how I got sick.

On this trip, I went out to Dashe (大社) to meet one of my oldest friends in Taiwan. She picked me up at Metropolitan Park station and we stopped at a well-regarded dumpling chain for lunch. Then, we decided to find the Hsu Family Mansion (許家古國). For a sleepy town, Dashe is packed with old farmhouses and mansions; in fact, it might be packed with them because it's sleepy: there's no particular reason to tear them down! You can read about some of these places here, although I haven't even been to every place I'd like to see in the area yet.

The Hsu house is notoriously hard to find. Despite being in downtown Dashe, in a lane but not far at all from a main road, my friend who actually lives in Dashe did not know where it was -- only that it existed. "It's like a secret garden," she said. Somewhere in the lanes in a more built-up part of the city, but we had no idea which lanes.

I had to find this place. I knew I wouldn't be the first. Local bloggers have been posting about it for ages. Ultimately, that's how I found it: a local blog with a picture of the correct lane marker. 

It turned out to be extremely easy once we knew the lane. It's very close to the intersection of Sanmin and Cuiping Roads (三民翠屏路口). The intersection itself is fairly interesting, with several Japanese-era buildings, and the temple (accessed by stairs or an elevator) is eye-catching, with some neat mid-century floor tile and a place to hang gold paper wishing papers that overlooks the road. It's dedicated to the Linshui Ladies, three women from Fuzhou who became Taoist priests and founded their own religious school (some say the term only refers to the oldest, Chen Jinggu). The large Japanese-era building next to it may be related to the Hsu family, and the smaller one across the street, now painted a creamy white, was once a hospital.

Head east on Cuiping Road and turn left at Lane 37, which is also the first lane you'll come across. Keep an eye out to your left until you see the roof of an old house peeking out over newer buildings. 





Technically, you have to cross private property to access the Hsu mansion. In reality, it's a tiny alley that winds past a few houses, and nobody really minds if you walk down it. The actual mansion and its courtyard are indeed private property, however. Someone now lives in the old mansion -- I'm not sure if she rents it or is a Hsu family descendant, and it seemed rude to ask -- and if she's home it's polite to ask if you can take a few photos. She said yes to us, and remarked that "foreigners" love to come here, implying she thought the whole thing was kind of overblown for just an old house. From all those blog links above, I am reasonably sure Taiwanese who enjoy hunting for heritage architecture come here more often, but I guess we big-noses stick out more. 







If you stop by and the resident is not there, it should be fine to take a few photos, but be respectful. It's someone's home. 









The Hsu mansion is an example of heritage arts where the artist matters more than the patron. Obviously, the Hsu family was prominent in Dashe; a Hsu was the chair of the Dashe Farmer's Association. The house was built in 1910, during the Japanese era, and isn't especially unique architecturally. What makes it stand out are the colorful Majolica tiles, the green glazed bottle railing on the second-floor balcony, and the outstanding brick carvings of Zhang Jiao (張叫). 

The Zhangs of Dashe have been known as shadow puppet artists for generations, since one of their ancestors founded a troupe in Dashe over 200 years ago. They became quite famous in the 1940s, performing around the world; the then-patriarch Zhang Decheng eventually awarded official 'national treasure'-level status for his creation of the intricate leather shadow puppets. Zhang Decheng died in the 1980s, but his grandson carries on the tradition. 

Zhang Jiao, Zhang Decheng's father, created the brick carvings that adorn the first floor of the Hsu Family Mansion, including the spring scrolls around the door. His work once graced many old houses in the Dashe area, but most have been torn down, so these examples of his artistry are rare and valuable. Zhang Jiao was also known as "Hanfan" (憨番), which are those creepy little carved dudes, often resembling Westerners, one sees holding up beams in old temples. 





On an interesting tangent, I'm not the only one who's never heard of a Hanfan outside Taiwan, and the story goes that they were modeled after Dutch colonists, as a means for locals to vent their frustrations -- the Hanfan always carry a heavy burden such as a roof beam and generally look a bit ridiculous. I've also heard of Hanfan being carved to resemble the person sponsoring the temple's creation, basically as a way for artists to show they're annoyed by the rich dude issuing orders. Why was Zhang Jiao, famous sculptor and scion of the Zhang shadow puppet family of Dashe, nicknamed "Hanfan"? Somebody surely knows, but it isn't me. 

In addition to the Zhang Jiao brick carvings and Majolica tiles, the Hsu mansion also has cochin-fired pottery reliefs (you can learn more about those here) telling various folk stories, though these seem to mostly be on the second floor balcony where they're difficult to see, and you can't go up. You can kind of see it on the sides of the second story from below, but I couldn't get anything like a good vantage point.





Taken together, the house itself may be an architecturally simple two-story affair, but it is striking nevertheless. Its reputation as a 'hidden spot' or 'secret garden' (although lots of people have been here and it's often written up on government tourism websites) only enhances its allure. One blogger praised its fine use of "color theory", and I tend to agree: it's beautiful because all of those bright colors -- especially the blues and greens -- contrast against the red brick, which itself is beautifully carved.

In other words, the Hsu family certainly had money to spend on cochin pottery reliefs, carved brick from a renowned local artist and a profusion of Majolica tiles, and clearly someone involved in the design process had a flair for maximalist color and pattern.

The Restored Taipei Heritage Building Megapost

First, a quick life update: I have COVID! So, depending on how that turns out, you can either expect lots of posts as I don't have much to do, or nothing because I don't feel well (right now I'm doing alright). 

Now, on to the actual post.

In recent years, Taipei has been working practically in overdrive not just to preserve the heritage architecture that remains, but (for the most part) turn these old buildings into useful or interesting public spaces. 

You surely know some of these already -- Huashan and Songyan Creative Parks, Bopiliao, Dihua Street and -- well, so many that it'd be impossible to list them all. A few are privately owned: Leputing is housed in a Japanese-era dormitory for government officials, built in the 1920s and renovated with government subsidies. Fireweeds offers more traditionally Japanese fare, in a smaller-scale building. I used to frequent Cafe Monument when I had a reason to be in that area. Nobody who knows a thing about Taiwanese history is unaware of Wistaria House (though it can be hard to get a table). 

Others have been more recently renovated. As such, they're less well-known. 

I've been spending a lot of time these past few years writing about these places (among other topics) for Taipei Magazine. That's not a plug -- the point is, I spend a lot of time visiting these places because the city government wants to get the word out. It's been an enjoyable enough series of assignments that I thought I'd summarize some of my favorites, with a few picks of my own. 

Some of the links lead back to my own writing, some to other sites -- I wanted to offer a list of my favorites (including places I've visited on assignment) rather than just hawk my own work. Not every item comes with photographs: I simply can't find all of my own pictures. I'm not sure it matters much -- I'm not the best photographer.

This is by no means a definitive list. I'm giving the places above the short shrift, and leaving out Beitou and Shezi completely. Old favorites, like the Xiahai City God Temple, Bao'an Temple and Qingshan Temple didn't make it in. There are enough Japanese-era residences around NTU and Shi-da alone to create an entire post. I didn't include the 228 Museum because I wanted to add at least one picture to that, but I don't have any (it will feature in an upcoming post on all the museums you can visit if you don't want to go to the National Palace Museum again). 

That's okay -- I can't cover everything, so let's focus on what I can do! 

Kishu An

Also called the "Literature Forest", this renovated section of a 1917 Japanese riverside banquet hall -- much of which was destroyed in a fire decades ago -- offers a calm spot for relaxation, a shop, cafe and event space. The massive banyan trees lend themselves to the 'forest' part of the site's name, and novelist Wang Wen-hsing lived here for a time, hence the connection to literature. In fact, much of the Taiwanese novel Family Catastrophe was set here.

Taiwan Literature Base and surrounding neighborhood (same link as above)

Near Huashan Creative Park, the Taiwan Literature Base is housed in a series of dormitories once occupied by Japanese civil servants, first in the Japanese era and for a period, ROC government workers as well. It was left abandoned for some time before being designated as a historic site and renovated. Qidong (Chitung) Street is much older, however: it was used as a transit route for goods headed to the port of Keelung during the Qing Dynasty and Japanese colonial era. Now, the dormitories house exhibits, spots for reading -- including one filled with books in Taiwanese and Hakka -- or just places to hang out, in a quiet complex with plenty of outdoor seating. 

There's more to this neighborhood than just the dormitories, however. Other renovated Japanese era buildings house the Taipei Qin Hall (also called Taipei Calligraphy Academy) the residence of Li Gwoh-ting. Both of these host events, exhibits and activities.

Tip: for this and Kishu An, bring bug spray. It turns out that shady banyans attract mosquitoes.

Railway Department Park

This has gotten quite a bit of press since opening in 2020, but I wanted to include it as not only a recent renovation, but also one of my favorite visits. With an Art Deco entrance, cypress from Alishan, a Beaux Arts conference room, and exhibits on railway history, there's a lot to see here. Buildings outside have a lot of history to explore as well. It's become one of my top recommendations for very hot or rainy days, if you want to get out of the house, explore a historic site, and have enough to keep you engaged for the day. 

Futai Street Mansion

Walking down Yanping Street one day, I passed this smallish historical building and found, to my surprise, that it was open to the public. This simple European-style commercial building (it was built in 1910 to house the offices of a Japanese construction company) holds a place in my memory in part because I found it on my own; no guidebook or brochure mentioned it, and I wasn't asked to go there to write about it.  Constructed of stone from Qili'an in northern Taipei with a ceiling of Taiwanese cypress, it's the only commercial building left on Yanping Road, which was once lined with them. It houses a gift shop and as of my last visit, a small cafe as well. Renovation and management was conducted by the same person who manages the Taipei Story House near the Fine Arts Museum. I appreciate the warm cypress scent that wafts through the building; you'd hardly think that this was used as accommodations for high-level ROC officials -- it looks like it was always meant to be a commercial building on a commercial street.


Nishihonganji

Built in the early 1900s, was originally a Buddhist monastery and temple that served as a Taiwan-based chapter of a Japanese Shin (or Pure Land) Buddhist order. When I first moved to Taiwan in 2006, I remember coming across it in disrepair, but in the years since it's been renovated and turned into a popular attraction. The bell tower is especially nice, though I remember it most fondly as one of the first historic sites I came across in Taiwan that was later renovated. The architectural designs are eclectic, and the head priest's residence (the rinbansho or rinbansyo)

is now a teahouse called, predictably, Rinbansyo and is built and decorated in a thoroughly traditional Japanese style. I've been, and I recommend it! 

(On a personal note, Rinbansyo holds a lot of sad and nostalgic memory for me, as the one time I went, I was with a friend who later passed away of a heart condition. It was the last time I saw her. I should go back, but I haven't yet.) 

North Gate

In my first years in Taiwan, North Gate was that incongruous little square building with the traditional-style roof that few paid attention to. Why? Because it sat right next to a massive highway ramp. When I had a class in Wugu, a student would drive me back to Taipei Main Station and I'd always notice how pretty that old Minnan-style roof looked, silhouetted by the city lights beyond. It was hard to get close to the actual gate, though, and on the ground its surroundings drained its attractiveness.

Friends began pointing out the gate's significance. As one of the only relics of the Taipei city walls (constructed just before the Sino-Japanese war in the late 1900s, and demolished very soon after by the incoming Japanese), and as the only Taipei surviving city gate retaining its original southern Chinese form. The others were renovated (retconned) into the bright red-and orange northern Chinese style buildings the KMT plonked on Taiwan to make it seem not just 'Chinese' but the specific kind of "Chinese" aesthetics they preferred. That is, not simple, elegant Southern Min brick. 

Imagine my shock when one day I walked by that intersection to see the ramp gone, and pedestrian friendly walkways allowing one to truly admire this forgotten old gate in the shadow of an overpass. But of course people hadn't forgotten; it took awhile to do the right thing and give North Gate its due.It took breaking the KMT domination of the Taipei mayorship and showing that in fact, a simple, local-style gate can be more lovely than the most firecracker-red columns you can out up to push your view of history on the people.

It's small, and takes just a moment to walk through. But you can walk through it now, and that wasn't always the case. And that's what matters.

Taipei Info Hub

Not far from Futai Street Mansion (you can walk between the two by crossing under North Gate), Taipei Info Hub is a recently-renovated warehouse building housing various exhibits on the first floor, with a second floor event space. Built in 1913 for the erstwhile Mitsui & Co (no relation to the current company), Taipei Info Hub also houses a cafe with ample seating in an area where there were once very few food and drink options. Interestingly, the semicircular gable that graces the building now isn'r original; the original was deemed too vulnerable to be left in position and is now on display inside the building.


National Center of Photography and Images

In the same article linked above, I wrote about NCPI -- the National Center of Photography and Images. In the same neighborhood as the Railway Department Park, North Gate, Futai Street Mansion and Taipei Info Hub. 

You probably know this building; very near Taipei Main Station, it was designed by architect Setsu Watanabe and built in 1937. It's certainly got Japanese influences in the roof design -- note the distinctive turret -- but was also designed to be simple and modern. Originally an office for the Osaka Mercantile Co., the turret was eventually lopped off in order to build a fourth story, during the period when it housed the Provincial Highway Bureau. During renovations, Watanabe's original intent was coaxed back into existence, with the turret replaced. 

Now, NCPI hosts rotating exhibits on photography in Taiwan's history. Not everything is subtitled in English, but enough is to enjoy yourself. While enjoying the exhibits, be sure to take in some of the other Art Deco details of the building, especially the stairway.

The first floor also houses a minimalist cafe and interesting gift shop. (I bought a Furoshiki Shiki miscellaneous goods bag, because I thought the design was cool.) 

New Culture Movement Museum

One thing I love about Taiwan: when dealing with the renovation of historic sites that evoke painful memories of colonialism and brutality, the current government has not shied away from re-imagining them as spaces to talk about Taiwan's history on its own terms, while reminding people of the original purpose of the sites. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Japanese-era police stations in Taipei and Tainan. Tainan uses its old police station as part of a fine arts museum complex, exhibiting fine artwork specifically from Taiwan which evokes the Taiwanese experience through history and today. 

In Taipei, this means using an old police building to house a New Culture Movement museum. When I went, the current COVID outbreak was just starting to become a concern, and the place was deserted. While that's probably due to the pandemic, I also worry that news of the museum's existence hasn't gotten around yet, either. That's a shame, because in addition to exhibits about the New Culture Movement (which was strongly tied to the Home Rule movement of the time), the building itself is of historic interest. From my article: 

Built in 1933, the station also served as a detention center. In the ensuing decades, the edifice was replaced with red tiles and a third story was added. Renovations began in 2014, and the choice of exhibit was intentional: Taiwan Cultural Association (台灣文化協會) founder Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) had been imprisoned at the station’s former site in the 1920s. The New Cultural Movement in Taiwan encouraged understanding of Taiwanese culture and history through performances, lectures, essays and a newspaper, the Taiwan People’s News (台灣民報).

POPOP Taipei

This is another one of those city government initiatives aiming to renovate Taipei's historic sites and re-make them into usable spaces for contemporary times. POPOP was once a bottle cap factory in Nangang, a part of the city that, to be honest, doesn't have a lot going on (though if you find yourself there, the Academia Historica museum is interesting, and there's an old family mansion near the Academia Sinica). 

Unlike, say, the creative parks at Huashan and Songshan, POPOP is a fairly new project, and hasn't quite taken off yet thanks to the pandemic -- but hopefully, it will. Instead of following the old 'creative and culture park' model, POPOP was conceived as a 'maker space', with the main part of the old factory buildings turned into a single long workspace with tables, counters, outlets -- you know, a space for makers. There's not a lot going on yet, but check back in a few years.

For the casual visitor, there's also a cafe, a sake bar and an antique shop in addition to some small but pleasant outdoor spaces. 

U-mkt

From the same article above, the Shintomicho Cultural Market (U-mkt) can be found at the other end of the MRT's blue line, near Longshan Temple and Bopiliao. Built in 1935, commercial operations ceased in the unique U-shaped building in the 1990s. Xinfu Market, however, still bustles around it, and is interesting both when open and closed (as the pull-down garage doors on the shops are covered in colorful graffiti). Today, U-mkt has exhibits on the building's past, kitchen and lecture spaces and two cafes, one in the curve of the "U" and the other in the Japanese-era office just outside. 

Neihu Assembly Hall

This Art Deco building caught my eye in a book of Taipei heritage buildings. Looking one weekend day for something to do, I suggested to Brendan that we head up to Neihu just to have a look. After all, we rarely get up that way; there just isn't that much to do in Neihu if you don't live there! We weren't able to enter the building, and frankly, the façade is probably the most interesting thing about it. Built in 1930, it's one of the few Japanese-era buildings that isn't done in the "baroque" style reminiscent of British colonialism, but straight-up Art Deco, complete with 'air defense' tiles which were probably more for decoration than actual camouflage.

It's worth coming up here, though, as you can combine it with a visit to visit the Kuo ancestral shrine (below). 

Kuo Family Shrine

This gem of a building is designed more in the Japanese Baroque style that is so common in Taiwan than the Neihu Assembly Hall, and is linked with it above. Hiking up the steps to get to this hilltop mansion, you'd never know that it's right next to an MRT station. Unlike the assembly hall, the family mansion is open most days, and is pleasant to wander around. It's also the headquarters of the World Kuo Family Association, has some Tang-dynasty tablet rubbings, and features a shrine to the most famous Kuo -- Kuo Ziyi. Though he's claimed as the ancestor to all people surnamed Kuo, that's likely not the actual case. 

Sun Yat-sen Memorial House / Yixian Park / Umeyashiki

Can you imagine someone living in Taiwan for almost 15 years, and not visiting this site? Well, that was me. Next to Taipei Main Station, this was a restaurant and guesthouse during the Japanese Era, where Sun Yat-sen apparently spent a night (also, it's apparently been relocated from its original site nearby). 

After so many years of seeing the walls keeping this small park and building from the noise and traffic outside, I finally popped in one day when I had nothing else going on, and had just had lunch with a friend nearby. I ended up spending much of the afternoon just sitting and relaxing. The Japanese-style building itself houses a small exhibition related to Dr. Sun, and the garden around it is landscaped in a Chinese style. A brochure describes it as a fusion of the two styles -- Japanese and Chinese -- with some sort of metaphorical link to Taiwan and fusion of the two cultures. 

            

I don't care much for the metaphor, but it is a pleasant spot. Perhaps sit and reflect on how the "father of modern China" (or something) visited Taiwan, stayed here, and never said a thing about Taiwan being Chinese. To Sun, Taiwan was very obviously Japanese. Now consider how China views its 'claim' to Taiwan as something historic -- the evidence is apparently 'antiquity' itself. 

Does that claim seem particularly legitimate in light of what you've just learned? I hope not! 


The Lin Antai Mansion

Competing with other old family mansions such as the Banqiao Lin Family Garden in New Taipei, the Li Family House in Xinzhuang and the Wufeng Lin Mansion just outside Taichung city, the Lin Antai house is probably the best-preserved old mansion in Taipei. It took me years to visit, simply because it's not close to anything else and not particularly close to an MRT (some bus lines run up to that corner of the city, but that's about it). I enjoyed it immensely when I did, however. Fun fact: the house used to be located on what is now Dunhua South Road. I saw the original site on an old map once, and it wasn't far from MRT Technology Building -- it's surreal to think the whole thing got moved up to the riverside.

Ciyun Temple (慈雲寺)

We found this temple so many years ago that the photos I took got lost somewhere in the shuffling of files from old computers to new. I remember it though, because in a district full of flashier and more famous temples, this simple brick structure felt like a throwback, or at least a very unpretentious example of its type. The old brick arcades certainly give the area the feel of a time long past. Built in 1924 with private funds, it was on newly reclaimed land behind what is now Ximenting when first constructed. Now, the temple lives on, but seems to be bookended with hip-looking cafes. I don't mind, that, really. 

If you make your way from some of the sites around Taipei Main to Ciyun Temple, you'll find yourself walking through Ximen, which is an interesting way to spend a day regardless of your destination. There's plenty to see in the area, and if you aim your walk in the direction of Zhongshan Hall and some of the other historical sites and temples I've skipped, you'll also pass one of my favorite old houses:

 

I don't think there's anything especially historic about it, I just think it looks cool. 

In fact, although it's often labeled an unattractive city, Taipei has lots of architecture that is in fact quite interesting:

Kaohsiung's Dashe (大社) and an aborted trip to the Maolin and Duona scenic area

The Huang family compound in Dashe

Before the coronavirus outbreak in Taiwan, work took me to southern Taiwan quite often. Since I have lots of friends down south, this has given me the opportunity to head in some unexpected directions.

On my last trip, I met up with a friend who lives in Dashe (大社), a compact town north of Kaohsiung City. Like a lot of less commonly explored towns, Dashe offers a fair amount of historic architecture that you'll mostly have to yourself, and perhaps a few locals. A lot of this architecture consists of beautiful old farmhouses, which tend to still be privately owned (and occupied). That's great, although there's a downside: it can be difficult to actually get a look.

The nearest MRT station is Metropolitan Park, although it's surprisingly possible to take a bus there from HSR Zuoying Station. The R60B heads in that direction, but there are other options: Google Maps can show you how without much problem. 

I was lucky to have car access, however. Our plan for the day was to drive up to Maolin 茂林 and Duona 多納, and take advantage of the dry, sunny weather to hike up to the Lovers' Waterfall at Maolin and the gorge and suspension bridge at Duona. The area is mainly Rukai Indigenous, and there's also good food to be had up there. Duona's mountain views and traditional stacked slate houses draw tourists, which means stone slab barbecue, coffeeshops, millet wine, fig jelly (愛玉 -- the area is famous for it) and maqaw (馬告, a citrusy-flavored peppercorn-like seasoning used in Indigenous cuisine). 

Well, we did make it to Duona, but we ended up not doing anything else on our itinerary except barbecue and coffee, so this isn't a blog post about a trip to the mountains. However, the best possible overview of the area can be found in Richard Saunders' Taiwan 101 travel guide. 

How did we get so far off track? It's not a very interesting story, but I will tell you at the end. Our first diversion was my friend's hometown itself. It turns out that Dashe is far more interesting than it seems! The town is absolutely bursting with old houses in various states of repair. Some are fairly unadorned three-sided farmhouses (三合院) that have survived into the 21st century, but some are truly noteworthy.

We spent a morning driving around looking at these old houses before heading for the hills, and still didn't manage to visit every one. 

Let's start with the Wu family (巫家), whose ancestral hall and family home are along Minsheng Road 民生路. The ancestral hall is open to the public during the day and is located at #2, Lane 43 (the lane is really just a concrete lot). It's on Google Maps as the Taisha Old House Witch House (大社巫厝古宅) but there's no "witch" involved; that's just a weird translation of the Wu surname, which uses a less common character. 

Much of this hall was torn down and replaced with newer buildings, but the central three courtyards remain. According to local blogs, the original hall was so massive that it was called the "thousand gates", because it...had a lot of gates. Apparently the 'servants' would cry every night at the thought of shutting all of them, and each one had a distinctive latch. 






















The ancestral hall is notable for its use of wood imported from Fujian, with high-quality carving work, now mostly blackened with age. It's typical of Zhangzhou-style houses because it is one. 

The style of the arches and gables made me think this hall was older than most, perhaps late 18th or early 19th century (in comparison, most still-standing historic homes seem to be from the mid-19th century). I asked a guy hanging out nearby -- he may have been there in some sort of official ancestral hall capacity but as usual, it's hard to tell -- who said it was about 200 years old, and the Wu family has been in Dashe for as long as anyone can remember. 

Me: "So, 1820s?"

Him: "No, earlier than that. Maybe 300 years."

So I Googled it: the hall was built in 1803. 

I'm not a Qing-era architecture expert, just a very good guesser who has seen a lot of old houses. 

Further down Minsheng Road, at #109, is another Wu family mansion. This one can't be visited so easily. The Wu house is a private residence, and is maintained well enough that someone certainly stays or visits part time. The gate was locked when we stopped by, but it's possible to peer in a bit through the lattices on the brick wall.  These two heritage buildings are close enough that I suspect the entire stretch between them had once been the Wu family compound and farm. It might still be, but with newer -- and uglier -- buildings. 









And there are a few other interesting old buildings around here in various states of picturesque decay: 







Not far from here, a few more old farmhouses can be found on or near Minsheng Road. The Ni Family House (大社倪厝古宅 on Google) is in a lane just before you reach Lane 131. Blogs say it was "completed in 1950", but that the family built it in a traditional style. That's certainly evident. The large-and-small red brick pattern. Similar to the construction style of Longshan Temple in Taipei, the bricks themselves are hollow or filled with dirt, and take on an attractive golden red color in the late afternoon. The lower half of the building is made of decorated cement in a geometric pattern, which is the only clue that this is a mid-century house rather than something much older.

If you're curious, the various roof arches one can find on older buildings are said to represent the five elements. The smooth rounded curve of the Ni Family Mansion arches apparently represents "gold". Narrower, tall arches represent "wood", an arch with two waves one each side is "water", the spiky style often seen in Matsu Island architecture is "fire" and the flat-topped kind are "earth". There are also some interesting design features, including a carved "fu" (富) over a drainage canal and an interesting patio.

How do I know all this? There's a book about it, in addition to just reading the blogs of Taiwanese old house buffs. There's always someone who's been there before if you just Google it. You can find the book at The Taiwan Store (台灣个店) in a lane off Xinsheng South Road in Taipei. 

There's another set of old brick buildings nearby, as well. They're laid out in a row, and certainly not farmhouses.

A few more of these houses dot Minsheng Road as you continue, but they don't have any other notable features. It's worth taking a look, however, if you're wandering down this way. Many are still inhabited, so be careful to be respectful of private property and not trespass uninvited. An easy way to find these in general is to key up the satellite version of Google Maps and look for orange roofs laid out in the three-sided farmhouse shape, but not all will be notable enough to visit, and others may not be accessible.

Downtown, we stopped at Biyun Temple (碧雲宮) at the intersection of Sanmin Road 三民路, Guangming Street 光明街 and Cuiping Road 翠屏路. 














The temple itself is on the 2nd floor of a market area, accessible via elevator or stairs. The lanes around here have some interesting old architecture too.

While the decor screams "mid-century" -- I'd date the pebble-tile steps and terrazzo floors at the 1950s or '60s  --  this is a renovation. According to my friend, the temple itself is much older, from the Qing dynasty. You can get a pleasant view of the street from here, including some of the Japanese-era buildings at this intersection. The temple itself isn't particularly noteworthy beyond the vintage flooring, but you can make a wish here. The wishing plaques hang attractively along an elevated corridor overlooking the town. 

The Japanese-era buildings here have facades worth a moment of your time to admire, but unfortunately there are no period interiors to explore. One houses a shoe store and pharmacy: I asked the shoe store owner if she knew anything about the building, but she was merely renting the space and had nothing to share. Another building houses a fruit stand, and another was locked up tight when I passed through.








In a lane off Cuiping Road, there is a gorgeous old house that my friend called a "secret garden" because it's not visible from the street, but absolutely stunning inside. Apparently it's blocked by another building, and you have to cut across a private yard to get there. She opined that the owners might not want it "discovered", but I've got news for them: it has been.

My friend didn't know quite where it was, however, and we never did find it. I came across these blog posts later. 

The Hsu Family House (許家古厝）was built in 1910 and was the home of Hsu Chuan-hsing, a director of the Dashe Peasants' Association (not sure how else to translate that). The tilework alone makes it worth doing what this blogger says is necessary: trespassing across private property. Apparently the Majolica tiles aren't the only attraction, the scrolls, brick carvings and Kochi pottery (a traditional Taiwanese art form) were all done by Chang Chiao, the father of Chang Decheng, a famous shadow puppet artist. Chang Chiao himself was a talented artist who did much of the work around Dashe, although a great deal of it has been demolished.

This blog offers a more precise address, though I can't figure out on Google Maps where exactly it's supposed to be. Next time. 

Our final stop was another family shrine, this time for the Huangs. They were (and probably are) quite rich, as there's a local saying that the Huang family didn't need to pass through anyone else's land to reach Guanyin Mountain. (Guanyin Mountain itself has some lovely easy hiking trails, a weekend market, a 'chaste widow' arch and a small park at the base, and is also worth a visit.)

We didn't get to see the whole house as we really were trying to get up to the mountains, but the shrine is open to all. The house, however, has a set of flagpole stones, a preserved sedan chair, some beautiful brick carving, claywork and plaques which may be the work of Chang Chiao, and I'll be returning to try to check it out. One plaque indicates that the shrine was likely built in "the fourth year of Taisho", which would have been 1916.

The shrine itself is mostly cement work, with some lovely cyan-colored window frames and grilles.

Across the street, there's a car wash with a funky retro cafe kiosk that reminds me of a hamburger.

By then it was getting close to lunchtime and we hadn't even left Dashe, so we hit the road. In the end, we didn't do any hiking, not only because it was too hot by the time we hit Maolin, but because we foolishly tried to get there with Google Maps, which sent us into a dusty quarry road full of cement trucks somewhere outside of Meinong, where the river widens. We even had to stop to wash off the windshield! Once we got to Maolin and had lunch the locals laughed at us -- never use Google Maps to get to the mountains, it has no idea what the best routes are. 

That is quite true.

However, please enjoy photos from the mountain drive we did manage to take, including the swimming hole where we hung out for awhile as the hiking just wasn't working out, and a young girl where we stopped for an early dinner who kept "stealing" things from the table, including my phone and sunglasses (not really stealing, she was just playing games). 

As these were taken when Taiwan was still wracked with drought, the mountains look a little dry and sad. I'm sure they've recovered by now.