Houtong Cat Bridge

Updates : 2024-05-13

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Introduction

The Cat Bridge was originally a pedestrian bridge for local residents after the construction of Houtong Train Station in 1970. After the place became famous as "Cat Village" in 2009, increasing tourists have relied on the pedestrian bridge of the train station to proceed to the Cat Village and Houtong Coal Mine Ecological Park. Due to the response from local residents that the pedestrian bridge was too old and narrow, New Taipei City Government decided to renovate the bridge and started the renovation construction project of the "Pedestrian Bridge between Houtong Train Station and the Cat Village" from 2012. By taking local residents' suggestions as references, the new bridge added features of the Cat Village by combining the images of local coal mines, cats and tunnels to create a one and only "Cat Bridge". Inside the bridge, trails, photos and illustrations of cats can be seen and platforms for cats to pass and jump were also added. In 2013, it won the recognition of the Public Construction Golden Quality Award.

How to Get There

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Wanggu Station

The reason for the name Wanggu, according to literature and legend, is that during the Xianfeng period (1831-1861) Hu Jie from Quanzhou started an open coal mine. After the pit had been exhausted it filled with water, and the Chinese name “Wangkuangkeng” (old mine pit) changed into “Wanggukeng” (ancient pit).In the early days, few people settled in this barren land, which later became cultivated as Pingxi District. Both Wanggu Station and Dahua Station, formerly known as Qinghe Station, were set up in 1972 to serve the coal miners, but they were train-hailing stations before that.

National Taiwan Library