Once upon a time there was a walled city — Exploring Fangqiao City and the four temples

6840

When it comes to walled cities in Taiwan, the first places most people think of are Tainan City, Taipei City, and Hengchun Township. The gates of these cities, which were built by officials, still have their gates and even some of their walls, and some of them have had MRT stops named after them (Beimen [north gate] Station, Ximen [west gate] Station or the Taipei MRT line), and are a shared memory among present-day Taiwanese people. But did you know that there is also a walled city in Banqiao, the prime district of New Taipei City?

When going from the MRT Fuzhong Station to the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, perceptive travelers will notice that the streetlights in this area are particularly old fashioned, and that they are labelled “Fangqiao Walled City.” On top of that, when looking down, you can see the words “City Border” on the street tiles. The ancient Fangqiao Walled City had five city gates, just like Taipei; additionally, its history is even better known than that of Taipei, primarily due to two major factors that led to the establishment of the city: the Lin family of Banqiao and the Zhang-Quan fighting.

Back in the Qing Dynasty, there were frequent fights between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou immigrants; in order to defend themselves from the Quanzhou immigrants, the Banqiao Lin family, who originally came from Zhangzhou, built the Fangqiao Walled City in 1855, stretching out to present-day Ximen [west gate] Street, Beimen [north gate] Street, Nanmen [south gate] Street, and Guanqian West Road. However, during the Japanese occupation, the city was demolished to make place for traffic. Nevertheless, the temples located in the area still show traces of the old city.

Cihui Mazu temple
Located at the east side of the Fangqiao Walled City is the most popular Mazu temple in the Banqiao District. The temple is decorated on both the inside and the outside with fragmented ceramic art, sculptures, and color paintings, and the highly refined temple buildings are richly ornamented. In addition, the temple is a popular place for people to pray for prosperity, and local business magnates such as the Banqiao Lin family are all frequent visitors. If you look carefully, you can even find a dragon pillar bearing the business name of the Lin family.

Banqiao Jieyun Temple
The Jieyun Temple and the Xinzhuang Dizang Temple, both located near the west gate of Fangqiao Walled City, are historically related to the Zhang-Quan fights; the Dizang Temple was built by the Banqiao gentry to commemorate the Zhangzhou people who died in the altercations. The Jieyun Temple, which is on the other side, was formerly known as the Zhonghe Ciyunyan Temple, but was destroyed during the armed struggles, and its remains were taken over by the Banqiao Jieyun Temple. Its collection contains many precious ancient plaques and scrolls, and there are many wood carvings of flying immortals wrapped in gold foil on both sides of the roof as well as in the main hall, which are very spectacular. The caisson ceiling has a special long oval design, and is of great historical and religious value.

Banqiao Diyi Temple
The only one of the four temples to have been a city-designated temple, the Diyi Temple, was built by the Banqiao Lin family to commemorate the people who died fighting; it is also known as the Yuanshuai Temple. In 2021, after it was restored, the temple opened up for the public by appointment. The paintings of the Door Gods and the Qilin murals inside are all made by master painter Mr. Cai Longjin, the winner of the New Taipei Cultural Award. Next time you are in Banqiao, on your way to the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, slow down and closely follow the inscriptions on the ground to explore the former Walled City, and enter the temples to admire the exquisite paintings and craftmanship, and explore the past life of the city!

Gallery

The Must-see Attraction for Foreign Visitors- the Yehliu Geopark

You only have a week in Taiwan and do not want to spend too much transportation time? Then you definitely cannot miss the "world-famous" tourist attraction- the Yehliu Geopark. I assume you have done your research on the must-see attraction that people are talking about before coming to Taiwan. Have you heard of the "alien planet" in the northern Taiwan? If no, please add it to your travel to-do-list. The Yehliu Geopark is located in the suburban area of Taipei City. It is 40 minutes away from downtown by public transportation. The long and narrow capes sticking out from the island are eroded by the strong northeast monsoon, and with the weathering and coastal erosion, the "Mars landscape" is thus generated. There are lots of rock types here and you can even see gradient colors on some of the rocks. The famous rocks will be introduced below. You will definitely be amazed when seeing the art of nature in person!Pedestal rock area/ wave-cut platform- 2 main characteristics of the GeoparkIn the first area, you will see lots of pedestal rocks, ginger shaped rocks and candle shaped rocks. When looking around, pedestal rocks are everywhere. With time passing by, the hard concretion inside the sandstone is exposed, and with the effect of wind, sun, rain, wave as well as the erosion of the northeast monsoon, the pedestal rocks of different shapes, such as the pedestal rocks with no necks, bulk necks, narrow necks and broken necks, are thus formed. The landscape with lots of pedestal rocks is very uneven, so pay attention while you are walking on it. Do not be too focused on taking photos or enjoying the view and fall.The second area on the other side of the Geopark has the wave-cut landscape. You will find sea caves, coastal notches, wave-cut platform and cuesta. On one side of the wave-cut platform is the cliff and on the other side is the rapid wave. You will find lots of interesting rocks eroded by the seawater here, including the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars Rocks.Landscape Wonder- The Pedestal RocksWhen first walking into the Geopark, you will see a huge area of the pedestal rocks. When seeing afar, it's like the cute mushrooms park. And the pedestal rocks are the landscape that attracts most people in the Yehliu Geopark. The process for the formulation of the pedestal rock is first the rock formation exposed from the sea surface, and the seawater will erode the rock continuously. After some time, the hard concretion inside the sandstone is exposed, and with the effect of wind, sun, rain, wave as well as the erosion of the northeast monsoon, the pedestal rocks of different shapes, such as the pedestal rocks with no necks, bulk necks, narrow necks and broken necks, are thus formed. The different shapes of the rocks represent the different formation processes. The landscape with lots of pedestal rocks is very uneven, so pay attention while you are walking on it. Do not be too focused on taking photos or enjoying the view and fall.The Star of the Geopark - "Queen's Head"The next coming up is the star of the Yehliu Geopark, "Queen's Head". The Queen's Head is a kind of pedestal rock. When the crustal structure was rising, the differential erosion of the seawater made the Queen's Head what it is like today. If we divide its height by the average crust rising speed in northern Taiwan, we will learn the Queen's Head is about 4,000 years old. The Queen's Head is a kind of pedestal rock. However, the joint on its upper concretion broke during 1962-1963. When viewing from a certain angle, it looks similar to the head portrait of Elizabeth II and thus acquires the name. With the natural weathering effect over the decades, the neck of the Queen's Head is getting even narrower. To prevent erosion by human activities for that tourists might touch it, the Queen's Head is now under protection. If you would like to take a photo with the Queen's Head, you can walk on the wooden plank trail to line up. Besides, you can view the Queen's Head from afar and take photos with it on the trail.The "Cute Princess Rock" and "Candle Shaped Rock" are the popular landscape at the Geopark. The formation process of the "Cute Princess Rock" is similar to that of the Queen's Head. The eroded rock looks like a princess with a ponytail and is said to be the potential replacement of the Queen's Head. Doesn't the rock look like a little girl with her hair in a bun? Though the Cute Princess Rock is probably not as element and sophisticated as the Queen's Head, it gives people a feeling of passion and sweetness.How was the "Candle Shaped Rock" named? I guess you already know! The landscape looks just like candles. There are 3 main processes for the formation of the Candle Shaped Rock. First the candle fire is exposed, and the area around it is eroded to form a groove. Finally, the candlestick is cut and the Candle Shaped Rock is thus formed. The candle fire is actually a round concretion in the rock formation. When seawater erodes sandstone, the round concretion which is harder is exposed on the ground. And when waves dash against the concretion, seawater flow around the concretion to erode the sandstone around it. A groove is formed as a result. Since the formation outside the concretion is harder, seawater will flow according to the shape of the formation and cut the rock into a cone shape that looks like a candlestick. And a rock that looks like the shape of candle is formed by mother nature.Amazing Rocks- CuestaNow let's look at the beautiful scene of the Cuesta in the second area. Walking along on the road to the Cuesta, you will see the most beautiful sea and mountain scene in the Geopark. You can view the Cuesta on one side and the sea cliff as well as wave-cut platform on the other side.The Cuesta features a sharp cliff on one side and a smooth slope on the other side. It is formed because the main stratum is pushed by uneven force and speed, which results in uneven rise of the stratum. When the stratum is pushed, the lump on the ground will cause the stratum to break. And after the seawater erosion, a landscape that looks like a "natural slide" is gradually formed.Guess how famous is the Yehliu Geopark? CNN once reported that the scene at the "Yehliu Geopark" is like the landscape in the outer space and that it has the environment that looks just like the one Mars has. You will definitely find lots of gorgeous and special rocks, including the "Queen's Head", "Ice Cream Rocks", "Beehive Rocks", "Ginger Shaped Rocks" and other wave-cut landscape. You will definitely be amazed by the diverse geologic structure and landscapes here. What's more, you can see how great and powerful nature is. Whether it's from the perspective of geographic environment or location and transportation, the Geopark is definitely worth visiting!Transportation Information of the Yehliu Geopark*Tamsui Bus No.862 (Take the bus heading to Keelung in front of MRT Tamsui Station and get off at Yehliu.) The bus sets out every 30 minutes.*KUO-KUANG eBus No. 1815 (Take the bus heading to Chinshan Youth Activity Center at the KUO-KUANG eBus Station at Taipei Main Station. The Bus drives along Zhongxiao E. Road and makes a brief stop at the Taipei City Hall Bus Station. Please get off at Yehliu.) The bus sets out every 20 minutes.*Keelung Bus No.790 (Take the bus heading to Jinshan next to Keelung Train Station and get off at Yehliu.) The bus sets out every 15 minutes.*Keelung Bus No.1068 (Take the bus heading to Jinshan at National Taiwan University and get off at Yehliu Geopark.)*Keelung Bus No.953 (Take the bus heading to Jinshan at the bus station next to Banqiao Train Station and get off at Yehliu Geopark.)Nearby Places to Go Jinshan Wanli Cycling Route-->Jinshan Wanli Hot Spring

Take Your Pets for a Walk- the Qinqingchongwu Park in Xindian

Living in the city jungle, people can easily feel pressured by the dense buildings and thus feel more anxious. Your pets spend most of the time at home and they have to step on the hard paved road even when taking a walk outside. Dogs are always waiting for their owners to get off from work and come home, and we can only spend so much time with them. As a result, we strongly recommend you take your pets out on weekends! There are actually quite a few parks for pets in New Taipei City, and the park we are now introducing is the "Qinqingchongwu Park" in Xindian. At this Park, you will find a spacious area of grass land and dogs no longer have to be on the leash here. They can run at the Park freely to finally have a relaxing time!The "Qinqingchongwu Park" in Xindian is the first park for pets built on the floodplain. The Park has a great area of 300 hectares. The "Qinqingchongwu Park" in Xindian is located between the east side of Bitan and the Sunshine Sports Park. The original purpose of building a riverside park is to provide people with a multi-functional place where they can do exercise. You and your family and friends can have fun, walk around, do exercise, fly a kite or just chill to appreciate the beauty of the river on the grass land at the river bank. Now, you can bring your pets to the Qinqingchongwu Park to play and exert energy. How great is that!The best part of a riverside park is that it has a great area of green grass land. You will feel comfortable in this spacious space simply by staring at it! At the entrance you can see a clear sign telling you the Park is separated into 2 sections, a section for small dogs and the other for larger dogs. Pet owners can choose to enter either section based on the size of their pets. This way, dogs can move freely in a safer environment. Besides, we put dog poop bag in the Park. Therefore, you don't have to worry about leaving dog poop in the Park if your dog gets to excited and poop. Use the plastic bag to pick up the poop and throw it in the near garbage can. Be a public-spirited person and pick up after your dog to leave other users a clean environment.Do Not Forget to Read the Notices. Everyone Should Work Together to Maintain the Park for Pets!Let's get ready to have fun at the Park! Notices are written on the door at the entrance. Remember to read the notices before coming into the Park and be a responsible owner to follow the rules. Let's maintain this Park for pets together!There are 2 layers of devices on the fence at the entrance/exit at the back. The devices are established to prevent dogs from losing controls and rushing into the Park when they get too excited. Therefore, remember to put a leash on your pets when going in and coming out from the Park. And pay attention to see if there is any dog coming out! There are dog poop cleaning bag and garbage can at the entrance. Please clean up after your dog to maintain a clean environment and prevent your dogs from stepping on the poop while running.The section for small dogs is a little bit smaller than the other section. Benches are put in the section for you to rest. Devices, such as tire obstacle training devices, wooden plank slopes, jumping platforms, are set up in the section for larger dogs for them to exert their energy. When first seeing the device, dogs might get a bit nervous and afraid, owners should be patient to guide and encourage your dogs. After some practices, your dogs will start to enjoy it!Your dogs spend most of the time at home and it is rare for them to see one of their kinds. Bring your dogs to the Park would be a great choice. The Park offers enough space for dogs to run on the grass land to train their physical strength, and dogs can meet different people and dogs at the Park. Dogs will smell each other and play together. It presents a great chance for dogs to have some social activities. Remember to observe the body language of your dog nearby and provide intervention as appropriate.When the weather is good, bring your dogs to the "Qinqingchongwu Park" in Xindian and have fun! At the Park, you pets can finally be free from the leash and step on the comfortable grass land. They can run and be relaxed freely. Their smile will be the most beautiful scene. Near Places to Go Bitan Scenic Area The Yinhe Cave Hiking Trail