Taiwan Today

Heritage restoration projects are strengthening community revitalization across Taiwan.

Architect Chan I-chung (詹益忠) is on a mission to protect and revitalize Taiwan’s community heritage structures. As lead adviser to a Ministry of Culture (MOC) restoration program, he has visited dozens of privately held buildings up and down the country in recent years. If he deems them aesthetically, culturally or historically significant, the owners are eligible for government subsidies to help pay for renovation work.

Last November, this undertaking took Chan to a former pharmacy in Xinhua District of southern Taiwan’s Tainan City. Built in 1931 during Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945), the building is now a local cultural center, serving as a base for community education programs and workshops. Chan was impressed by the structure’s well-preserved features and unique character, describing it in his assessment as an embodiment of the “seven-generation history of Western medicine in Xinhua.” His notes included a list of essential repairs such as upgrades to the roof drainage system and termite control measures to protect the original wood.

Chan’s favorable evaluation allowed the owners to apply for funding from the MOC’s Private Old Buildings Preservation and Rejuvenation Plan. Launched two years ago, the program is open to structures erected in 1971 or before. Successful applicants receive technical guidance from experts like Chan and subsidies covering up to 50 percent of total refurbishment costs. The grants can go as high as 80 percent in special circumstances, such as when a structure has the potential to be designated a historic site by the central or local government. To date, about NT$600 million (US$19.4 million) in subsidies have been dispensed through the initiative.

By fostering the preservation of cultural sites that do not have listed status, the MOC project is promoting urban renewal while safeguarding distinctive community characteristics. The only major requirement for property owners is they maintain the buildings in a refurbished state for between three and 10 years, depending on the level of funding they receive. The decadelong obligation applies to structures awarded more than NT$5 million (US$161,300) in public money.

“Owners of aging heritage buildings, particularly in urban areas, are often under pressure to sell to developers so the land can be used for modern apartment or office blocks,” Chan said. “By providing them with support and financing, we hope to rekindle enthusiasm in local history and cultivate a new way of thinking about property ownership.”

Farsighted Strategy

The private buildings plan is part of a new wave of funding in Taiwan for heritage preservation. This comes from the urban-rural portion of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program (FIDP), a comprehensive initiative aimed at addressing the nation’s key infrastructure needs for the next 30 years. The urban-rural component is targeted at upgrading quality of life in cities and townships nationwide.

The primary heritage restoration plan under the FIDP is the Regeneration of Historic Sites Project (RHSP). Overseen by the MOC’s Bureau of Cultural Heritage (BOCH), it involves the revitalization of 30 locally or nationally designated historic locations across the country. In Tainan, these include Wushantou Reservoir, part of an irrigation system built on the Chianan Plain during Japanese colonial rule, and Chihkan Cultural Zone, Taiwan’s oldest urban area dating to the establishment of a colony by the Dutch East India Co. in the 17th century.

According to BOCH Director-General Shy Gwo-long (施國隆), a total of NT$6.4 billion (US$206.5 million) has been allocated for the RHSP projects through the end of 2020. “This marks a new approach to infrastructure development in Taiwan,” he said. “It’s a holistic strategy for community rejuvenation that leverages existing artistic, cultural, historical and even technological resources.”

A visit to the BOCH provides a clear illustration of this concept. The bureau’s headquarters is located at the 5.6-hectare Cultural Heritage Park, a brewery dating to the Japanese colonial era that has been converted into an exhibition, forum and performance venue. Situated in Taichung, the facility is part of a large-scale RHSP project to breathe new commercial and cultural life into the old quarters of the central Taiwan city. Major targets of this work include the former administrative offices and railway station.

Spurring the local economy is likewise a goal of the RHSP initiative in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County. There, another Japanese-era manufacturing facility is re-emerging as Chung Hsing Cultural and Creative Park (CHCCP). Previously home to the nation’s leading paper producer, it now hosts a startup incubation center, with numerous other artistic, commercial and exhibition facilities in the works.

Unearthing the Past

The RHSP is not simply about refurbishing old structures, but uncovering and expanding awareness of local history, Shy said, citing by way of example an ongoing project in Keelung. Just off the coast of the northern Taiwan port city is Heping Island, where the Spanish built Fort San Salvador in 1626. With funding from the RHSP, an archaeological survey is underway of the city’s coastline and the site where the long-destroyed fortifications once stood. The goal is to identify any remaining relics and determine how best to highlight Keelung’s status as an early point of contact with Western seafarers. “We hope to use this unique history to foster local pride and provide a cultural context for regional development,” Shy said, adding that technological solutions such as augmented and virtual reality can be used to bring this past to life.

At CHCCP in Yilan, spotlighting regional history is similarly a core objective. Renovation plans include the development of an exhibition venue for some of the approximately 2 million artifacts unearthed at the Hanben national-level archaeological site in the county’s Nanao Township.

Lo Shih-chieh (羅士傑), an associate professor in the Department of History at Taipei City-based National Taiwan University and consultant to the RHSP, said that the construction of this facility, slated to open in 2022, underscores the difference between current and past restoration programs for Japanese-era industrial complexes. The earlier refurbishment of locations like Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park, among the most successful adaptive reuse projects in the country, focused primarily on transforming old buildings into new arts and commercial venues. Conversely, RHSP initiatives feature significant funding for archaeological and cultural surveys, with the results of these investigations playing a central role in site planning and design, he added.

A number of the RHSP plans are also focused solely on the restoration or re-creation of historic structures. One such venture in Yilan involves highlighting the remnants of three Japanese defense lines built on the Lanyang Plain during World War II to guard against a potential landing by Allied forces. Another concerns the refurbishment of Japanese-era hot spring and Cold War-era U.S. military facilities in Taipei’s Beitou area.

Collectively, the RHSP projects will provide a comprehensive overview of Taiwan’s history and the manner in which it was shaped by various foreign powers and geopolitical forces, Lo said. “The aim is not to romanticize the past, but rather to enhance understanding of Taiwan’s complex evolution and role in world affairs over the centuries.”

Through the integration of local arts, economies and history, projects at CHCCP, Chihkan Cultural Zone and Taichung’s old quarter are offering a new template for community regeneration in Taiwan. “This is a bottom-up approach that draws on the knowledge of residents and the local academic and cultural sectors,” Shy said. 

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw