Xiaoxi Street in Central Taiwan’s Changhua City is getting a new lease of life on the back of efforts harnessing its rich cultural heritage and tourism assets.
A local establishment at the vanguard of these efforts is Gao Bin Ge Restaurant. Constructed in 1938, the art deco style building is one of the area’s most popular attractions for fans of early Taiwan history due to its reputation as a haunt for entrepreneurs and literati during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945).
When Lai Ho, a pioneer in Taiwan literature and political activist, was under surveillance by the Japanese authorities, he used the restaurant as a refuge to work on his literary creations in Chinese.
Su Ying-hua, head of a local cultural promotion association, said the restaurant is an important part of the local historical heritage as it helped give birth to the development of Taiwan’s entertainment culture during the 1930s and 1940s.
“Some leading examples include nakasi, a unique type of music performance originating from Japan, and Yi-dan, or female entertainers,” he added.
After transforming into a railway hospital during the 1970s, the building flirted with demolition before being heritage listed by Changhua County Government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau in 2011.
Just a few blocks away, Grand Hotel Hongye still maintains its original interior decor from the 1960s. And across the street is a brick mansion that used to be the residence of Du Xi-gui, the city’s first elected mayor.
Also of historical significance is Lane 96 of Yongxing Street—renowned as the hiding place of communists Xie Xue-hong and her husband in the 1940s.
Su said his organization will continue developing the street into a top tourism draw by working to add cultural and creative elements to old buildings and proposing new community renovation projects. (SFC-JSM)
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