Tamsui Zhongjian Street

Most visitors traveling to Tamsui just follow the crowds once they leave the MRT station. Along the way, they pass an international chain cafe, stalls selling ice-cream, and souvenir shops targeting tourists. This is the so-called Tamsui Old Street. However, if you recall the old streets you've visited, those near the sea—be it Changhua's Lukang Old Street or Tainan's Anping Old Street—are not exactly located just beside the riverbank or the coast. Even the crowded Zhongzheng Road—the so-called Tamsui Old Street—is nothing but a shopping area developed for tourism. Yet the real Tamsui Old Street is the 600-meter-long short street behind Tamsui Qingshui Temple. Although some old houses on Zhongjian Street have been replaced by modern residences, you can still see a mansion built about a century ago, whose walls have many washed stones on their surfaces. You can also see red-brick short houses, along with mottled wooden housing with vines climbing on the entire roof. Some of the dwellings have been deserted for a long time, yet some have been renovated and endowed with a new life. While you're climbing up and down along the stairs, the houses around you seem to be telling the rise and fall of the mountain city. Years ago, the area around Zhongjian Street was slated to be demolished in order to widen the street. Some locals appealed to the government on social media. It's because of their efforts that part of the area was preserved. Just like most of the other tourist towns in Taiwan, the arrival of tourists has ruined the towns' original appearances. Yet it's also their visits that help to preserve the old street rich in history.