Thanks to Taiwan’s extensive railway network, especially along the west coast, it only took us around one hour to get to Tainan from Kaohsiung Main Station. As soon as we stepped out of the train station at our destination and walked down the covered walkways of Tainan, the city immediately struck me as being more laid back with significantly cooler temperatures. It was a nice change from the heat and humidity of Kaohsiung, although I couldn’t help but wonder why since geographically Tainan is not that far from the sea.
The cooler air was not the only thing that was starkly different from Kaohsiung. Tainan was noticeably more historic too with the presence of numerous heritage buildings dating as far back as the 17th century. Due to the island’s location between Japan and China, fishermen and merchants from both places had already established trading ports along the western coast of Taiwan by the 16th century – forcing the indigenous communities to move further inland as a result. However, the modern history of the island nation really began when the Dutch East India Company (the VOC) – the same quasi-state company that controlled important spice trade routes out of present-day Indonesia and Sri Lanka – set foot on the strategically-located island in the 17th century.
On a sandy peninsula called Tayouan (also spelled Taioan), the VOC established their first-ever fort on the island. If you think the name sounds very similar to how the country is called today, that’s because it is indeed where the name Taiwan is derived from. As the company’s power and influence grew, the once modest fort was expanded and christened Fort Zeelandia.
Through a series of military as well as diplomatic campaigns, the VOC managed to subdue aboriginal villages in the southwestern part of the island and defeated the Spanish who had previously built their garrison on a small isle off the northeast coast, outside what is now Keelung. This was achieved with additional reinforcements from Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) which was at that time the company’s main hub in Asia. Finally, after several failed attempts to establish a strong trading port in Macau, Hong Kong, and Penghu (also called the Pescadores), the VOC managed to do so out of Fort Zeelandia. But as history has shown over and over again, no heavy-handed exertion of power can last forever.
Almost two decades after the completion of Fort Zeelandia, the VOC built another fortification in 1653 called Fort Provintia, around 5 km to the east of the former. Located in a village of the Sakam people – the indigenous community of this part of the island – the fort was intended to be a center of the cash crop industry which employed cheap labor from China. However, the completion of the new fort happened during a period of instability following a rebellion by Chinese farmers on the island who were angered by the heavy taxation imposed by the Dutch as well as the corrupt practices of the VOC.
Across the strait, a great shift in the political landscape of Imperial China was unfolding. The Ming dynasty that had ruled China for almost three centuries since 1368 was crumbling, to gradually be replaced by the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty in the long history of the country. As the former’s influence dwindled, a Ming loyalist called Koxinga saw an opportunity to defeat the Dutch in southern Taiwan and turn this part of the island into his base to attempt a takeover of China from the hands of the new Qing rulers. In 1661, Koxinga launched an attack on the VOC’s strongholds of Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia, and after a nine-month siege, the Dutch finally surrendered.
From his newly conquered capital, Koxinga established his own dynasty and began the Sinicization of Taiwan by promoting Han Chinese values and cultures. However, only four months after his successful military campaign, he died of malaria. Koxinga’s son succeeded his father, and three years into the new ruler’s reign, a new Confucian temple was built in 1665 beside an academy for cultivating intellectuals. As the Qing dynasty consolidated its grasp on power in mainland China, in 1683 they successfully subjugated the House of Koxinga too, ending the Ming loyalists’ rule in Taiwan.
Walking down the streets of Tainan today will present you with a close-up look at the buildings that witnessed all of these upheavals centuries ago. Present-day Chihkan Tower may not look like how it was when the compound was still called Fort Provintia, thanks to the damage caused by past rebellions and a powerful earthquake in the 18th century, before it was rebuilt by Qing rulers with Chinese aesthetics in mind. But if you take a closer look, the foundations of the Dutch fort are still there, sitting underneath layers of history.
Unlike Chihkan Tower which, given the number of visitors when we went, seemed quite popular among domestic and foreign tourists, the Tainan Confucian Temple was very peaceful and quiet with an unhurried ambiance. One can be forgiven for being unaware of the fact that this temple is actually located right in the heart of a city of 1.2 million people. We explored the temple at a leisurely pace while marveling at its architectural details. Parts of the compound were dedicated to showcasing different paraphernalia and traditional musical instruments used in Confucian ceremonies and rituals. However, the most precious artifacts stored in the temple are housed in the Dacheng Hall, the most important structure in the entire complex. Wooden plaques honoring Confucius which were presented to the temple by successive Qing emperors were fixed to its rafters and beams. “Teacher for all generations”, “Confucius combines the virtues of all prior saints in one”, and “Confucius has the perfect academic ideas and personal conduct” were among the words of praise written on the colorful plaques.
The presence of artifacts of such importance can be attributed to Tainan’s long-standing position as the seat of power in Taiwan for more than two centuries since Dutch colonial times. But in 1887, when the island was still controlled by the Qing dynasty, a new capital was developed further north in what is now the modern city of Taichung – Taiwan’s second largest city by population – although eventually it was Taipei that truly replaced Tainan’s status as the island’s seat of government. Less than a decade later, however, following the Qing defeat by Japan (which had undergone rapid modernization as a result of the Meiji Restoration), in 1895 Taiwan and some smaller islands around it were ceded to the Japanese imperial government in Tokyo.
Around 500 meters from the Tainan Confucian Temple stands one of the most emblematic heritage structures from the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan. Situated at a busy intersection, the five-story Hayashi Department Store which was first opened in 1932 was among the first buildings on the island to be equipped with elevators. On its rooftop, a Shinto shrine was erected six months after the opening, dedicated to the patron god of the store. However, more than a decade later during the height of World War II in the Pacific, the building suffered damage from U.S. air raids. It wasn’t until 2006 that renovation works began on the old department store. Eight years later, it reopened its doors to the public, and today it showcases curated made-in-Taiwan products with some interesting eateries on the upper floors.
But colonial vestiges in Tainan are not only limited to its plethora of old buildings. In the 1700s, this corner of the island witnessed the rise of sugar cane plantations, and the newfound availability of the cash crop prompted the local population to incorporate this sweet produce in the food they ate. This story reminds me of what happened to the central part of Java where the local dishes tend to be sweeter than those in other regions of Indonesia. If you’ve never added sugar to your cooking, you should try it, for it will do wonders no other ingredient can. Tainan itself has a reputation of being the food capital of Taiwan, but on the flip side the city also has the highest rate of obesity in the country.
I can’t blame them, though. We sampled firsthand what the locals eat, from wa gui (steamed rice cake with pork and shiitake mushrooms) to a round pastry filled with mung bean paste and ground pork which reminded me a lot of what we call bakpia in Indonesia – although the latter is usually halal and comes with different fillings, including cheese and chocolate. It’s always interesting to see the connections between similar dishes from different countries and how they adapt to local tastes and dietary requirements.
You really can’t escape history in Tainan – it’s everywhere you look. But it doesn’t mean the city is trapped in its own past. Just a stone’s throw away from the Confucian Temple is an ultramodern building that is now part of the Tainan Art Museum. Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (who in 2014 won the Pritzker Prize – the world’s most prestigious accolade in modern architecture), the whitewashed structure with a pentagonal roof canopy would definitely turn anyone’s head. The city’s modern side, however, fell short of what other big cities in Taiwan have: an MRT/metro network. There were only buses, and we took one of them to reach a district to the west of the city center where it all began. It was where Fort Zeelandia was built by the Dutch. Let’s go to Anping!
