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YANSHUI (TAINAN)
TexT & images: sTeven crook
Yanshui – best known for the Beehive Fireworks Festival held here
early each spring – is a charming old town. Also, it's ideal for exploring
on foot, the side streets being full of quaint houses, small shrines and
old-fashioned shops. You wouldn’t think it from the town’s current
size (population: 27,000) and relaxing somnolence, but as recently
as the mid-19th century it was one of Taiwan’s four most important
settlements. Its ranking was reflected in a local saying: ‘First, Tainan;
second, Lugang; third, mangka [the old name for Taipei’s Wanhua
district]; fourth, Yuejin [the name of Yanshui’s port]’. Yuejin harbor
suffered from silting and closed for good in 1900.
GettinG there and away
Frequent buses link Yanshui with Xinying,
the nearest train station. Drivers should take
Freeway 1 to the Xinying Exit. Parking near
the downtown usually isn’t difficult.
tourist information
Yanshui's visitor center (21 Zhongshan
Road) is opposite the post office. It stocks
maps, books and postcards, but don't expect
much English.
where and what to eat
Yanshui's trademark comestible yì miàn, an
unpretentious but satisfying and tasty noodle
dish. It's served at several places, including
Qiaonan Restaurant & Coffeeshop (14
Qiaonan Street).
what to see and do
Martial Temple (87 Wumiao Road; open: 5 am to 8:30 daily). This
320-year-old shrine is dedicated to Guan Gong, and there's a huge
statue of him on the right as you approach the front of the temple.
Part of the small museum next to the temple is devoted to the Beehive
Fireworks Festival, although the text is in Chinese only.
The Octagon (1 Lane 4 Zhongshan Road; admission free; open:
9 am to 4:30 pm daily). The town’s most distinctive structure is all
that remains of a sprawling mansion built in 1847 for Ye Kai-hong,
a leading merchant. Ye made his fortune exporting sugar to the
Chinese mainland, and many of the materials used in the construction
of this two-floor, eight-sided wood-and-stone residence – including
the fir columns, roof tiles and limestone slabs – came to Taiwan from
the mainland as ballast on his ships. The first floor is open to the
public; inside you'll see the original partitions and a portrait of Ye.
Surprisingly, the building has not caught fire once during the Beehive
Fireworks Festival.
Qiaonan Old Street. The name of Yanshui's oldest intact
thoroughfare means 'south of the bridge,' and the bridge in question
spans a small body of water that once formed part of Yuejin harbor.
Several of the houses are two centuries old, and at number 8 a sixthgeneration
blacksmith still plies his trade. These days he turns out
more decorative items for tourists than tools for farmers.
Life and Culture Museum (25 Qiaonan Sreet; admission free; open:
9:30 am to 4:30 pm daily). There's no English sign out front and
none of the traditional utensils displayed inside are labeled in English,
but this single-storey wooden-framed building, said to be two hundred
years old, is rather atmospheric.
Adapted from Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide (1st edition, 2010)
by Steven Crook.
www.communitycenter.org.tw Summer 2011
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