Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Modern Tainan has industries producing metals, textiles and machinery, and a few old
masters working on traditional crafts, as well as a new science park that promises to
bring the city into the avant-garde of Taiwan's high-tech revolution. Tainan City and
County merged into one municipal area in 2009.
Sights
Central Tainan
Confucius Temple
CONFUCIAN TEMPLE
(Kǒng Miào;
http://confucius.cca.gov.tw
; 2 Nanmen Rd; admission NT$25; 8.30am-5pm)
Con-
fucian temples usually exude the calm, grace and dignified beauty of traditional Chinese
culture and this, the first such temple in Taiwan, doesn't disappoint.
Entry to the temple grounds is free, but you must pay to enter the palace area. Look
out for the stone tablet on the right as you enter the Edification Hall. It explains the
school rules (the site was once a centre for Confucian studies), such as prohibition of
gambling, drinking and cheating.
The temple is part of a larger cultural zone that includes the
Old Tainan Martial Arts
1926 that was once used to train the colonial police force (not open to the public).
(Pàngōng Shífang)
that was crafted by masons in Quanzhou, Fujian, in 1777. It's now the
gateway to a pedestrianised street filled with cafes and small eateries.
Chihkan Towers
HISTORIC SITE
(Fort Proventia, Chìkǎn Lóu; 212 Minzu Rd; admission NT$50; 8.30am-9pm)
This old fort is a
splendid place to roam around, or to enjoy an outdoor concert on weekends.
Chihkan has gone through many masters - Ming, Qing and Japanese, and the Kuo-
mintang (KMT; China's Nationalist Party) - since the foundations were first laid by the
Dutch in 1653. At that time the seashore reached the fort's outer walls. Our favourite fea-
tures are the nine stone turtles with tablets on their backs. These stelae hail from the Qing
dynasty. If you check the backs you can see where the carver made a mistake on one and,
