An Elevated View of Sanxia and Yingge

Landscapes and Art Along the Sanying Line

Cathy Teng　/　photos by Kent Chuang

September 2026

中文

The Sanying Line crosses the National Taipei University main campus, curving around Feiyuan Plaza, whose large black-kite sculpture (of the bird of prey, not the toy) echoes distant Yuanshan (“Mt. Kite”).

A new metro line first changes how people move through a city. Yet what stays most vividly in the memory is often the scenery along the way.

The Sanying Line is now open. Starting in Tucheng (where it has only two of its 12 stations), it follows the Dahan River into Sanxia and Yingge, passing historic neighborhoods, waterways, and mountain scenery as well as a bastion of the ceramics industry and emerging arts and cultural spaces. More than a commuter route, it offers another way to see the Sanxia-Yingge area.

A new view from the train

Change your position, and your perspective changes with it; gain some height, and you discover a different way of seeing the city. Bruce Cheng-an Lee, commissioner of the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems, explains that the entirely elevated Sanying Line runs about 15 meters above ground along most of its route but rises to more than 30 meters—the height of an eight- or nine-story building—where it crosses the freeway.

Seen from street level, the massive piers supporting the tracks resemble from a distance a row of stemmed goblets. From aboard the train, on the other hand, the line gives passengers an unexpected and intriguing new way to take in the city.

Departing from its station of origin, the train first threads between city streets. Beyond the windows, tightly packed homes and roads fill the view. From this raised vantage point, scenes normally hidden within the routines of urban life seem to shrink into miniature models, inviting a leisurely look.

Running on elevated tracks between city streets and mountain scenery, Sanying Line trains offer passengers a new perspective on the Sanxia-Yingge area.

Around Mazutian and Hengxi stations, the vista begins to open. The window becomes a picture frame, enclosing distant mountains, fields on the urban fringe, and stepped stonework in the river, like a casually sketched natural landscape.

As the train continues, the view shifts from natural scenery to sites of human activity. The Sanying Line crosses the National Taipei University main campus, and fitting the metro into the existing landscape there became a design challenge.

The place where the line crosses the campus, Feiyuan Plaza, was designed by artist Chiang Chung-mou and features a monumental black-kite sculpture (of the bird of prey, not the toy) that echoes distant Yuanshan (“Mt. Kite”). To preserve the sightline and view, the route curves around the plaza. Also, the viaduct takes the form of an arched arcade, while a special paint finish simulates brickwork, recalling the architecture of Sanxia Old Street and helping the elevated structure blend into the campus and its surroundings.

The viaduct’s arched arcade and faux-brick paint finish evoke the architecture of Sanxia Old Street.

The landscape comes aboard

The elevated tracks give passengers a new vantage point on the Sanxia-Yingge area; the Sanying Line, in turn, brings the culture and special features of the communities along its route into its trains.

Lee says: “The design theme of the Sanying Line trains is ‘boundless blue skies, roaming the valleys.’ The theme was chosen through a public vote and will become a shared memory and source of pride for local residents.” The blue exteriors of the cars complement the valleys, waterways, and urban scenes along the route, making the trains themselves part of the Sanxia-Yingge landscape.

Decorated trains are dispatched at random. Pictured are two versions of Xiaotaoqi the rabbit: one in Atayal attire and the other in a traditional Hakka blue gown. (courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems)

Beyond the color of the standard train exteriors, the Sanying Line also brings the cultural diversity of communities along its route into the cars. Lee explains that the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems created three specially decorated trains: Two draw on the Hakka settlements and Indigenous communities along the route, incorporating Hakka and Indigenous cultural motifs into their interiors. Meanwhile, the third is themed around the New Taipei City Art Museum. Its design includes silver-white ribbons evoking the waves of light flowing along the Dahan River, bringing the imagination of contemporary art into everyday transit.

The three decorated trains are dispatched at random, like hidden surprises along the journey that let passengers encounter different sights when they least expect it.

Silver-white ribbons inspired by waves of light flowing beside the Dahan River inspired the design of the New Taipei City Art Museum–themed train, bringing art into everyday transit. (left photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems)

Stories along the line

If the Sanying Line is a “traveling art museum,” then its 12 stations are the pages of an unfolding story. Lee says the line’s public-art program brought together 13 groups of artists and used the picture book A Smiling Promise as the creative thread linking the entire route. Each station is a chapter, turning local culture, history, and scenes of daily life into a magical adventure along the line.

Two guides lead the journey: a lively rabbit named Xiaotaoqi and the camera-toting Kamaila. As they travel through the Sanxia-Yingge area, each station brings a new discovery, linking the ideas behind its public art with local character.

Interesting, a work by Japanese artist Asako Otsuka, uses colorful stacked forms to blend into Yingge’s Gongsan Park, making public art an accessible and interactive part of daily life. (courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems)

At Ceramics Old Street Station, for example, artist Liou Chen-chou’s Playing with Clay celebrates Yingge’s deep-rooted ceramic culture. Ceramic panels by nearly 70 clay artists are inset into the station’s columns, carrying Yingge’s pottery tradition from the old street into the metro. Visitors who depart this station by its Exit 2, beside Gongsan Park, encounter Interesting by Japanese artist Asako Otsuka, a longtime Tamsui resident. Its colorful stacked forms blend into the park, creating public art that is accessible to people who can interact with and rest alongside it.

On the Sanying Line, art is not confined to museums; it is woven into the daily act of getting around. At every stop, local stories await travelers. By journey’s end, what passengers remember may be not only where they arrived, but also the Sanxia-Yingge area they saw along the way.