Three years ago, the Taipei City Government earmarked NT$200 million to rebuild the old traffic circle and brought in unique new food vendors. They were unable to ever really drum up business, though. The city government began plans at the end of last year to annex the area and to cancel its contracts with vendors. The doors were officially shut forever on 2 July as the century-old night market stepped into the annals of history. The Chiencheng Circle is now slated to become a cuisine promotion center.

The night that business came to a close, a number of people, both local and otherwise, gathered spontaneously to reminisce over one last meal at the circle. Filled with emotion, the owner of an old shop on the circle, Shunfa Oyster Omelets, explained that after the overhaul, it was hard to get around in the market and the air inside was stifling--it's no wonder customers were reluctant to come. Although it pains them to leave, if the opportunity presents itself in the future, vendors won't hesitate to come back.

Before business shut down, Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou went to the circle where he paid his respects to vendors. He admits that the overhaul "could have been done better." He went on to say that the restoration of old markets involves a certain degree of difficulty and that he will work with professional consultants to re-evaluate the future of Chiencheng Circle. He hopes that two large-scale food exhibitions, scheduled for late this year, will lure the crowds back. The website "Circle of Love," produced by Taipei City Councillor Chen Yu-mei, is inviting everybody to write the history of the roundabout together by contributing articles, photographs, and videos.

Everybody that has grown up in Taipei, regardless of age or gender, is familiar with the "Circle" and even strangers in Taipei are no strangers to the name. It was the dining center for Taipei's man/woman on the street.

Under Japanese rule, the colonial government applied elements of urban planning from the West to places like Chiencheng Circle. Based on classical Baroque form and design, it was not much different from other early traffic circles, such as the ones at Hsimen and Tungmen, in terms of the background in which they were created. The Chiencheng Circle evolved from a park into an afternoon bazaar and finally into a thriving night market famous for its myriad light repasts.

With an area of 1,963 square meters, Chiencheng Circle is encircled by Nanking West, Chungking North, Tienshui, and Ninghsia Roads. When Taipei was struck by a large earthquake in 1935, Chiencheng Circle served as a safe haven. Afterward, the surrounding area saw the erection of two-story buildings and a gradual increase in population. The Japanese designated a large circle around which they planted jasmine-orange trees and in the middle of which they planted a banyan tree. It was known as "Round Park," and people sat on its stone benches to enjoy the cool air or play Chinese chess as children played nearby.

Later, a fruit seller (some say a vendor of shrimp noodles) set up shop under the tree. This opened the door for the gradual formation of an outdoor vendors' market. The Japanese government clamped down on them a number of times, but crowds only grew. In the end, the government reached an agreement with the vendors, legalizing them and naming the area the Taipei Peddlers Traffic Circle Night Market. Bells were rung at the start and close of business each day, 5 p.m. and midnight, respectively.

When the war in the Pacific broke out in 1941, the Japanese government banned lights at night. The night market would no longer thrive as before and later became deserted as it was dug up and two water reservoirs and a number of anti-aircraft trenches were installed. It wasn't until the Japanese surrendered that vendors were able to return to fill in the trenches and level the ground. At night the lights of row after row of vendors, who had returned in force, lit up the area as though it were broad daylight and made it as hot as the summer. The market was now packed with crowds who came there to eat and to be where the action is.

After the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, the stalls increased and spilled over to either side of Chungking North Road as more buildings were built in the surrounding area and the traffic circle itself was expanded. Later, asphalt was laid on the roads and permanent stalls built. A larger shopping area formed around the traffic circle that included shops and stalls specializing in food, beverages, clothing, general merchandise, and household products, extending along nearby Nanking West Road, Pao-an Street and Kuisui Street. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Circle thrived on a par with the Longshan Temple area, as is evidenced by an expression of the time, "The South has Longshan Temple; the North has the Circle."

With the urban renovations in the 1980s, Taipei's center of development gradually shifted to the East District. Coupled with the emergence of night markets in Shihlin and Kungguan, the market in the Circle shrank and the business and bustle were a mere shadow of the past. In the end, the city government took over renovation plans, but it never occurred to anyone that by not listening to ideas offered by vendors and customers, the renovation plans prepared by renowned architect C.Y. Lee would bring about the unprecedented modernization of the area but also the loss of its traditional ambience and its eventual death. Historians witnessed the loss with great sorrow and the people with disappointment.