Old outside, new inside?
Dadaocheng's historic streets are another example of preserved and revitalized cultural resources in western Taipei. Dihua Street, famed for its shops selling traditional foods, Chinese medicine, and cloth, has come to be called "Lunar New Year Street" in recent years, as the city government has held New Year celebrations and organized street stall rentals there.
But it's not just around Lunar New Year time that Dihua Street becomes bustling. Through a system called floor area ratio shifting, landowners give the rights to their properties to the city in exchange for floor-area credits in other developments. This has kept the majority of old houses preserved. As of August 2011, 28 Dihua Street structures had been registered as historic buildings.
After retrocession, many rich businessmen built luxurious homes on Dihua Street. The residences of many famous Taiwanese captains of industry are found on this short stretch. On the northern section from Guisui Street to Taipei Bridge is mostly Qing-era buildings in the Southern Min style, characterized by their slanted red roofs, wooden doors and windows, and their arcaded walkways. Buildings on the central and southern sections starting at Nanjing West Road are mostly baroque or modern, Western style.
In the 1970s, when historic buildings lacked legal protections, a plan to widen Dihua Street raised protests in the academic community. An "I Love Dihua Street" campaign begun by writers and local residents in 1988 called for the preservation of the historic settlement, and the old street has been preserved through to the present day. Now the question is, how can it be brought to life?
Ding Yun-chyurn, commissioner of the city government's Department of Urban Development, says that there are now three "urban regeneration stations" in Dihua Street buildings. One is provided to young designers to work out of, one is the Dadaocheng story workshop, and the third is the Dadaocheng Academie Urbaine.
A similar re-appropriation of cultural resources is taking place in Ximending's Red House.
The Japanese governed Taiwan with a view to modernization. When they arrived in 1895, the chaotic traditional market streets created many headaches for them. In 1908, they accordingly built a brick building that was an octagonal structure in front connected to a cruciform structure in the back. It was Taiwan's first public indoor market, and later it became Ximending's Red House.
Through the Red House, Japanese living in Taiwan could soothe their homesickness. The market there sold Japanese sweets, dry goods, fried foods, and other tastes of home.
Additionally, the Japanese brought Western-style leisure to Taipei by building movie theaters. After retrocession, Taipei people kept the habit of going to Ximending to see movies, and the Red House became the Red House Theater in 1963. It closed down in 1997.
In 2002, the city government provided a concession to the Paper Windmill Foundation to run the Red House, and invested a large sum in renovating it and transforming it into a performance space. In September 2007, the Taipei Culture Foundation took over, restyling the area. In addition to the theater, it also put in a teahouse, a shopping area, and a crafts market, expanding the overlap between culture new and old, the cutting edge and the familiar.
Through the ages, Ximen-ding has remained the place to go to see movies and catch up with the latest stars. The Central Motion Pictures Corporation's first color production Oyster Girl premiered there in 1964. Now fans contend to catch a glimpse of their favorite idols.