Water, Water, Everywhere—

In Lane 49 of Wenzhou Street in Taipei’s Da’an District, a hidden entrance leads to a simple wooden bridge, and if you cross it to reach Lane 45, it’s like entering a different world. Thanks to the efforts of the local community and cultural heritage preservationists, Taipei’s first irrigation canal, dating back 300 years, has reappeared. This is the historic site of one of the original branches of the Wulixue irrigation system.

Concrete jungle, water city

Liang Yin-min, a lecturer in environmental studies at several community colleges who has been studying hydrology for more than 20 years, points to an irregularly shaped apartment building nearby and says: “See how this building is curved; this is a clue to Taipei’s past as a water city.”

He explains that the structure was originally built along the side of a waterway, thereby getting its odd shape. In fact, Taipei has many triangular buildings or skewed roads, which is evidence that they were built alongside or over watercourses in days gone by. For example, Anhe Road, which cuts across diagonally from Ren’ai Road to link up with Zhongxiao East Road and Dunhua South Road, is formed this way because it was originally the path of the Dawan River. Another example is Fanglan Road, where there are many historic sites including the Fanglan Mansion and Yifangju Estate, built during the Qing Dynasty. The road winds its way to Taipei Municipal Minzu Experimental Junior High School along what was formerly the path of the Liugongjun irrigation canal.

As Shu Guozhi says in Shuicheng Taipei: “The twisting of Taipei’s streets, lanes and alleys is due entirely to the fact that they were built alongside or over waterways that existed back in the day.”

Drunken Moon Lake, on the campus of National Taiwan University, was once used as an agricultural irrigation pond.

The Taipei City Dayuan Water Culture Renaissance Association is dedicated to preserving and reviving water culture. The photo shows, from left to right, chairman Liang Yin-min, executive secretary Chiu Ching-wen, and director Kuo Li-shueh.

Drunken Moon Lake has a flourishing ecosystem.

Flowing memories

Even among all the changes in Taipei’s landscape, today there are still shimmering traces of the water city that once existed. Liang Yin-min relates that National Taiwan University’s Drunken Moon Lake was once a natural pond used for agricultural irrigation, and can be said to be the last natural lake remaining in Taipei following the spread of development throughout the Taipei Plain. Meanwhile, the lotus pond at Nanhai Academy and the firefly conservation area at Rongxing Garden Park were both previously manmade irrigation ponds.

Liang also quotes a song as evidence of the glistening water scenery of Taipei back in the day. A line in the school song of the National Taipei University of Education Experimental Elementary School describes the landscape when the school was founded over a century ago: “The mountains in the distance are flourishing, the green waters are magnificent.” Not only were Mt. Qixing and Mt. Datun visible to anyone gazing out from the school classrooms, at that time there were also irrigation channels running along the left and right sides of the campus and it was surrounded by wet rice paddies.

Liang’s walking class on the waters of Taipei City is an ­exploration of Taipei’s hidden waterways. The route “follows the water­way that once ran where today’s Xinsheng South Road is, downstream all the way to the Keelung River. And if you walk upstream from the confluence you will discover that where Zhongxiao East Road is today there was originally a river which if traced back towards its source would take one to Liuzhangli.”

This walking tour, which requires a great deal of imagination, is based on topographical maps made by the Japanese dating back to 1904 and the Academia Sinica’s website of maps of Taiwan covering a century of history. These depict the “water city” of Taipei as it existed 100 and more years ago. Liang says that his original ideal was to “pioneer possibilities for social change.” If in the future watercourses in Taipei can be uncovered again—in a way similar to the restoration projects for Korea’s Cheonggyecheon stream and Japan’s Setogawa waterway—one could paddle a canoe from Drunken Moon Lake all the way to Liuzhangli.

The Meizhou Wetlands are home to Taipei’s last natural waterway.

Citizen advocacy, social participation

To recreate or uncover waterways of the past, citizen advocacy and community participation are essential. For example, a significant aspect of the work on the branch of the Wulixue irrigation canal at Wenzhou Street’s Lane 45 is its reliance on “citizen participation.” Liang adds that Wu Peixuan, chief of Daxue Ward, where the canal branch is located, organized local residents to take responsibility for the canal and assist in greening and beautifying it. Not only has it become a venue for environmental education for local primary schools, but in combination with the preservation of Japanese-era buildings such as the former residences of writers Yin Hai-kuang and Tai Ching-nung, along with the cultured vibe provided by the nearby coffee shops and bookstores, the whole area has become a popular destination for cultural walking tours in Taipei.

Kuo Li-shueh, who took part in the movement to preserve the Yin Hai-kuang residence and the adjacent Grand Courtyard (a former Japanese navy hostel), is now a director of the Taipei City Dayuan Water Culture Renaissance Association. She says the association was formed by herself and like-minded individuals after she attended Liang Yin-min’s course on waterways offered by Da’an Community College in 2012. The group was formally registered with the Taipei City Government in 2024 and has expanded its focus on water environments from Da’an District to all of Taipei City.

Qu Yuan Temple hosts festive dragon boat races at Dragon Boat Festival each year.

There is still a water-deity-based belief system at the Wufengang River. Taiwan’s only temple where the water god Qu Yuan is venerated as the main deity is located in Beitou’s Zhoumei Ward.

There is still a place in Taipei City where one can see a boundless stretch of wet rice paddies.

Culturally rich Wufengang River

What is the Taipei waterway with the greatest riparian cultural and ecological significance? Liang Yin-min recommends the old Shuangxi River, also known as the Wufengang River, in Beitou District.

“The Wufengang River is still a natural waterway.” What Liang means by a “natural waterway” is one with no concrete dikes. Such a watercourse produces its own distinctive ecology and waterside culture. For example, here you can find small-leaved barringtonia (Barringtonia racemosa), a Taiwanese native species, growing wild.

Small-leaved barringtonia, also known as the powder-­puff tree, was formerly listed as an endangered species. There have been many cases of successful artificial rehabilitation of this plant in various places across Taiwan, but at the Wufengang River it grows naturally. The presence of this tree, which reproduces by having its fruits float on water until they run aground, is strong evidence of the days when Taipei had widespread wetlands.

The Wufengang River is also home to a unique “water god” belief system. Qu Yuan Temple in Beitou’s Meizhou Ward, where the patriotic poet Qu Yuan of the Warring States Period is venerated as a water god, is the only temple in Taiwan where Qu Yuan is the main deity. When Dragon Boat Festival comes around each year, the temple holds dragon boat races with a festive atmosphere.

Liang Yin-min, who hails from Hong Kong, relates that there are dragon boats everywhere where there are people of Chinese ancestry. The boats differ in size depending on the location, with those in Taiwan generally having 18 rowers. However, the dragon boats at the Qu Yuan Temple have 32 rowers. He believes this is based on the sense of honor among local residents, who take pride in the fact that “Taiwan’s biggest dragon boats are in Meizhou.”

Some might wonder why Meizhou, which is clearly dry land, has a water-deity-based belief system. Liang, who has done field research in the area, points out that when the earliest Han Chinese pioneers opened this land up to farming it was criss-crossed by waterways. Many elderly residents can still remember that 40 or 50 years ago their families possessed sampans, indicating that they lived next to water. Some even make a point of claiming that the carp in the Wufengang River were bigger than those in the Keelung River.

The banks of the Tamsui River offer many recreational venues where Taipei residents and visitors can stroll or cycle.

Taipei’s Xindian District is home to an old water tunnel that dates back more than 250 years. This tunnel, where the marks made by cutting tools are still visible, is today managed by Kaitian Temple. (courtesy of Liang Yin-min)

The Dayuan Water Culture Renaissance Association held an activity at the Wulixue irrigation canal to remove invasive species and restore native ones. It may not have been all that productive, but it was a great deal of fun. (courtesy of Liang Yin-min)

Water culture

The very earliest map of Taipei is called Kaartje van Tamsuy en omleggende dorpen, zoo mede het eilandje Kelang (“A Map of Tamsui and surrounding villages, with Keelung Island”), and was produced by the Dutch in 1654. Liang notes that although the proportions are not right, the map includes all of Taipei’s major rivers. On it one can see Heping Island, already wrested from the Spanish, the connection from the winding Keelung River to the mouth of the Tamsui River, and the Xindian and Dahan river basins.

In the past, when economic development was prioritized over all else, people treated the major Taipei rivers as backyard dumps and filled them with pollution and ­garbage until the waters changed color. Over the past 30 years, thanks to efforts by the government, water quality has greatly improved in the Tamsui River watershed, which encompasses three major tributaries, the Dahan, Xindian and Keelung rivers.

Trash dumps have been transformed into riverside parks, while eight manmade wetlands have been constructed along the Dahan River so that the ecosystem flourishes. River banks have been developed into recreation areas with basketball courts and softball fields, and pathways for walking or cycling. Sandbars and mudflats at Guandu and Zhuwei, where the Keelung River flows into the Tamsui River, have become protected areas and Northern Taiwan’s most important homes for water birds and mangrove forest.

The design for the Danjiang Bridge, created by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, was inspired by dance postures of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Scheduled for completion in early 2026, it will be the world’s longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, with a main span of 450 meters. Before long people will be able to admire this beautiful scene at the broad mouth of the Tamsui River.

For those who enjoy adventure or hiking, Liang Yin-min recommends exploring the “potholes” (a.k.a. rock-cut basins) in the upper reaches of the Keelung River and its tributaries. These have been formed by the heavy rains that are common in the area driving fast-flowing water that carries gravel and rubble downstream. This debris creates different degrees of erosion and penetration in the river bed, carving out potholes of numerous shapes and sizes.

The four most prominent groups of potholes are located at Nuannuan, Houdong, Siguangtan, and Dahua. The eroded topography in these places features countless rock-cut basins in a wide variety of shapes, covering large areas and including examples of the whole life cycle of this phenomenon. These places can be considered world-class landscapes.

Whether searching for traces of former watercourses in Taipei’s toniest districts, cycling and watching the sunset by the Dahan or Xindian rivers, using an EasyCard to ride a tourist ferry along the Tamsui River, or rowing a dragon boat on the Wufengang River, waterways are an integral part of life in Taipei. They help reduce the heat island effect of the city, offer recreational venues, and serve as important wildlife habitats. The “water city of Taipei” exists not just in memories, but provides bountiful options for water-related fun in daily life. 

Mudskippers moving across mudflats.

The wetlands along the Tamsui River provide a fertile environment for the growth of mangrove forest plants.

Exploration of the Tamsui River watershed offers all kinds of fun recreation, from fine cuisine to healthy exercise.