Light at the end of the tunnel
You won't find many mainland Chinese tourists in Fenqihu. Besides Taiwanese, who are the vast majority, most of the others come from Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. In cherry-blossom season, they can get more than 100,000 visitors in one day.
Although Fenqihu is the midpoint stop on the line between Beimen and Alishan, many more visitors come here by highway than by train. But, says Lin Jinkun, Fenqihu just wouldn't be the same without the Alishan railway: "Without the railroad there would be no Fenqihu; without Fenqihu where it is Alishan would never have been able to develop as it has." Fenqihu and the Alishan railway are symbiotic.
Visitors mostly come here in a nostalgic search for days gone by, and local merchants are testimony to the infectiousness of history and culture.
"I used to be the spokesperson, now I'm the guardian!" says Lin, 66 this year, who is proud to be Fenqihu born-and-bred. In an effort to revitalize disappearing old culture, the Lins still carry on the family tradition, unique in Taiwan, of using the old aluminum containers for their biandangs. When visitors are handed their aluminum-boxed meals, they can't help but exclaim: "Now that's a genuine traditional biandang!"
Meanwhile, along the Fenqihu Old Street, a mere 500 meters long, with a stone paved walkway, the places with the most historical and cultural color are mainly traditional Chinese bakeries. Baked goods have long been an essential part of many kinds of cultural ceremonies, including weddings, funerals, and the arrival or departure of guests.
Tianmeizhen, founded in 1943, was the first Chinese bakery in Fenqihu. Besides the dumplings that they started long ago making for lumberjacks going off to work in the morning, Tianmeizhen has created a new specialty for the current generation of Fenqihu: "train pastries."
Liu Jiarong, in his 30s, is the third-generation operator of Tianmeizhen. His great-grandfather was a lumberjack, but his grandfather, the first in the line to move to Fenqihu, opened a shop making bread and wedding pastries.
The "Fenqihu train pastries," with an image of the Alishan Forest Railway steam engine baked right on the surface, are a new product that Tianmeizhen came out with in 1997 as part of "Railroad Day" celebrations sponsored by the Forestry Bureau. These pastries, uniting the two historical threads of the rail line and the bakeries, look old but are a modern innovation. An instant hit, they have become a trademark of Tianmeizhen and Fenqihu as a whole.
The Old Street, located just down from the Fenqihu Train Station, is a classic example of a century-old commercial center of a mountain town. It is packed with visitors on weekends and holidays.