Ever since awestruck Portuguese sailors—gazing at Taiwan from their ships—coined the phrase “Ilha Formosa” (the beautiful isle), Kee­lung has been a point of intersection for ships and travelers coming and going, past and present. Over time it has evolved its own unique culture and history. When you come here you can feel the sense of being in a “harbor town” more than in any other city in Taiwan.

The exhibition of old maps now on at the Old Train Station in Kee­lung evokes these special features. The exhibition is the brainchild of Kee­lung mayor Lin Yu-­chang, who wanted to create a tighter bond between this land, its history, and its people. He asked Peng Chun-heng, commissioner of the city’s Cultural Affairs Bureau, as well as Alphonso ­Chang, Aden ­Chang, and other experts in the city’s history and culture, to help design the exhibition. They decided to emphasize Kee­lung’s nature as a crossroads for travelers, and therefore made old maps the central theme. They chose to hold it at the Old Train Station in line with the concept of “city as museum,” because many people naturally pass through here in the course of their daily activities. It is an opportunity for citizens and visitors to reacquaint themselves with Kee­lung past and present.

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Maps as works of art

When you enter the exhibition space at the Kee­lung Old Train Station, above your head you’ll see 1930s depictions of the “Eight Wonders of Taiwan” suspended from the ceiling in an orderly row, 20 maps hung along the walls, and a giant print of a map entitled A Bird’s-Eye-View of All Taiwan laid out on the floor. Each illustration seems to have many stories to tell.

The original maps were drawn by two Japanese painters, Ha­tsu­sa­buro Yo­shida and Tsu­ne­mi­tsu Ka­neko, assisted by their apprentices, and were completed in the years 1933 to 1935. The artists began their work in the early 1930s at the invitation of the office of the Japanese governor-general for the purposes of an ­exhibition marking 40 years of Japanese rule in Taiwan. They traveled throughout the island, making preparatory sketches and drawings for dozens of maps which show the geography and topography of Taiwan as well as famous sites of interest.

The painters and their apprentices combined principles of Western perspective with the traditional Japanese ukiyo-e style (most famously used in the so-called “paintings of the floating world”) to create richly colorful projections. “These are dramatically different from the maps people use today,” explains Alphonso ­Chang. “In contemporary terms we would describe these maps as ‘aerial views.’ The term ‘bird’s-eye-view’ is self-explanatory—the world as seen from the point of view of a creature in mid-air—but these maps were drawn from imagined points in the air. There were no accurate measurements of distance, nor were the maps drawn to scale.”

It is worth remembering that these maps were components of an effort by Japan to demonstrate to the world its achievements as the colonial power in Taiwan. Inevitably certain ideas and aspects were given special emphasis when they were drawn.

Take for example A Bird’s-Eye-View of All Taiwan, which is laid out on the floor of the hall. It is drawn with Taiwan set horizontally in the ocean, from the perspective of a point in the air off the western coastline of the island. Notes clearly point out all the main mountain ranges and rivers from north to south, and in amongst the ridgelines you can see the Lan­yang Plain (modern Yi­lan), the Eastern Rift Valley (in modern-day Hua­lien and Tai­tung), and the broad Western Plain that runs all the way from south to north. The map also has circled notations indicating the major agricultural, fishery, forestry, and mineral products of each location, including seafood, tea, cypress, rice, flax, salt, sugar cane, aragonite, and coral. Especially interesting from a cultural point of view is that it also clearly marks each and every cold springs and hot springs area, which have always been popular recreational destinations for Japanese both in their home islands and abroad.

Aiming to give visitors a genuine sense of place, Alphonso ­Chang arranged the exhibition in such a way that there is a correspondence between the complete map of Taiwan on the floor, the regional maps on the walls, and the illustrations of the “Eight Wonders of Taiwan” hung from the ceiling. As you pass through the exhibition, walking across the map of Taiwan, whether you start from the right side or the left side of the island, as you progress step by step it seems like you are also in a three-dimensional space.

If, for example, you begin your visit at Fu­gui Point, the northernmost point of Taiwan and not far from Kee­lung itself, on the wall is the map A Panoramic View of Kee­lung City, while suspended from the ceiling above is a depiction of Mt. Xu­qiu, a landmark hill in the city. Moving toward Tai­pei, on the wall are maps called Major Points of Interest in Dan­shui Prefecture” and A Panoramic View of Tai­pei,” with Dan­shui River scenery hanging overhead. Continue your stroll to Tai­chung City on the floor map, and on the wall is Major Points of Interest in Tai­chung City, with Sun Moon Lake above. As you make a circuit around the island, local maps and their corresponding scenery fill the eye. It is really worth moving as slowly as possible, to give both the eye and the memory a little more time to absorb all the information along the way.

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Maps as treasured artifacts

There have always been people with a deep attachment for Taiwan who have quietly collected and preserved artifacts related to this island. It is thanks to such people that we have the artifacts for the Kee­lung exhibition. In 2005, a group of friends and collectors formed the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics to advance their similar interests and goals, and the works in the Kee­lung exhibition come from members of this association.

Aden ­Chang provided the original postcards for the “Eight Wonders of Taiwan.” He explains that these were originally paintings made by Ha­tsu­sa­buro Yo­shida to be printed as a set of eight postcards. ­Chang acquired the postcards from a friend who had purchased them in Japan. He relates that the eight top landscapes of that era were considered to be Mt. Xu­qiu in Kee­lung (site of today’s Cheng­bin Middle School and the Kee­lung branch of the Tri-Service General Hospital), Tam­sui in New Tai­pei City, Mt. Ba­xian (Ba­xian­shan) in Tai­chung, Sun Moon Lake in Nan­tou, Mt. Ali (Ali­shan) in ­Chiayi, Mt. Shou (Shou­shan) in Kao­hsiung, ­Eluanbi at the very southern tip of Taiwan in Ping­tung County, and the Ta­roko Gorge in Hua­lien County. (These of course are the place names as we know them today, not as they were known to the Japanese.)

Alphonso ­Chang adds, “There was already an accepted set of ‘eight famous landscapes’ of Taiwan even as early as the ­Kangxi reign (1661‡1722) of the Qing Dynasty. But because Han Chinese had not developed very much of the island at that point, these were mostly located around the then capital, Tai­nan. In the Japanese era, a newspaper held a competition for readers to vote for eight new wonders of Taiwan. These are the eight locations that were depicted by Yoshida.

When asked which of the maps is his favorite, Aden ­Chang points to A Tourist Map of Hualien Harbor and exclaims, “Of course it’s this one!” His eyes light up and his tone of voice reveals an irrepressible enthusiasm as he continues: “This map is painted from the perspective of the East Coast looking toward the west. This is extremely rare among old maps of Taiwan! And just look at those colors! The green mountains rising majestically, the vast blue ocean, the yellow earth, not to mention the craggy coastline. It’s really a beautiful work of art.”

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Maps to inspire the imagination

Keelung native Alphonso ­Chang, on the other hand, names A Panoramic View of Kee­lung City as his fave. ­Chang is interested in each and every aspect of the scenery and artifacts to be found in his hometown, and is familiar with all of them, especially the harbor and its docks. As he looks at the curving lines emerging from Kee­lung on the old map, lines which delineate maritime routes starting from the harbor, he explains: “Travelers today can choose planes, trains, and automobiles. But for the people of Keelung in those days, traveling by sea was definitely the most convenient way.” He muses: “When I stand in front of this map I really feel my imagination churning away. I wonder to myself what the travelers of those days were dreaming about as they embarked on their journeys.”

Did their dreams come to nothing, or did they come true? Nobody knows. But one thing for sure is that Keelung has long been Taiwan’s gateway to the world. In fact this is the 130th year of the Port of Keelung, making this exhibition of old maps all the more meaningful. It has also been the place where outsiders have gotten their first impressions of Taiwan. Mayor Lin Yu-chang points out that soldiers, sailors, and travelers from around the world have all first set foot on Taiwan here in Keelung. With its long history, the city is rich in historic vistas, making it especially fitting for this exhibition.

The few dozen steps it takes to pass through the Old Train Station at Keelung to reach the new one have become, thanks to these 20 maps and eight illustrations of Japanese-era Taiwan, a journey back in time to the “beautiful isle” of eight decades ago.

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Alphonso Chang , an expert in Taiwan’s culture and history, was the curator behind the exhibition of historic maps in the Keelung Old Train Station. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)

Wang Daofang (third from right), director of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics, served as exhibition guide to a group that included association chairman Aden Chang (first at left), Keelung mayor Lin Yu-chang (second from right), and Peng Chun-heng (second from left), commissioner of the Keelung City Cultural Affairs Bureau. (courtesy of Alphonso Chang)

Keelung mayor Lin Yu-chang explains that old maps are one way to evoke the glory days of this harbor city’s past—and, hopefully, the future as well. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)

2016 marks the 130th year since the founding of the Port of Keelung. The old map A Panoramic View of Keelung City shows clearly that this was the maritime hub of northern Taiwan in the 1930s, as it remains today. (courtesy of the Association for Taiwan Antique Maps and Cultural Relics)