ZhongZheng District Taipei

Posted by: Denis Rajic at 06 Nov 2009

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A Review of Asia

At times we can tell something of a people by the structures and buildings of their governments. Be it the neo-classicism of Washington that evokes the hay days of the Roman Republic, or the Stalinist brutalism of Moscow each architectural designs does not also shed a light on the people before us. But also sheds a light on the aspirations and goals of a nation. For some nations this vision is a communal vision that is shared by all. Rome for all purposes is no longer on Tiber River but on the Potomac. For other nations the vision of the future is imposed by the will of a small minority, Moscow today lives within the shadow of Stalin’s global utopia. While other nations inherit their vision from a colonial power. Taiwan is such a place, its government district is not a vision of Chinese modernism, but Imperial Japanese attempts to create a European world within an Asian mold. Following the treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 Taiwan was ceded to Empire of Japan by the then ruling Qing Dynasty. The Japanese went about immediately in creating a prefectural city befitting the Empire.

The current Presidential Office Building is housed in the old Governor-General residency. Designed by Uheiji Nagano in 1910 the building features all of the traditional European elements: Renaissance, Baroque and neo-Classical. The construction of the building started in 1912 and was finished in 1919 at the cost of two million Japanese Yen. When it was finished the iconic clock tower was the tallest structure in Taipei. During Allied operations parts of the building were damaged due to aerial bombardment.





Moving down the road we see another example of Japanese colonial architecture, the Judicial Yuan is a smaller version of the Presidential Building. The building is near the Presidential office and shares the main axis road. Designed by the Japanese its structural shape takes form of the same neo-classical colonial architecture found in other places where the Japanese ruled. The Ministry of Justice is a great example of neo-classical architecture, with its Corinthian columns and Greco-inspired facade. As in an attempt to evoke the image of a Roman justice system within the confines of a martial state.





A further walk down in to the heart of the district we can start seeing the original Qing Dynasty prefectural house. Taiwan was the unwanted outpost of the Chinese Empire, the backward island inhabited by local aborigines tribes. The Qing did not leave a great many cultural monuments in Taiwan. Those that were saved from ravages of time now stand testament to Taipei’s long and colorful history. The Qing prefectural hall is today a Museum of history. Within its small-enclosed confines one can find the idyllic Chinese garden. Enveloped by green, and rushing water one forgets that you stand in the middle of a throbbing metropolis of millions. For a brief period the traveler is lost in the peace and quite of a perfectly constructed garden. After a brief rest I walked on to another remain of Taipei’s Qing past, the city gates.





One can walk down the main boulevard leading to the Presidential Building and find in the middle of the road a gate. This is one of the four cardinal point gates placed within the city; due to the construction of the subway (MRT) the western gate was demolished. These gates represent the confines of the walled city and evoke the standard architectural designs of the mainland. Today these gates are just reminders of the old Taipei, lost islands within the bustling traffic of an ever changing metropolis. One can only wonder how long these images of old China will remain within this fast westernizing city.