Li Huozeng photographed the scene in Taipei Rongding 3-chome (the north side of Hengyang Road between Taoyuan Street on Boai Road) around 1940 and digitally colored it.
The images of medium-sized buses and people shopping extend to the downstairs of Juyuan Department Store on the right, and the Taipei Credit Union (today’s Hekucheng Branch) still exists on the left.
This picture, which was previously published in the Painted Li Huozeng Online Photography Exhibition, is now officially published~
“Painted Li Huozeng II: Retrieving the Historical Colors of Dreams 1935-1945”
Female students walking together on the road in Suehiro-cho, Tainan during the Japanese era (image is digitally colored by hand).
Tainan Suehirocho multi-storey shopping street was designed by architect Umesawa Yajiro in the Japanese era. It was completed and opened in December 1932. It is also known as Tainan Ginza due to its prosperous business. The shooting location in the picture is about beside the Lin Department Store, looking diagonally across the street.
On March 15, 1910, the Tainan Post Office, probably the most beautiful post office in Taiwan’s history,
From the 26th to 31st of the same month, officials and the public were open to visit, and it was officially opened on April 1st. Since then, this beautiful building has accompanied many older generations of Tainan citizens to spend a colorful time.
Every year before the New Year, many people will come here to line up to send congratulatory messages or send New Year’s cards to relatives and friends far away. Talking about the impression of the old post office, in addition to the high and gorgeous space, it is endless blessing.
It’s a pity that this post office, which draws people’s thoughts, was lucky to escape the air raids of the war, but it was not able to escape the destruction of the post-war cultural collapse. On a certain day in 1973, the whole building was demolished due to the reconstruction of the telecommunications room.
Just as a famous painting is not just a piece of paper, a building is not just a house. When it turned into a pile of rubble and fell down, the countless invisible threads connecting us and our predecessors were also cut off abruptly.
In 2021, after being converted into a telecommunications room building that is difficult for the outside world to enter, it will be leased to Kemeiduo Coffee for business, and everyone can finally step into the original location of the post office to cherish the past.
The picture shows digital coloring of the image of Tainan Post Office, circa 1920s
The picture shows Li Huozeng’s photo of the “Founding of the People’s Republic of China” in Rongcho, Taipei on February 11, 1942 (digital coloring by hand).
February 11 is Japan’s “Founding Memorial Day”. Through Li Huozeng’s lens, we can see the scene of Taiwan’s celebration of this day in the Japanese era. The picture shows the direction of Boai Road near Hengyang Road in Taipei and Chongqing South Road today. Go, the Juyuan Department Store in the far side of the screen hangs a banner of “Zhu Jianguo Festival”, and the road is covered with flags.
Another photo taken by Li Huozeng on the same day was a close-up shot of the Juyuan Department Store (hand-painted digitally), with a banner of “Founding of the People’s Republic of China” hanging high on the facade.
The Japanese-era Taipei Ximending style under the lens of Li Huozeng (hand-painted digitally)
From architecture, scenery details to pedestrians’ clothing, it presents the Taiwanese texture of that era.
The dome building in the picture was photographed by Li Huozeng about 1940, the Taiping Dingguang Canteen branch in Taipei (digital coloring by hand), located at the intersection of Nanjing West Road, Yanping North Road today.
The Hikaru canteen branch no longer exists. The original Deji store building across the street (on the left side of the photo) still exists (now Mori Takasago Coffee), and the gorgeous high-rise building on the right side of the Hikaru canteen, the “Zhang Donglong Commercial Firm”, has been partially demolished.
The newspaper reported that Mr. Fumio Kishida, who won the presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, has many ties to his family in Taiwan. Great-grandfather Kishida Jitaro once opened “Kishida Wufu Store” in Keelung in the Japanese era. It is located at the Yangcheng Italian Restaurant at Xiner Road and Yier Road today, and the building still exists.
Fun fact: Ever wondered why Keelung Rd. runs diagonally instead of east/west or north/south? That’s because it was built to be a backup runway for Matsuyama Airfield during WWII should the existing runways get bombed by the Americans.
Is there a reference for that? Looking at the 1945 map it seems to be in a natural position between Songshan and Sanzhangli, and serviced a big warehouse complex. I don’t doubt that it had a reserve airfield function, but I wonder if it really has that orientation for that reason.
Another picture of the Wanhua airbase. Better quality. Perhaps taken after the war as the airstrip looks less used. Notice the six or seven antiaircraft gun placements along the southern edge of the airstrip. They would be firing southeast as that’s the direction the bombers would be coming from.
Wanhua airbase postwar. Probably sometime early to mid-fifties. Peak KMT. Nine hole golf course for the elites. Far right of golf course is the driving range which is still open to the public today and is very busy. Structures at the bottom right side of the golf course were part of the clubhouse which is being used for park management now. There is currently a smallish pool there too but it must have been added after this picture. The pool is still used today mostly for scuba training. Its adjacent to the current very large public swimming pool. Notice the equestrian training grounds lower left of the picture along the river. Many white terror victims were executed there. It is a very popular riverside park now with pavillion and bike rentals. It is p
acked on the weekends. To the right of the picture across the river is where two Americans murdered a Canadian several years back.
