Some interesting old photos of Taipei on this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inertia/sets/919278/
Great stuff. Iād like to see more āThen and nowā pictures, or at least more addresses so I could go see the sites now.
Where can prints of these pictures (and similar) be obtained? Is there a permanent exhibition anywhere?
(Beautiful pictures, but a bit sad to compare to Taipei todayā¦)
[quote=āMirandaā]Is there a permanent exhibition anywhere?
[/quote]
Not permanent, but up on the observation deck of the Shinkong Mitsukoshi building across from Taipei Main is an exhibit of old maps and photos of Taipei. I saw it about 3 weeks ago and it should still be on until Nov/Dec as I recall. To get up there, you have to go to B1 and purchase a ticket and ride the express elevator to the top floor.
I donāt have pictures this old, but Iāve got a whole roll of slides taken in 1984 on an ideal, sunny day (they look like postcards) in Taipei. Iāll see if I can dig them up and digitize them. It would be interesting to see what some of these places look like today (if theyāre still there). I remember one of the circle on Zhongshan Road north of the presidential palace, for sure, and also the Renāai Circle back when the huge Calvin Klein man was making waves over there. 
[quote=āsandmanā]Some interesting old photos of Taipei on this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inertia/sets/919278/[/quote]
Nice photography, Sandman. I had no idea you had been in Taiwan that long. 
[quote=āMirandaā]Where can prints of these pictures (and similar) be obtained? Is there a permanent exhibition anywhere?
(Beautiful pictures, but a bit sad to compare to Taipei todayā¦)[/quote]
Iāve got several of those photos as postcards from Eslite bookstore.
I would love to see a bunch of then and now pics from Taipei.
There have been a bunch of fantastic photography and local history books featuring photos of old Taipei and Taiwanā¦ check the Taiwan Studies section of any Eslite bookstore. Many of them are oversized. Even if you canāt read Chinese, theyāre nice to browse through. Hereās a few:
ē©æč¶ęē©ŗēčŗå: čŗåå»ŗå120é±å¹“
ISBN 957-01-8408-6
Price: 320NT
ā¦ came out last year along with the 120 years of Taipei City exhibitions. There are more pictures of cultural artifacts, old advertisements, important historical figures, etc., than there are old city pictures, but itās all fascinating.
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ISBN 986-7796-22-5
Price: 350NT
ā¦ this gorgeous hardcover edition shows what Taipei was like in 1895, back when it was a walled city. The Japanese tore down the walls, but 3 of the 4 main gates can still be found throughout the city.
å
å幓代å°ē£ęå½±åå Photographs of Taiwan During the 1960ās
by Ellen Johnston Laing
ISBN 986-7957-18-0
Price: 380NT
Laing was the first woman to get a Fulbright scholarship to study art in Taiwan during the 1960ās, and this is a bilingual collection of her amateur photographs taken during that time. She spent most of her time in Taichung, where the National Palace Museum used to be located, so that city makes up the largest chapter. Also included: Keelung, Tansui, Taipei, Tunghai University, Ta-chia, Ta-li, Wu-feng, Lin Family mansions, Sun Moon Lake, Chang-hua County, Tainan, An-pāing, Hua-lien, Taroko Gorge. You can tell from her spellings ā this is old school.
I found this one in the photography section, but they should have it in the Taiwan Studies section, too.
Enjoy!
You can also find similar photos as postcards at the Taiwan Railway Souvenir Shop at Taipei Main Station.
I think this one reveals the evil-mindedness of the KMT landlords:
flickr.com/photos/inertia/41 ā¦ et-919278/
Once they took over, they tore down a whole lot of beautiful Japanese era buildings and built all that hideous squat insteadā¦ So sadā¦
Well the KMT was an army basically, not noted for their sentiments.
I think itās mostly native Taiwanese who donāt have much respect for architecture or civil planning. Well maybe they will get up to speed in 10 or 20 yrs and take some of the expressways and tenements down. Even now you can see the way huge developments go up but donāt even have a sidewalk 5 ms downs the road.
Is that snow in the photo, or is it overexposed?
You have been badly misledā¦ Pay a visit to the 228 museum in New Park, and you will soon discover it was the KMT, ie.: chinese army under Chiang kai Shek that destroyed the Japanese era buildingsā¦ The local Taiwanese community leaders were also executed by the Chinese armyā¦ Before that they had engaged successfully with the Japanese to establish their voices on the islandās administrative councilā¦
To point fingers at the Taiwanese is to buy into the information black-out initiated by Chiang Kai Shekā¦ When Mr. Kerr published his account of the 228 incident in America, the book printing was bought out by the KMTā¦
The KMT forced local landlords in Taiwan to give up their land to the regime if they were not farmersā¦ A lot of people lost their property. Factoties that had been established during the Japanese era fell dormant, and the equipment and property was sold offā¦
When Chiang Kai Shek took over, a lot of bad things happened that have never been publically discussed. He was a VERY bad man who did not give a shit about anything but power. When he got very old, he used to get 14 year-old girls so he could use their blood for transfusionsā¦ I mean, that makes kissing a girl seem tame to meā¦
Madam Soong, his wife took one look at the wealth in Taiwan when they arrived, and she quipped that it would take her about 10 years to collect it all up ā for herself and the KMT coffersā¦ You know nothing about who is responsible for why Taiwan is so screwyā¦ Why do you think people are so wacky here? They were horribly oppressed and had their rights taken away for over 30 yearsā¦
This is pretty weird, even for Popo. I have asked a Taiwanese colleague about this and he outright claims itās 100% ēå±.
Can Popo substantiate this?
wow, whenās the last time the streets in taiwan were that clean?
A few more Vintage Taiwan Postcards that I found this morning on ebay. If you do a search on Taiwan>Collectibles>Postcards & Paper you can find some other interesting stuff.
The postcard below has some interesting details. Note the orginal green/yellow taipei taxis, the woman in the japanese kimono, and it looks like a taiwanese sweet potato vendor pulling a cart on the right. It looks like most people are pretty well off at the time and the area (chungshan n. rd) is much cleaner than today. (i think it is around 1935) Sorry, photo is a bit large, I know.
In 1938, Taiwan had the highest per capita income in the Japanese Empire (that includes the āHome Islandsā)ā¦upon āRetrocessionā, Taiwan had the highest literacy rate in the ROC.
Some people like to blame Chiang Kai Shek for everything thatās wrong with Taiwan in the same way that the Irish got lots of mileage out of blaming the Brits for everything that was wrong with Ireland. But there comes a time when that gets a little old.
Are people still trying to tell me that Taipei is an ugly fucked-up shithole because of the KMTās army and Chiang Kai Shek? Iāll accept that if you show me how things have improved in the last, say, 20 years. And weāre talking about architecture and town planning here.
I would tend to agree with your Lordship here. You cant blame occupiers forever there comes a time when you have to take responsibility for your own actions. However, I would say the point is that in a situation such as the British in Ireland, which you take as an example, the modern British and Irish people fully face up to their past and freely discuss it. The old scars are more or less healed. The scars run deep and fester in Taiwan because there has been little discussion and nothing in the way of atonement or reconciliation. Perhaps pointing fingers doesnāt help but Chiang and his witch of a wife do bear some responsibility for despoiling the place and should face unmasking and opprobrium.
A few more old photos maybe of interest:
Bitan maybe 1935(?)
Bitan around 1960
Wulai 1960s
Keelung 1907