Tainan nominates historic city walls for heritage list

2014-11-07

The historic city walls of Tainan are expected to make the national heritage list next year, according to the local government’s Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Spread across the southern Taiwan city’s West Central District, the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) structures encompass municipal-level heritage sites such as Duiyuemen, Great East Gate, Great South Gate, Small East Gate and South Gate.

“Most of the walls were built when the city was founded in 1725,” TMACH head Lin Wei-hsu said. “They were originally wooden structures and later converted to the brick and stone versions we see today.”

According to Lin, the walls along with 14 city gates were largely leveled during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945). But historians working with the city government continue unearthing remains of the former nearby such areas as historic Swallow Lake in the old downtown.

These ruins should be preserved intact as testament to the past glory of Taiwan Prefecture, an old name for Tainan, which was the seat of government on the island dating back to the 17th century, Lin said.

“The sheer historical value is enough to earn the walls a place on the national heritage list, along with the Old City of Fengshan in Kaohsiung and Hengchun Old Town in Pingtung.”

TMACH expects listing procedures to be completed in 2015.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=223800&CtNode=413)