Sanxia Old Street: Power Struggles Beneath Red Brick Arcades and an Unfinished Heritage Experiment

30-Second Overview: Sanxia Old Street (Sanjiaoyong Minquan Street) was once Northern Taiwan's most important hub for indigo dyeing and tea distribution; its unique S-shaped street layout was originally designed to accommodate the turning radius of qingbianche (light carts). This street is more than a tourist attraction; it is a battlefield in the history of Taiwan's cultural heritage preservation. It witnessed the nation's first collective protest against the "de-designation" of a historic site, and in 2007, it received the FIABCI Global Excellence in Construction Award for its restoration method of using "original architecture and original materials." Although the regrettable, unannounced removal of its flagstone paving occurred in 2016, through multi-party coordination, this street has become a landmark case in the technical politics of Taiwan's "facade-style reconstruction."

The beauty of Sanxia Old Street lies in its red-brick arcades, so orderly they resemble a theatrical set. In 1916, under the "Urban Improvement" (shiqu gaizheng) project led by the Japanese colonial government, the originally cluttered shopping streets were unified into a Baroque style. This transformation was not merely for aesthetics but also included considerations for modern public hygiene. The dye works, tea shops, and traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies of that era carved their shop names onto the gables, marking the golden age of Sanxia's commodity trade. ¹

📝 Curator's Note: The S-curve of Sanxia Old Street is actually a commercial code left from the Qing Dynasty to allow qingbianche (light carts) transporting goods to turn smoothly.

The De-designated "Third-Class Historic Site": A Struggle Between Private Property and Public Justice

Few remember that Sanxia Old Street was once Taiwan's first street designated as a "street-type historic site," yet it was also the first street to have its designation revoked due to intense resident protests. In 1991, the Council of Cultural Affairs listed Minquan Street as a third-class historic site. While intended to preserve culture, it sparked panic among residents: historic designation meant no renovations or extensions were allowed. Amidst the real estate boom of the time, residents viewed the designation as a "curse." ²

"When I was young, the entire street's arcade was our playground. My family owned the first pharmacy on the street, and we are still the only one today," recalls Chen Rui-suo, owner of Yuanchun Pharmacy, remembering the years of friction between local supporters and opponents. ³ Ultimately, in 1993, the government revoked the historic status. The old street once faced the fate of being demolished to expand into a 15-meter-wide road. This crisis prompted the "restoration project" led by the Hsu Yu-chien Architects Studio: the government provided subsidies for restoration, but ownership remained private, attempting to find a "third way" between preservation and daily life. ⁴

Li Mei-shu's Last Wish and the Dignity of 60 Cast-Iron Bricks

If the Sanxia Ancestral Temple is the "Palace of Eastern Art," then the Old Street is an extension of that palace. The national-level artist Li Mei-shu (李梅樹) advocated vigorously for the preservation of the Old Street during his lifetime, believing that the street and the temple were inseparable cultural wings of Sancro. ⁵ In the restoration project launched in 2004, the restoration team obtained image copyrights from the Li Mei-shu Memorial Hall to produce 60 cultural cast-iron sculptural plates and manhole covers.

These iron bricks are scattered across the plaza at the entrance of the Old Street and along the streets, depicting the Sanxia Arch Bridge, the Battle of Blue Earth and Yellow Tiger Flag, and tea packaging patterns. ⁶ They are not merely manhole covers; they are historical evidence that "someone was actually there." However, on April 6, 2016, the Public Works Department of the Sanxia District Office, relying solely on a construction notice, deployed excavators to swiftly remove these cast-iron bricks and flagstones, replacing them with smooth but mediocre asphalt. ⁷

The War Between Asphalt and Flagstone: Safety or Culture?

The District Office's reason for removal was specific: the road became slippery when raining, often causing elderly residents to fall. ⁸ But this move incensed the historical community across Taiwan. Li Jing-wen, Executive Director of the Li Mei-shu Memorial Hall, expressed grief, stating it was the most ironic gift during the "centenary celebration of the Old Street," prompting the museum to announce its withdrawal from all official celebratory events. ⁹

This "Asphalt War" finally ended with an apology from the New Taipei City Government. In late 2016, with an investment of approximately 5 million TWD and the participation of various experts and historical groups, the city re-paved the flagstone road to balance anti-slip properties and aesthetics, and reinstalled the cast-iron bricks. [11] It revealed a fact: even though Sanxia Old Street's restoration project received the FIABCI Prix d'Excellence in 2007 ¹⁰, in the eyes of grassroots bureaucracy, cultural details are still seen as less easy to maintain than asphalt.

📝 Curator's Note: When safety becomes an excuse for mediocrity, we lose not just paving stones, but our reverence for historical detail.

Visiting the Site: From "Historic Curse" to "Cultural Pride"

Walking into Sanxia Old Street today, besides the essential beef pastry and indigo dyeing experiences, please try looking down at the re-laid flagstones. Although the 2016 accident left a scar, the Old Street still retains its "sandwich-style" architectural structure: a century-old Baroque red brick exterior with a modern, safety-reinforced interior structure. ¹¹

The story of the Old Street continues. It is no longer merely about commercial transactions, but an evolving community experiment. From the Sanjiaoyong trade of the Qing Dynasty and the Urban Improvement of the Japanese colonial period to the post-martial law historic site protests and modern battles for cultural heritage, these 200 meters of red-brick road—with its unique resilience—are recording the long process of how Taiwanese people transformed from resisting preservation to taking pride in their own cultural heritage.

Further Reading:

• Indigo Dyeing — The craft that allowed Sanjiaoyong dye works to flourish: A complete history of revival, from a major Qing Dynasty export to the first blue cloth dyed in seventy years in 1999.
• Taiwanese Traditional Crafts and Intangible Cultural Heritage — The position of Sanxia indigo dyeing revival within Taiwan's cultural heritage preservation system.

References