To really get to know a city, one needs to walk, American-Canadian urbanist Jane Jacobs once argued. This is especially true for Taipei—one of the Asian cities known internationally for its fast-paced lifestyle and bustling shopping districts. Iconic skyscrapers such as Taipei 101 and high streets might have given Taiwan’s capital city a modern look, but it is the many rustic back alleys that truly make Taipei a unique and fun place, as well as provide clues as to how locals actually live.

Among the city’s most walkable neighborhoods, the Kang Qing Long community stands out for its artistic vibe and nostalgic feel. The main blocks are interconnected by Yongkang, Qingtian and Longquan streets in Taipei’s Da-an District. During the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), this was a residential area for senior civil servants and government officials. A number of old-fashioned Japanese-style houses remain, while the area’s “newer” apartment buildings are mostly older style four- or five-story structures. This is also the place where tourists from abroad discover a side of Taipei like no other. “Here, you’ll get a real taste of Taipei City and an authentic experience of the city’s back-alley culture,” says Edward Zhang (張其強), a former journalist who is now the spokesman for the Taipei City Government. Zhang grew up near Yongkang Street. “Treasures are waiting to be discovered at the turn of each corner,” he adds.

Although just a 40-minute walk from the northern tip of the district to the southern end, the many small alleys and lanes could actually take days to enjoy fully as they encompass an area bordered by Xinyi Road in the north, Roosevelt Road in the south, Xinsheng South Road in the east and Jinshan South Road in the west.

Houses built during the Japanese colonial era lend a nostalgic feel to the Kang Qing Long neighborhood. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Last January, Eric Ma (馬傑偉), a journalism and communications professor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, led a group of 28 students and faculty members from the city state to visit Kang Qing Long for four days. Many who had traveled to Taipei before and had been to famous tourist attractions in the city, including Taipei 101 and the busy Ximending area, said they saw a different side of Taipei City, a United Daily News report said. The students gained a deeper understanding of the everyday lives of local people, and, after meeting a number of shop owners, were even inspired to reconsider what they want from a career, according to the Chinese-language newspaper.

Calling All Foodies

The Yongkang Street area is well known among foodies at home and abroad for its wide variety of local fare. The choices include beef noodles, dumplings served by renowned restaurant chain Din Tai Fung and a shaved ice dessert with mangos or strawberries from Ice Monster, just to name a few.

In 1993, The New York Times ranked Din Tai Fung as one of the world’s top 10 restaurants. In 2008, Ice Monster was listed by the newspaper’s 36 Hours column as one of the 13 things to do in Taipei. “Following the launch of Ice Monster [in 1995], Yongkang Street gained greater popularity and has since become a must-visit mecca for international travelers, especially those who enjoy shopping at a leisurely pace in an outdoor environment,” says 45-year-old Lydia Wang (王靖宜), the owner of a shop called Earth Tree near Yongkang Street.

A secondhand bookstore near Longquan Street is part of the eclectic mix of stores in the neighborhood. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Wang adds that, whilst a student, she spent a lot of time in the Kang Qing Long area, especially the Yongkang food strip—a mixed residential and commercial community. The area’s atmosphere attracted Wang to open her first shop near Yongkang Park in 2006. Earth Tree joined more than 20 other independent businesses including cafés and secondhand bookstores, a store selling alternative music and bars in the neighborhood, all of which are run by owners who are not purely profit-driven. Many of them close up shop by 10 p.m. so that residents can enjoy a quiet night, for example. These small shops come highly recommended by food critic Han Liang-lu (韓良露), who lauds the owners’ idealistic philosophy to “earn a living instead of turning a profit.” Such businesses give the city a distinctive identity, says Han, who established an organization called South Village in 2007 to promote the area’s tourism attractions and food culture. The South Village idea was inspired by the unique mix of shops in New York City’s East Village.

Wang says Earth Tree was Taiwan’s first fair-trade shop and aims to help disadvantaged workers from around the world by importing handmade clothing, accessories and handicrafts from Japanese fair-trade companies People Tree and Nepali Bazaro. Fair trade is a social movement and market-based approach that works to improve trading conditions for producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. Under fair-trade guidelines, producers usually gain higher prices for their goods, although that inevitably squeezes a trader’s profit margin.

Wang says her costs are double those of her competitors in the district, as many other stores import mass-produced goods from Japan or South Korea. The store owner says she sees the venture as a long-term career and an opportunity to help people improve their lives rather than merely as a way to make money. “I feel privileged to be able to play a part in promoting the concept and making a difference in people’s lives,” Wang says, adding that she also enjoys educating consumers about the people behind the products they purchase. The entrepreneur says it is important to sustain her two Earth Tree outlets in Taipei as they show the concept of fair trade in Taiwan is economically viable.

Yongkang Street is known for its wide variety of eateries and other stores, many of which remain open late into the evening. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Equally idealistic is Lin Yu-fang (林于昉), a retired dentist, who turned his childhood home near Yongkang Street into the Formosa Vintage Museum Café. The café exhibits Lin’s collection of antiques, artworks, books and documents related to the history of Taiwan. “Many of my friends and foreigners, who come to Taiwan wishing to gain a better understanding of its history, are amazed to find so many historic items at my museum,” the 56-year-old Lin says. He adds that the establishment of the museum café in 2010 was also a way to honor the memory of his parents.

Memory Lane

Lin says he was motivated to set up the combination museum and café in Taipei so that history buffs would not have to travel to the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan, southern Taiwan to get a firsthand look at historic artifacts. Although the business has yet to turn a profit, Lin says he gains a sense of achievement by being able to contribute to the promotion of Taiwan’s history in Taipei. He hopes the upcoming launch of a subway service on nearby Xinyi Road will bring in more visitors so as to allow his business to at least break even. “I hope my museum café can be sustained because we’re the only one here in the Yongkang [food strip] that offers an opportunity to be immersed in the island’s rich history,” he says.

In contrast with the hustle and bustle of Yongkang Street, life on Qingtian Street near National Taiwan Normal University is much quieter. Along with private residences, the area has been the site of university housing for faculty members since the period of Japanese rule. “Our [Qingtian] community is rich in history,” says Alan Huang (黃隆正), chairman of the Qingtian Community Development Association. For example, Japanese agriculture professor Isonaga Yoshi (1886–1972), who was dubbed the “Father of Taiwan’s Ponlai Rice,” lived in this community during his four-decade-long stay in Taiwan before the 1970s, according to Huang.

Earth Tree near Yongkang Street was Taiwan’s first fair-trade store, according to owner Lydia Wang. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Huang’s association hopes that the city government can come up with a plan to “dig out” more of Qingtian Street’s history, perhaps providing additional guided tours to honor the many achievements of those who have lived there. At the same time, residents of the community’s nearly 5,000 households are wary of any plans that might see their neighborhood turned into a shallow tourist destination where visitors frequent cafés, restaurants or bars and bring nothing but noise and trash. “Basically, we hope there won’t be too many tourists storming in to disturb our lives. Even if they visit our neighborhood, we hope they can keep their voices down,” Huang adds.

Popular historic sites have already been set up close by, where the homes of philosopher Yin Foo-sun (殷海光 1919–1969) on nearby Wenzhou Street and literary figure Liang Shi-qiu (梁實秋 1903–1987) on Yunhe Street have been opened to the public.

A little further south in the Kang Qing Long district is the well-known Shida Night Market, a lively area centered on the blocks connecting Longquan Street, Shida Road and Pucheng Street. The night market is a popular destination for students and other visitors seeking inexpensive restaurants and other shops open as late as midnight. The many stores and cafés, which have mushroomed in the neighborhood, also offer a convenient place for young people to socialize.

“This has been a vibrant marketplace for young people to set up businesses selling products rich with their own innovation,” says James Pang (龐維良), chief of the Longquan administrative district under the Taipei City Government.

Unfortunately, the increasing crowds over the years have upset many residents, sparking heated debate over whether businesses should be allowed to continue operating in the residential area. “The tens of thousands of people who show up each night seriously affect our lives,” says resident Jerry Liu (劉振偉), head of the Shidahood Self-Help Association, which has long been petitioning the Taipei City Government to crack down on the expansion of the night market in the residential neighborhood.

Foodies often make a stop at Din Tai Fung near Yongkang Street, the original branch of the renowned restaurant chain. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

Liu says that many residents are greatly disturbed by the air and noise pollution, as well as the trash generated by restaurants and other businesses in the night market. The association says it represents some 16,000 area residents. Some are on the brink of a nervous breakdown, Liu says, and others have suffered in the past when ambulances could not get through the crowded alleys in a medical emergency.

The association was glad to see the city government take action in early February by cracking down on some of the many businesses in the area that operate in alleys less than 8 meters wide—a violation of land use regulations. Technically speaking no business is allowed to operate in an alley less than 8 meters wide except for small grocery stores, which are permitted in alleys more than 6 meters wide, although the law is infrequently enforced.

Business owners and vendors worry that the city government’s move could lead to the closure of many of the neighborhood’s 750 businesses, according to Kevin Ko (柯裕佑), spokesman for the Allied Guardians of Shida Commercial District, which represents 400 shops. As of March 15, a dozen shops had been forced to close, including nine restaurants on nearby Pucheng Street, which had featured an atlas of world cuisines. Making things worse, shoppers began to shy away from the area following the city government’s crackdown. Many vendors reported a 50-percent decline in business, which poses another threat to their survival. “Judging by the pace of business closure, forced or as a result of slow sales, we’re afraid that the famous Shida Night Market might eventually disappear,” Ko says. Only around 150 stores along Shida Road would remain if the 8-meter rule were enforced strictly, the vendors’ spokesman says.

Last-Ditch Effort

Members of the vendors’ group have pledged to exercise better self-discipline in ways such as removing billboards, closing by 10 p.m. and upgrading their kitchen equipment to cut down on air pollution. They have also promised to make a collective effort to keep the area clear of trash and reduce noise in an attempt to keep the market operating. Ko adds that around 12,000 people would be out of a job if all the violating shops were shut down.

Supporters light sparklers after shops in the Shida Night Market go dark on February 25 this year to protest the government crackdown on vendors in the area. The city government moved to shut down illegal businesses after complaints from residents in the neighborhood. (Photo by Central News Agency)

In response, the city government has said its move is intended to improve the area, although Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) has said the city wants to prevent the expansion of the market. “Our goal is to … strike a win-win-win situation so that consumers can shop with ease, residents can enjoy their lives in a residential area and vendors can run their businesses legally,” Taipei City Government Spokesman Edward Zhang says. The city government will shut down any business that has seriously disturbed the area’s residents, Zhang says, but adds that the majority of the 350 vendors in violation of land-use rules pose no such threat. So far, around 90 businesses have been given warnings to make “improvements,” which center on “abiding by all the rules,” including the 8-meter rule, he says.

Chou Tsu-lung (周志龍), an urban planning professor at National Taipei University, says the interests of residents in Shida or any other such neighborhood should be considered above all. “The city government should try to organize a plebiscite for all residents in Shida to decide whether those illegal vendors should be removed completely,” he says. The professor agrees with the city government’s enforcement of its land use regulations. At the same time, the city government could ease its grip on the informal sector if residents wanted the shops to remain, Chou says. “It’s difficult for any policymaker to impose hard and fast zoning rules against the organic growth of the informal sector, which is often deeply rooted in the livelihood of those communities,” the professor says.

In spite of the controversy, the Kang Qing Long neighborhood remains an interesting destination for visitors and residents to experience yet another aspect of the city’s culture. Chen Shu-mei (陳素美), 62, a clothing store owner from New Taipei City’s Yonghe District, says she visits the area as often as every other day and shops for her own clothing there. “I feel like I’m at home whenever I get to savor the mainland Chinese-style delicacies here in the Yongkang neighborhood, where most shops serve nothing but cheap and tasty food,” Chen says.

Antique stores clustered near Yongkang Street enrich the Kang Qing Long community. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

While the cultural depth of the Kang Qing Long area might not match that of the better known historic districts of Taipei, C. S. Stone Shih (石計生), an associate professor of sociology at Soochow University, says the neighborhood still has much to offer. “The area’s cultural hybridity makes it especially attractive to visitors, in particular those from the West, who can appreciate the Japanese colonial legacy, which still remains in Taiwan, while sipping coffee in a modern-style café,” Shih says. Taipei is a city without a fixed form, the professor says, where both citizens and visitors can allow their own idea of the metropolis to take shape. In the Kang Qing Long neighborhood, that idea can best take shape while strolling the busy main streets and the quiet back alleys.

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Joyce Huang is a freelance reporter based in Taipei.

Copyright © 2012 by Joyce Huang