Since the Japanese Colonial Period, Xinhua (新化) has been a major political and commercial center at the gateway to the mountains of Tainan. You can probably imagine merchants of the time gathering to make deals with Japanese, Han Chinese and Pingpu Peoples. The large numbers of foreign style houses and street houses built here formed a prosperous commercial street, and business was extremely lively. Today’s Xinhua Old Street(新化老街) features well-preserved old foreign style houses and Baroque style buildings covered in tasteful designs and carvings. Tourists walking down the street chance upon old stores with decades of history and take a look in each of the stores. The grocery store reminds them of their childhood, as does the scenes of the shopkeepers loudly shouting to sell their products; it is as if the prosperity of the olden days has returned.
