North Dist.

The Tainan Transit Station is built with a shallow foundation construction method and a combination of stacked containers. It utilizes recyclable green building materials to preserve the flexibility of space use, unlike the stereotypical limitations of traditional steel and concrete buildings. A total of 64 20-foot containers are stacked on the east and west sides of the main station to create the required spaces for waiting and ticketing, as well as commercial and office space for business operations. This design was shortlisted for the 2019 WAF World Architecture Awards.

The lecture hall of the formerly Tainan Senior High School was built in 1918. Today, it is the assembly hall of the Tainan Second Senior High School. During Japanese colonization, there were two types of secondary schools: one for Japanese students and one for Taiwanese students. Although it was a school for Japanese students, as the number of Japanese students reduced significantly during WWII, the school was temporarily merged with the Tainan First Senior High School and later renamed as the Tainan Second Senior High School.
 

This special building always attracts people walking across Ximen Road. The Bao Public School main building was built in 1938. As it was named according to its administrative district Baoding (Bao District), it should be call “Bao” public school in place of “Baogong” school in Mandarin Chinese. In fact, visitors are often confused by this. It was the largest and the most modernized public school in Tainan during Japanese colonization.

In 1897 the Japanese Imperial Army founded the Tainan Military Hospoital at Chihkan Tower. In 1917, a larger-scale, fully equipped hospital building was built north of the Second Japanese Imperial Infantry Wing (now the Guangfu Campus of National Cheng Kung University) according to the Japanse Imperial Army Permanent Barrack Construction Project Phase III. In 1937, the facility was renamed Tainan Army’s Hospital. After Taiwan restoration, the nationalist government took over the hospital in 1948 and founded the Army Training Command Hospital, which began service later in mid-August.

Tainan’s famed Garden Night Market might not boast the same history as other night markets in Taiwan but has rapidly grown into a huge night market with nearly 400 stalls. It is not only the largest night market in Tainan but also one of the most famous in Taiwan. In 2013, it was ranked 12th in Facebook’s top check-in locations.  The market is divided into four zones including food, fashion, general goods,and recreation & leisure. Stalls often put up large banners overhead to attract customers’ attention.

Many of Fucheng’s street food originated from the Yamuliao Traditional Market. The market remains as popular as ever today for locals doing their everyday shopping. The 2017 Japanese movie “What’s For Dinner, Mom” was adapted from the work of Taiwanese-Japanese author Hitoto Tae and brought the sights of Fucheng including the Yamuliao Traditional Market to the big screen in Japan.

Siaobei Night Market is located indoors unlike most other open-air markets found in southern Taiwan. A wide variety of goods can be found here including Fucheng’s famous street food, fruits, cold drinks and ices, clothing, footwear, hats and quality general goods. Pedestrians can wander freely between the stalls to enjoy the great food and shopping without having to worry about the weather or traffic.

Kaiyuan Temple(開元寺) is one of the main ancient temples of Tainan and was formerly Beiyuan Retreat(北園別館), which was built by Koxinga’s son Zheng Jing(鄭經) for his mother Empress Dong in 1680. With exquisite garden landscaping features, pavilions and buildings, plus a small winding bridge, Kaiyuan Temple’s Garden is viewed by many as the best in Taiwan. The temple preserves many cultural relics from the Ming Dynasty, making it a good place to learn about early Taiwan history.

The Founding Mazu Temple(開基天后宮) was built in 1662 during the Ming Dynasty and was Taiwan’s earliest privately-built Mazu temple. As it is smaller than Da Tianhou Temple, it is often referred to by Tainanese as ‘small Mazu Temple.’ Despite its relatively small size, it still has a solemn atmosphere and exudes the awe-inspiring power of the goddess Mazu.

San Shan Guo Wang(Kings of three mountains;三山國王) belief is a folk belief that originated in Guangdong, China. Built in 1742, the temple is the only purely Cantonese style building in Taiwan. It enshrines the gods of the three mountains (respectively, the kings of Mt. Jin, Mt. Ming and Mt. Du; 巾山國王、明山國王、獨山國王). Apart from enshrining the gods of the three mountains, Han Wen Gong and Tian Shang Sheng Mu (韓文公與天上聖母) are also enshrined. On arriving at the entrance, it can be seen that the temple is different to most temples, without the bright colors and the walls painted in very low-key tones.