Zhongzheng District 中正區

Setting and landscape

The district office describes a long strip of coast with many slopes and little flat ground, a long winter monsoon and frequent rain. At Badouzi (八斗子) in the north-east it meets Ruifang (瑞芳) in New Taipei, and the coast highway towards Yilan (宜蘭) begins here. Its natural sights include Heping Island Park, Huangdidian (皇帝殿), Badouzi Park and Wangyougu (忘憂谷).

History

Heping Island, 75 metres off the shore and linked by Heping Bridge (和平橋), was home to the Basay (巴賽族) people, who called it tuman. Spaniards built the fort of San Salvador (聖薩爾瓦多城) there, and it is described as the first place in northern Taiwan where Westerners set foot. The Sheliao East Battery (社寮東砲台) began as a base in the wars between the Spanish and the Dutch, with guns first set up in 1626; Liu Mingchuan (劉銘傳) rebuilt it in 1886, the Japanese rebuilt it again, and it became a Keelung city-designated monument in 2004.

In Haimen Park (海門公園) on Zhongzheng Road, a tomb holds the remains of Qing soldiers killed in the Sino-French War, gathered by local gentry under Japanese rule after road building exposed their bones. The same park marks Taiwan's levelling datum, the starting point of its height measurements.

What to see

Zhengbin Fishing Port (正濱漁港), south of Heping Island, was built by the Japanese in 1934, and the district office says it was Taiwan's largest fishing port under Japanese rule; the city government is developing it as a waterfront for weekend leisure. The abandoned concrete shell of the Agenna Shipyard (阿根納造船廠) was the end point of railway branches that carried gold ore from Jinguashi (金瓜石) for shipment to Japan, and after Japanese rule ended it was leased to an American yacht builder. The three-storey Zhupu Altar (主普壇) in Zhongzheng Park is the main stage of Keelung's Ghost Festival, its most important annual folk rite, and its ground floor is a museum of the festival's rituals and objects.

Zhengbin and Badouzi are the main fishing ports, and shops selling fishing tackle and bait gather along Zhongzheng Road and near Badouzi. National Taiwan Ocean University (國立臺灣海洋大學) and the Fisheries Research Institute (水產試驗所) are also in the district.

Highlights

• Heping Island 和平島: Basay homeland and site of the Spanish fort of San Salvador, linked by Heping Bridge.
• Sheliao East Battery 社寮東砲台: Rebuilt in 1886 by Liu Mingchuan; Keelung city-designated monument since 2004.
• Zhengbin Fishing Port 正濱漁港: Built in 1934; described by the district office as Taiwan's largest fishing port under Japanese rule.
• Agenna Shipyard 阿根納造船廠: Concrete ruin at the end of the gold-ore rail branches from Jinguashi.
• Zhupu Altar 主普壇: Main stage of Keelung's Ghost Festival, with a festival museum on the ground floor.
• Haimen Park 海門公園: Tomb of Qing soldiers of the Sino-French War and Taiwan's levelling datum.