Anping District 安平區

History

In 1624 the Dutch East India Company left Penghu and built a fort at Tayouan, first named Orange and renamed Zeelandia (熱蘭遮城) two years later. In 1661 Koxinga (鄭成功) attacked the Dutch and named the place Anping after his home town in Fujian; it later became the seat of the Zheng kingdom. The old harbour was southern Taiwan's largest port from the Qing era into early Japanese rule, and has since silted up. Most of the district's land is ground reclaimed from the silted Taijiang lagoon (臺江內海). A 1979 city plan set out to fill the fishponds of "new Anping" to extend the city as the Fifth Land Readjustment Zone. The Tainan city government and council moved into that zone in 1997, across the Tainan Canal from old Anping.

What to see

Two national monuments anchor a visit. Fort Zeelandia, known locally as Anping Old Fort (安平古堡), marks the Dutch settlement. The Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城), also called the Erkunshen battery, was designed by a French engineer as a square Western bastion fort with projecting corners, a moat fed by seawater and a central drill ground. The district office describes it as Taiwan's first modern Western-style battery and the first armed with British Armstrong guns; it was built to counter the Japanese troops sent to Taiwan after the Mudan Incident (牡丹社事件). Other historic sites include the Anping Tree House (安平樹屋), the Tait & Co. (德記洋行) and Dongxing (東興洋行) merchant houses, and the Haishan Guild Hall (海山館). On the old market street, Shizai Street (市仔街), some Qing-era houses survive; Anping Old Street (安平老街) is also called "Taiwan's First Street". Homes still display the sword lion (劍獅), a lion's head with a sword in its mouth, to ward off bad luck.

Food and local products

Anping has many shrimp-cracker shops. The district office describes the crackers as made from red shrimp (火燒蝦) landed at Anping harbour, which have their heads and tails removed and are ground to a paste, mixed with egg white, starch, flour and pepper, steamed, sliced and sun-dried, then puffed up in hot oil. Other Anping snacks are candied fruit, oyster rolls, shrimp rolls, oyster omelettes and douhua (豆花), a soft tofu pudding.

Highlights

• Fort Zeelandia (Anping Old Fort) 安平古堡: A national monument; the Dutch fort built in 1624 and renamed Zeelandia two years later.
• Eternal Golden Castle 億載金城: A national monument, described by the district office as Taiwan's first modern Western-style battery.
• Anping Tree House 安平樹屋: One of the district's listed historic sites.
• Anping Old Street 安平老街: Listed among Anping's sights and also called Taiwan's First Street.
• Anping shrimp crackers 安平蝦餅: Made from red shrimp landed at Anping harbour, steamed, sliced, sun-dried and fried.