大武戲院

August 12th, 2016

I stumbled upon the remains of Dawu Theater (大武戲院) while on a bicycle tour of southern Taiwan in 2015. Located in the small town of Dawu, it was one of approximately 36 theaters operating in Taitung in the cinematic heyday of the 1960s and 70s, all of which are now abandoned or destroyed. This particular theater was in business from 1968 to 1983 and allegedly accommodated as many as 1,200 patrons, earning it the title of Southern Boss (南霸天) for how it dominated the industry¹ in the southernmost part of the county. Hardly anything remains after three decades of exposure that would identify Dawu Theater apart from a small sign in the antechamber.

Looks like an abandoned warehouse but this is actually the former Dawu Theater.

I didn’t know it at the time but this was once the local movie theater!

In a curious twist of fate I did not know the Chinese characters for movie theater at the time—but I would learn them the very next day after chancing upon the last of Taitung’s old theaters. As such, I had no idea this was a theater until I went through my photos a year later.

Dawu Theater from the streets of this small coastal town in Taitung.

This particular piece is actually an adaptation of a small part of the full account of my day. I have embarked upon a more dedicated study of the many old theaters of Taiwan and wanted this one to have its own entry in the catalog despite the paucity of photos and information.

More info about the Taitung theater industry can be found in this article (bilingual) or this article (in Chinese). ↩

Map

Recorded On

June 10th, 2015

Themes

Theaters in Taiwan (台灣老戲院)
Urban Exploration in Taiwan (台灣城市探險)
KMT Authoritarian Era Taiwan (國民政府時期)

Series: Southern Taiwan Ride 2015

This series chronicles a multi-day bicycle trip around the deep south of Taiwan, specifically from Tainan to Taitung in June 2015. Along the way I visited many places in Kaohsiung and especially Pingtung. A lot of what I saw and experienced hasn’t been written about in English very much so I’ve taken some extra time to provide background information to better contextualize what’s in the many photographs in this series. Altogether this is a complete trip journal clocking in at around 20,000 words from start to finish!