Hengchun Old City

Hengchun was established as a Qing county seat in the wake of the Mudan Incident and subsequent Japanese reprisal in 1874. It was part of a massive push to extend administrative control over Taiwan’s southern frontier on the recommendation of imperial commissioner Shen Baozhen (沈葆楨). Construction ran from 1875 to 1879, with the city situated and oriented according to the surrounding hills by Taiwan military commissioner Liu Ao (劉璈). Despite damage from a 1908 typhoon, wartime bombing, the 1959 and 2006 earthquakes, and road widening that demolished sections of the eastern wall in the 1960s, it remains the only Qing dynasty era walled city in Taiwan with all four gates still standing.