A rural old street in northern Tainan with origins in the mid-Qing dynasty period, when Jingliao (菁寮) was a small settlement producing indigo dye (小菁) and served as an important rest stop on the official road between Tainan and Chiayi. Its advantageous position made it the most prosperous settlement along the Bazhang River (八掌溪), locally known as Beishi Street (北勢街). During the Japanese colonial era, streetfront buildings were rebuilt as commercial shophouses under urban improvement regulations (市區改正), and Jingliao earned the nickname “Trousseau Street” (嫁妝街) for its concentration of wedding goods shops. The street gained wider recognition as the setting of the 2005 documentary Let It Be (無米樂).
I am a web application developer, photojournalist, urban explorer, and history enthusiast passionate about the open web and documenting my experiences on this planet. This project was founded in the early 2010s and has evolved into a sort of personal Wikipedia of places that interest me (and often the photographs I’ve taken there). I’m originally from Toronto, Canada, but spend most of my time residing in Taiwan.