南雲加油站

October 8th, 2017

Nányún Gas Station (南雲加油站) is one of hundreds of abandoned gas stations found all around Taiwan. It was formerly affiliated with CPC Corporation (台灣中油), a state-owned enterprise that controls or supplies 80% of gas stations in the nation, and located on a section of Provincial Highway 3 in Yunlin known as Línshān Highway (林山公路), for it connects Linnei with Zhushan in neighboring Nantou. It was likely abandoned more than a decade ago, and for reasons that are less mundane than you might expect.

An abandoned gas station on the hazy borderlands of Yunlin and Nantou in Taiwan.

Derelict pumps lay idle beneath the plain gas station rooftop.

There’s nothing especially remarkable about this gas station from the street. I’ve seen many more like it and really only decided to stop here on a whim, not having captured a full set of photographs from this class of ruin before. But, as with most of my explorations, what seemed like a simple write-up turns into something more involved after I started asking questions. In this case, I was curious about why this gas station went out of business—a question I wasn’t expecting to answer—as well as why I’ve seen so many other abandoned gas stations around Taiwan.

There’s something really wonderful about these overgrown gas station pumps. Green energy! — There’s something really wonderful about these overgrown gas station pumps. *Green energy!*

First, some history: CPC Corporation (台灣中油), formerly known as the Chinese Petroleum Corporation (中國石油), was founded by the ROC government in Shanghai in 1946. It was granted control of all existing oil industry infrastructure in Taiwan and operated as a state monopoly for the next half century or so. Some deregulation began in 1987 with the debut of a franchising system that allowed for private ownership of gas stations. The station in these photos, established in 1989, was among the first wave of privately-owned gas stations in Taiwan, a lucrative line of business during the transition to democracy in the 1990s. The economy was still growing by leaps and bounds in the twilight of the Taiwan Miracle, vehicle sales were up, and more people were on the road for work and pleasure.

This particular pump served as a substrate for what looks to be a hornets’ nest.

The gaping entrance to what I would assume is the fuel tank beneath the gas station.

Further deregulation introduced competition in the 2000s, most notably from the widely-loathed Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (台塑石化). Market saturation, decreasing economic growth, and the introduction of better public transit systems (particularly the high-speed rail) have steadily reduced demand¹. More recently, CPC Corporation adjusted its rates and policies, tightening margins for private gas station owners and provoking at least one mass protest in 2014. What was once a highly profitable business has become far more marginal in the last decade. These broad patterns help explain why I’ve seen so many abandoned gas stations around Taiwan—but what about this one?

The gas station also had an office but there was absolutely nothing of interest left inside.

Overlooking an abandoned gas station on the borderlands of Yunlin and Nantou. The mountains rising in the background are the northernmost extent of the Alishan Mountain Range.

A broken sign by the highway bearing the CPC Corporation logo.

I almost always manage to date an abandonment by finding a wall calendar or scraps of newspaper laying around but the gas station office was completely empty. Luckily I found some additional information online that suggest this gas station went out of business sometime around 2002. It is probably not a coincidence that the owner and his wife were investigated for fraud in 2003. I’ll say no more about that here—but these events are almost certainly connected.

Finally, while trying to figure out the right terminology to describe features of this gas station (is that a cistern or a tank?) I ran across this great round-up of gas stations from long ago that may be of interest.

Much of this is based off an insightful market analysis published in the China Post but it no longer seems to be online. You may have some luck by trying this cached version. ↩

Warning: this location is abandoned, hazardous, or otherwise neglected and may be unsafe and even dangerous! Exercise appropriate precautions when visiting.

警告：此處已廢棄或長期無人管理，可能存在潛在危險。造訪時請務必提高警覺，並做好相關安全防護措施。

Map

Themes

Series: Taiwan Summer Road Trip 2017

In the summer of 2017 I borrowed a scooter to ride to a music festival in Nantou and only returned it several months later. It wasn’t a continuous road trip—I’d leave the scooter parked at various HSR stations as I slowly made my way around central and southern Taiwan—but each leg of the trip usually involved 3 or 4 days of riding. In the end I gathered enough material for 60 or 70 posts, only some of which have been published.