Ren’ai, Keelung

Rén’ài District (仁愛區) encompasses the southeastern part of historic Keelung and much of the historic downtown core at the foot of the harbour. It is the smallest district in the city by area and the most densely populated, a compact grid of reclaimed ground hemmed in by hills on three sides and the port on the fourth. Han settlement in Keelung began here and the commercial life of the city has never left: Dianji Temple (奠濟宮), founded in 1875, anchors the Miaokou Night Market (廟口夜市), the overnight auctions of Kanzaiding Fish Market (崁仔頂漁市場) run a few blocks away, and the arcades of the consignment shopping district (委託行街區) recall the decades when imported goods primarily reached Taiwan through this port. Above the urban core runs Shiqiuling Ridge (獅球嶺), where Shiqiuling Fort (獅球嶺砲臺) and its companion batteries commanded the pass between the harbour and the Taipei Basin, fought over in the Sino-French War and again during the Japanese invasion of 1895.