Tainan Duiyuemen

Date CapturedApril 19th, 2014 at 07:23 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO100Exposure Value11.6 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

I was happy to stumble upon Duìyuèmén (兌悅門), one of several remaining Qing dynasty era gates in Tainan. Built in 1835, it now opens onto a small plaza and Fat Cat Deli (visible through the archway), another hip café in Tainan City. I recognized it on sight, having read about it in the excellent Tainan city guide. Tainan is filled with cool little surprises like this. It might not be the most remarkable place but it’s rather cool that this little gate is still in use. Stay long enough and you’ll see locals zipping through the portal on scooter, somewhat unlike scenes from a century ago, but still quite charming.

Just inside the gate is a small stone lion shrine, Shíshī Gōngguǎn (石獅公館), said to have been placed there to neutralize inauspicious energy created by the gate’s arch resembling a bow and the stone-paved lane beneath it an arrow. One local tradition holds that Five Channels (五條港) merchants deliberately arranged this “bow and arrow formation” to direct ill fortune toward the foreign trading houses in Ānpíng (安平), and that Anping residents responded by installing a pair of stone generals to counteract it.