臺灣府城小西門

Tainan Minor West Gate

April 2nd, 2015

Tainan's little western gate on the east side — Tainan’s little western gate on the east side.

Not much remains of the original Qing dynasty era defensive fortifications of Tainan. The Japanese tore almost everything down in a bid to modernize the city in the early 20th century. Xiǎoxīmén (小西門) is one of four gates surviving in some form, although it is now located far from its original position on the western side of the city. More formally known as Jìngbōmén (靖波門) and commonly romanized as Jingpo Gate, it was dedicated in 1788, the 53rd year of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (乾隆五十三年). It is the youngest of the three surviving inner gates of the old city.

Xiaoximen and the ruins of the eastern wall — Two kinds of wall, a misplaced gate, and a pair of cannons of unknown provenance.

Old city walls turn to dust — The inside of the wall is almost indistinguishable from the soil.

The inscription over Jingbomen in Tainan — The inscription over the archway features the name of the gate and the year of dedication.

Jingpo Gate was originally located near the traffic circle at the intersection of Xīmén Road (小西路) and Fǔqián Road (府前路). During a road widening project in the 1970s it was moved to its present location next to what remains of Xiǎodōngmén (小東門) and some of the ruins of Tainan’s old city walls on the main National Cheng Kung University campus in East District, Tainan.

The ruins of Tainan's eastern wall — The ruins of Tainan’s eastern wall on the NCKU campus.

Banyan roots along Tainan's eastern wall — I don’t know about you but I love the sight of banyan roots wrapped around the crumbling works of man.

Last remnants of the eastern walls of Tainan — One last look at the western gate and eastern walls.

As with many of my posts about historical obscurities in Tainan I am indebted to the excellent Tainan City Guide. It has no dedicated entry for this gate but you can read a little about it in posts on the Great East Gate and the old city walls.