富岡老街

January 19th, 2016

Fùgāng Old Street (富岡老街) is an obscure anachronism in the western part of Taoyuan, Taiwan. It extends from a railway station that opened during the Japanese colonial era in 1929 through the heart of this small Hakka town. The coming of the railroad brought prosperity to the area and several ornate shophouses were built around the station in a mishmash of architectural styles common at the time. Nowadays it is just another street in rural Taiwan, albeit one with a little more history than most, possibly because it is too unimportant a place for modernization to have swept away these vestiges of the past.

The heart of Fugang Old Street on a gloomy day.

Another look at the coolest building in Fugang Village.

The most interesting building on this unusually short old street is the exquisitely-crafted Lǚjiāshēng Mansion (呂家聲洋樓), a Western-style shophouse from the early 1930s. I can’t really comment on its architectural features as I am no expert in this domain—so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The main block on Fugang’s short old street.

Ornate architecture on Fugang Old Street.

Apart from that one building the rest aren’t anything to write home about. To be honest, I might not have likely visited Fugang Village (富岡村) at all were I not living in Zhongli at the time. I undertook a number of short bicycle trips (including this one) around Taoyuan to check out a number of roadside attractions like Longtan Yeshan Building (龍潭怪怪屋). Fugang came up while browsing around Google Maps for potential targets, and even though there wasn’t very much to see, I’m happy to share a little of what I found here on my blog.

The other old buildings aren’t nearly as cool.

Another set of old buildings, still standing but poorly maintained.

This home with the hearts isn’t right on the old street but it’s so cute that I wanted to share it here anyway.

I find this last building quite charming. It’s the only one I haven’t seen show up on any other blogs, possibly because it’s in a slightly strange location, or perhaps it doesn’t really fit with the classical style of the other buildings along the actual old street. Whatever the case, Taiwanese bloggers have done a much better job than I have explaining the history and architectural features of Fugang Old Street. If you can read (or don’t mind translating) Chinese, try here, here, here, here, here, and here. And for a tour around Yangmei with a brief stopover in Fugang check out this comprehensive post. Be sure to also check out my full account of the entire day’s ride.