Zhongli Xinming Theater

In the last year or so I have found and explored numerous abandoned movie theaters in Taiwan. It all started when I stumbled upon Datong Theater (大同戲院) in Taitung City last June. Since then I have learned much more about the Taiwanese cinema industry: how many theaters are likely to be found in a city of a given size, where they are likely to be found, when they were likely to have been abandoned, and so on. Not long after moving to Zhongli a few months ago I put this growing awareness to the test by cycling around town one morning, finding several theaters new to me, all within close proximity to one another. One of these, Xīnmíng Theater (新明戲院), is the subject of this post. Public records indicate the business was registered around 1980 and lapsed in 1997, though it almost certainly closed sometime before then.

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:08 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 8Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO400Exposure Value14.0 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:09 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 7.1Shutter Speed1/200 secFocal Length35.0 mmISO400Exposure Value13.3 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:11 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 6.3Shutter Speed1/160 secFocal Length23.0 mmISO400Exposure Value12.6 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

One of the more interesting features of Xinming Theater is the many signs that can be found all around the building: the circular glyph on the corner of the building (a stylized version of Xinming); the salmon-coloured characters below; the faint outline of an LED sign hanging over the street; a black tile rendition around the side; broken plastic signs mounted in a bracket just below the tile; and a signboard above the original entrance, curiously displaying the name Xinmin Theater (新民大戲院), possibly a consequence of a change in ownership around 1989.

Date CapturedFebruary 6th, 2019 at 09:47 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/15 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO500Exposure Value7.5 EVOriginal Size1800 × 1200

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:24 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.8Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length23.0 mmISO900Exposure Value8.8 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:12 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO640Exposure Value8.5 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:23 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length19.0 mmISO500Exposure Value8.5 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Accessing this theater is a snap, unlike most of the others I found in Zhongli¹. Most of the street-facing shops on the ground floor are still in business, which is fairly common for abandoned commercial buildings in Taiwan (see, for instance, the Qiaoyou Building, the Qianyue Building, or the Fuyou Building, all of which are still home to active businesses at street level). This is both a blessing and a curse, for the place has been stripped clean—and much of the interior has been converted into storage for the shops below.

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:19 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO2000Exposure Value8.5 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:18 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/25 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO3200Exposure Value8.3 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Inside the theater itself nothing remains: no projectors, film cases, seats, a screen, tickets, or much of anything else to identify this as a place where thousands once reclined in darkness, popcorn and other snacks in hand, to transport themselves into the many worlds of the imagination. Only the terraced concrete and elevated stage provide clues as to the former use of this neglected space.

Date CapturedDecember 13th, 2015 at 09:57 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 4Shutter Speed4 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO200Exposure Value2.0 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:16 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/50 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO400Exposure Value9.3 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Apart from the main theater there isn’t too much else to see aside from broken washroom stalls² and an empty chamber on the top floor. I wasn’t able to find out much about whatever occupied this floor on the Chinese language internet—perhaps because it isn’t a particularly interesting ruin—but I noticed a passing reference to a skating arena in the area. Might this have been it?

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:15 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO2800Exposure Value8.5 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:14 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 3.5Shutter Speed1/30 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO2500Exposure Value8.5 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedOctober 28th, 2015 at 00:09 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 9Shutter Speed1/320 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO400Exposure Value14.7 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Finally, I should mention that the best 24-hour restaurant in Zhongli can be found at the base of the old theater. Yǒngchuān Beef Noodles (永川牛肉麵) offers an expansive selection of delicious soup and dumpling dishes to be enjoyed below the crumbling ruins of Xinming Theater. Only in Taiwan!

Footnotes

1. Zhongli was once home to more than a dozen movie theaters prior to the advent of home video. I have already posted something about the building that once housed Cáishén Theater (財神戲院) and the amazing Dàdōng Theater (大東戲院). For anyone curious to make their own contribution to the literature here are a few more theaters to look into: 裕國戲院, 銀宮戲院, 國際戲院, 遠東戲院, 金府戲院, 賓賓戲院, 親親來來戲院 (this last one being another I wasn’t able to access). Interestingly, one of Zhongli’s old theaters is still in business—for more about that check out my write-up about Zhongyuan Theater (中源大戲院)! ↩

2. The posters in the bathroom suggest the theater was showing more than just films in its twilight phase. For more about cabaret culture in Taiwan browser over to my post about Guobin Commercial Building, also in Zhongli. ↩