Text - Yu Ju-Ling（游如伶）

The Beitou Hot Spring Museum has built a close relationship with its surroundings. Aside from the organization and construction of local history, “Bathing in Beitou” also seeks to explore the people and things that were born from Beitou's unique cultural climate, through the perspectives of personal experiences and family memories of local residents. This issue’s theme is “Memories of the Land”, which has invited people from different generations of Beitou residents to share their experiences and explore the image of the hot spring city from the past to the present.

 

After the war, from the 1960s to the 1970s, Beitou witnessed its the most prosperous era due to the prevalence of hostess clubs and other related businesses. Through the oral history provided by Chen Kuo-Liang (陳國樑), proprietor of “Changshengtang Chinese Pharmacy”, we are able to glimpse and explore the prosperity of the hot spring town during that era, while also examining stories between Chinese pharmacies, hot spring restaurants and the local populace. Beginning in 1979, Beitou saw a gradual declined due to the abolishing of prostitution. As Writer Hao Yu-Hsiang (郝譽翔) commented: “The time I stay in Beitou was actually the most silent and downtrodden time of its life.” As we follow her flâneuring, we are also returned to the historical turning point of Beitou in the 1980s. The 2010s, was when musician L8ching was attending college. Beitou in this period had not only transformed itself into a tourist destination, but had also become a part of a new trend that promoted locally produced art and literature. His track “Nagashi”, is based on his research and pursuit of the music culture that once thrived in Beitou.

 

Memories of the youth from different generations and landscapes which have been rewritten repeatedly allow us to glimpse the changes Beitou has endured over the past half century. Through there is one thing that everyone interviewed for this issue mentioned: The constant scent of sulfur from the hot springs. A taste that connects the body, emotions and memories is what years of hard work of Mao Hsien-Ning (毛賢寧) has led to. The founder of “Hotspring Flower”, a shop which specializes in hot spring related memorabilia. Dessert chef Su Yi-fan (蘇怡帆) of “SheMe House” blends local agricultural ingredients into chocolate. This is an interpreting of the abundance and sweetness of locally produced ingredients into a kind of healing taste.

 

This year's exchange exhibition “Welcome to Beitou, Taiwan, IN Takinogawa Inari Public Bath” was held by Beitou Hot Spring Museum in Tokyo. Under the guidance of the Director Zhong Zhao-Jia (鍾兆佳), this was an exhibition that let hot springs enthusiasts in Taiwan and Japan meet across time and space, placing importance on the human exchanges in bath houses. The live report in Tokyo by Shitamachi Kizoku also gave us positive feedback on the exhibition site. This event also invited Changshengtang Chinese Pharmacy to prepare Chinese medicinal bath recipes, hoping Japanese visitors feel the uniqueness of Beitou's human element that has been passed down by countless generations.

 

Memories of the Land

【Table of Contents】

● Bathing in the Culture of Beitou－Special Feature

Memories of Beitou by Chen Kuo-Liang, Second-generation Owner and Proprietor of Changshengtang

The Old Pharmacy Providing Healing to Locals

Narrated by: Chen Kuo-Liang, Proprietor of Changshengtang Chinese Pharmacy

   

Writer Hao Yu-Hsiang's Landscape Literature Writing

Flâneuring the Hot Spring Town

Narrated by: Hao Yu-Hsiang, Writer

 

The Aura of Musician L8ching

A Musical Journey from Datun Mountain

Narrated by: L8ching, Musician

 

● A Gift of the Elements - The Healing Industry

The Artisan Mind of Hotspring Flower’s Founder Mao Hsien-Ning

The Scent of Beitou’s Elements

Narrated by: Mao Hsien-Ning, Founder of Hotspring Flower

 

SheMe House’s Dessert Chef Su Yi-Fan and Her Journey of Environmentally Friendly Food Production

Using Desserts to Interpret the Taste of Its Ingredients

Narrated by: Su Yi-Fan, Dessert Chef of SheMe House

 

● Letters from the Hot Springs - Exchange of Cultural Perspectives Between Taiwanese and Japanese Bath Houses

Welcome to Beitou, Taiwan, IN Takinogawa Inari-yu Public Bath

When Tokyo Meets Beitou, Beginning a Beautiful Exchange

Written by Shitamachi Kizoku, Taiwanese Sentō Jobber