Beitou designer Zheng Pei-zhe leads the way!

Text / 郭慧
Dictation / 鄭培哲
Photography / 蔡耀徵

Beitou is not only a hot spring town with a sense of healing, but also like a museum without walls. In the seemingly ordinary streets, there are many nooks where tales of architecture could be discovered. The local designer, Zheng Pei-zhe, who is well known for his series of architectural illustrations, often records the architecture of Beitou with his brush. In cooperation with the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, he has drawn cultural and scenic spots such as the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, Beitou Park, Ginsokaku(吟松閣), and the Beitou Budong Mingwang Grotto (不動明王石窟) into the "Beitou Family Emblem" to attract more people to visit this beautiful mountain city.

"I started to draw architectural illustrations because I heard that some houses were going to be demolished. I wanted to record the old houses before they disappeared.  Later on, by chance, I worked with the Beitou Hot Spring Museum to discuss the local characteristics and representative buildings, and to record the local architecture in Beitou in a more systematic way," said Mr. Zheng. "I think it is worthwhile to explore many of the monuments and old houses in Beitou because of the booming hot spring industry during the Japanese rule period." Hereby, let's follow the designer in Beitou, Zheng Pei-zhe, through the streets and alleys of Beitou, and read the story of Beitou through the eyes of the local people and the perspective of the designer.

The Disappearing Beitou Station

Even if visitors never saw what Beitou Station once looked like, most of them actually have visited the place where it once stood. In fact, the MRT Beitou Station today used to be the site of the Beitou Station, and the flower garden across from the station used to be the fountain outside the station. "During the Japanese rule, Japanese architects often put plazas and fountains in front of many stations, following the European cityscape. When Beitou Station was completed, a fountain was also built outside, hoping that travelers could see this beautiful scene as soon as they stepped out of Beitou Station," explained Zheng, while taking out a map of the Beitou Station in the past. "The Beitou, Shuanglian, Shipai, Shilin and Guandu stations on the Tamsui Line were all black-tiled wooden stations with very similar architectural shapes. Before the completion of the New Beitou Station, visitors to Beitou would get off at this black-tiled station and then take a rickshaw to a hot spring.

Houses along the street in front of Beitou Station

After walking out of Beitou MRT Station (formerly Beitou Station), walk along the direction of the flower garden (formerly the fountain) and you will see the drugstore chain, COSMED. When you raise your head, you will see the traditional facade of rustic or washed finish on top of the signboard of COSMED. "It is interesting to see a Western-style façade in this traditional Taiwanese neighborhood. However, the façade here is not entirely in western style, but rather incorporates Chinese elements such as lions and colored balls. You can see how skillfully the Taiwanese craftsmen during the Japanese era blended foreign and local styles. If you look more closely, you can also see that the white flowers on the façade, which are symmetrical to the left and right, are actually made of shells, which shows the creativity and dedication of Taiwanese craftsmen back then,"said Zheng.

Former location of Song Tao Yuan

Speaking of the history of Beitou hot spring, Matsumoto Kametaro, the owner of the famous hot spring hotel Song Tao Yuan (松濤園), the promoter of the Beitou Nalang Festival, and the "Father of Beitou-Yaki", is a person who must be mentioned. Surprisingly, the Starbucks and McDonald's outside the MRT New Beitou station nowadays is exactly where Song Tao Yuan used to be located. “Matsumoto originally worked as the head of the Finance Division of the Taipei Military Administration. He resigned after foreseeing opportunities for the development of the hot spring industry in Beitou, and bought a residential house to turn it into a hot spring hotel called Song Tao Yuan. The current Starbucks is where the new bathhouse, Sacred Spring Pavilion (神泉閣), used to be located in  Song Tao Yuan,” explained Cheng. After listening to his account, the restaurant chain on the street, which looked ordinary at first glance, suddenly became quite impressive.

Beitou Park

Beitou Park, a large green field not far from the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, is actually the first hot spring park in Taiwan. In 1913, the Governor of the Taipei Office, Inomura Daikichi, ordered the transformation of the bathing area Takinoyu (瀧湯) into the Beitou Public Bathhouse (now Beitou Hot Spring Museum) and the construction of the nearby space into the Beitou Park. "This is indeed a very complete plan because after the baths, visitors could walk around the area. Afterwards, a children's playground was also built nearby for parents to 'walk their children',” expressed Zheng. It is worth noting that there are still two beautiful fountains in Beitou Park today, which is the most beautiful demonstrations of how architects during the Japanese rule applied the Western techniques acquired during the Meiji Restoration period in Taiwan's urban construction. "Here is also the location for Jolin Tsai's 'Greek Girl at the Wishing Pond' music video," added Zheng.

Beitou Hot Spring Museum

The Beitou Public Bathhouse, completed in 1913, was the largest hot spring bathhouse in East Asia at the time. It was modeled after the Izu Mountain hot spring baths in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, with an eclectic Japanese and Western appearance. It is still beautifully standing on the trail of Beitou Mountain under the name of Beitou Hot Spring Museum. In his capacity as a designer, Zheng Peizhe shares his thoughts on the three magic perspectives that make the Beitou Hot Spring Museum the most beautiful and best to photograph: “The first one involves sitting in the tatami lobby on the second floor in the afternoon and looking out, where you can see the sunlight passing through the leaves and reflecting on the wooden floor. The second one shows the light reflecting on the hot spring pool in the afternoon from the large pool on the first floor, after passing through the stained glass. After the museum closes, when it is dark outside, the light inside the museum shines on the stained glass, which is also very charming.”

Ginsokaku(吟松閣)

As the famous hot spring town in Taiwan, there are large and small hot spring inns and onsen houses in Beitou. Takinoyu(瀧乃湯), Hoshinoyu(星乃湯), and Ginsokaku(吟松閣) are known as the "Three Famous Hot Springs in Beitau". Ginsokaku is not only a Japanese wooden inn with Japanese architecture and courtyard, but also offers hot spring baths, cuisine and accommodation services. "The bathing facilities at Ginsokaku are for the use of its guests only," said Zheng Peizhe. Today, Ginsokaku has been listed as a Taipei City Historic Site. It still retains Japanese garden features such as the wooden gatehouse, stone steps and stone lanterns at the entrance. The restoration work is currently underway in the hope of recreating its former glory.

Beitou Budong Mingwang Grotto

The Beitou Budong Mingwang Grotto, about a five-minute walk from the Beitou Heritage Museum, is a rare cave temple with a miniature artificial waterfall on the side, making it one of the lesser-known municipal monuments in Taipei. Interestingly, the Budong Mingwang Grotto in Beitou features not only an impressive grotto form, but also a close connection to the development of the local hot spring industry. After all, the Beitou Budong Mingwang Grotto was built by Hoshinoyu's owner, Shotahiro Sano, in the hope that his business would flourish. "During the Japanese rule, the Japanese discovered that there were hot springs in Beitou, and more and more people came to Beitou to invest in the hot spring industry. Once people came to Beitou, they had a need for spiritual support, which led to the creation of such places to worship such as Puji Temple and the Budong Mingwang Grotto,” said Zheng. This scenario reaffirms the intricate connection between the hot spring industry and Beitou.

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Profile／Zheng Pei-zhe

Graduated from Kun Shan University of Technology with a degree in Visual Communication Design, Zheng Pei-zhe is currently a freelance designer. In his spare time, he likes to visit historical spaces and modern buildings, and use illustrations of different themes to preserve the time and space of the island. He was awarded the German Red Dot Award for Communication Design in 2009, illustrated for "Meiji Village on Paper: Vanishing Taiwanese Classics", and participated in the "Beitou Family Emblem" project at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum.