'History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme' - Mark Twain.
A gallimaufry of random China history and research interests
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Christmas in Taiwan V - So Many Buildings but No Details
Whenever I stroll around central Taipei I see buildings that intrigue me, that have some how managed to escape redevelopment and look interesting. Yet, to date, I've not been able to find even a half decent guide (in either Chinese or English) to the buildings of Taipei that catalogues them in the way several very good books do now on Shanghai. Mainland China is actually quite good at cataloging buildings - I've picked up good guides in Dalian, Shenyang and other cities too. So I have no idea what any of these buildings were as additionally plaques are few and far between in Taipei too - none of them seem to be particularly preserved but they caught my eye anyway. If anyone knows a good buildings guide to Taipei please do let me know.
SMC Books (http://www.smcbook.com.tw/) and the Taiwan Store (http://www.taiouan.com.tw/catalog/) will have what you are looking for or will be able to point you in the right direction.
As someone who divides their time pretty evenly writing about China now and China back then this seemed like a place to throw all the interesting bits that fall through the cracks somehow and never get used anywhere else.
It's basically the stuff that doesn't get used in my writing about modern China or in the books I do about old China - i.e. probably of little interest to anyone but me and therefore ideally suited to an obscure blog up a dark cul-de-sac of the Internet.
2 comments:
There are many such books:
臺北古城深度旅遊:古城門.老街、近代建築
台北近代建築
SMC Books (http://www.smcbook.com.tw/) and the Taiwan Store (http://www.taiouan.com.tw/catalog/) will have what you are looking for or will be able to point you in the right direction.
thanks - I'll check them out immediately
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