Hsinchu Park Audio Guide

Hsinchu Park: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Hsinchu Park

   Welcome to Hsinchu Park, known locally as 新竹公園, a green pocket in the middle of Taiwan's famous tech city. I can tell you the park's story in some detail, but only a few of its corners are well documented, so we will follow those threads and let you discover the rest for yourself. Here is why the park is worth your time. It is often used to stand in for Hsinchu's culture as a whole, and nearly every corner of it has a story to tell. Within and around it you will find a restored Japanese restaurant, the Hsinchu Glass Museum, the Hsinchu Confucius Temple, and one of the oldest zoos in Taiwan. As you walk, think of the park as a compact outdoor museum, with a lake in the middle to keep you company.

2. 02

   A Japanese-Era Park by the Water

   Hsinchu Park was one of two parks the Japanese completed in Hsinchu. The other is Forest Park, on Eighteen Peak Mountain. That tells you something about the era. Public green space was part of the modernization that arrived in the Japanese period, along with the 1913 railway station and the growth of the glass industry. The heart of the park is Li Lake. It was originally meant to be a swimming pool for children, which is a charming thought when you look at the still water today. Now the lake is where families wander along the banks, and it gives the park its calm, slow rhythm. It is also a good place to pause before you explore further.

3. 03

   The Lakeside Ryotei of Hsinchu Park

   On the far side of the lake, peeking through the trees, is the Lakeside Ryotei. A ryotei is a refined Japanese restaurant, and this one was built in 1931 as a group of four houses. Its purpose was to entertain Hsinchu's most powerful politicians and its wealthiest businessmen, so picture dinners of a very particular kind. The glamour did not last. After the Japanese were defeated, the ryotei was handed over to the air force, and for years its buildings were home to the families of servicemen. Then they were abandoned. That is why traditional Japanese architecture is far easier to find in Hsinchu than houses that have survived since the Qing Dynasty. Today the buildings have been restored, and they let you step into three chapters of the city's past at once.

4. 04

   Culture, Glass and Animals Around Hsinchu Park

   Hsinchu Park is surrounded by cultural landmarks, and that is part of why it feels like the city in miniature. The Hsinchu Confucius Temple sits nearby, and one of the oldest zoos in Taiwan is close by too. The Hsinchu Glass Museum nods to a craft that has made Hsinchu known as a glass-art capital. A Qing Dynasty fort also appears among the sights around the park. Step back and the city around you has its own stories. Hsinchu is nicknamed the Windy City for the fierce northeasterly wind of autumn and winter, called the nine-descending wind. It is the same wind that dries the city's famous rice noodles. After the Japanese tore down most of the old city wall in 1902, only the East Gate, Yingxi Gate, survived, and it still stands downtown, ringed by a restored moat.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Hsinchu Park

   Hsinchu Park shows you a city with a long memory. The Japanese-era park, the lake and the ryotei sit alongside a Confucius Temple and a zoo, all within a short stroll of each other. The city beyond the park changed dramatically in 1980, when Taiwan's first science park was established, a few years after the idea was first proposed next to the universities of Hsinchu. As you wander, notice how the quiet banks of the lake feel a world away from that high-tech story. You might find more of Hsinchu hiding between those two worlds.