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Tainan - the Government City
When you travel Taiwan
with an intention to see a lot of historical
sights, Tainan
will be just the perfect place for you to visit.
As the city has always played an important role in political and
cultural life of the country and was even established as Taiwan's
capital in 1661, a number of architectural monuments can be found here.
One of the oldest attractions of Tainan is the Chihkan Tower standing
in Fort Provintia that the Dutch built as long as three and a half
centuries ago to house their Government. The nine turtles carrying
large stone tablets with inscriptions on their backs and a stone horse
with broken legs present a spectacular view. Tourists who travel
Taiwan will be amazed with the legend saying that the horse used to
turn
into a monster at nights and run around the streets of the city, so
people broke his legs to feel secure.
The Government City, as Tainan is sometimes called, houses a great
number of temples that present great interest to people who travel
Taiwan, including Buddhist and Taoist temples, the island's oldest
Confucian Temple, etc., that are famous for their gorgeous appearance
reflecting age-old traditions in architecture of
Taiwan, as well as
China (Fujian), interesting historical background and important role in
cultural life of the Taiwanese.
An interesting legend concerns the two majestic Tianhou Temples
standing on the banks of Luermen River. People say there once was only
one temple and it got blown away by high waves leaving ruins scattered
around. New temples were built on each side of the river and it is now
unclear which one came first.
Another interesting metamorphose occurred to the Eternal Golden Castle
built at the time of Ching Dynasty rule. The towering brick walls that
used to protect Tainan from invaders and the courtyard originally used
for soldiers' drilling today are a perfect place for open-air art
performances and romantic dates of sweetheart couples.
Travel Taiwan with our site and learn more about major Taiwanese cities
like Taipei and Kaohsiung.
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