Fengshan County Old City

Cultural heritage

The Fengshan County Old City (also the Zuoying Old City) stands in Zuoying, Kaohsiung, founded in the Kangxi reign of the Qing, first as an earthen wall and the original seat of Fengshan County under Qing rule of Taiwan. In 1787 the city fell during the Lin Shuang-wen rebellion and the county seat moved to today's Fengshan District (the New City), leaving the original known as the Old City. It was later rebuilt from earth to stone, becoming Taiwan's first stone-walled city, of high historical, artistic and scientific value, designated a national monument in 1985. Resting on Guishan to the east and linked to Sheshan to the west, it shows traditional feng-shui and military-defence thinking.

Visiting: Wandering the Zuoying Old City one sees the surviving East, South (Qiwen) and North gates with stretches of wall, including some 44.9 metres preserved on Lane 4 of Zuoying 1st Road; the gates beside Lotus Pond against Guishan and Sheshan evoke the scene of Qing-era city-building, an essential site for understanding the origins of Kaohsiung and the history of walled-city construction in Qing Taiwan.