Living in silk and satin–Opulent mansions of the Old Town

Most visitors harvest a ton of unforgettable memories and photos after walking around the Lotus Pond. Save for the temples and shrines, the most recurrent motifs are the quaint and classical Chinese pagodas, life-like dragons and tigers, and even Gulliver-sized buddhas and warriors.

Local residents know too well that the hidden treasures are inside the winding streets and alleys. After all, they all grew up surrounded by old mansions instead of the tourist attractions most out of towner come here for. The Old Town has a history of more than three hundred years of Chinese settlement. Early roads and streets were scarce, but as time went by, they started to grow like branches of a tree to cater to the needs of people. And maybe this is why walking around here is like trying to find your way out of a labyrinth. Without a local guide you'd probably get lost seven times out of ten.

Despite being a frequent visitor, I never knew that the Old Town held yet another card up its sleeves. Around two hundred years ago, while ordinary people could only “curl up” inside humble and flimsy huts that most certainly needed a repair after every typhoon season, these opulent mansions give us an idea of how the well to do enjoyed their lives in those days. Extravagance, uniqueness, opulence, ostentation, lavishness, and any other synonym would most likely fit to describe these relics of a bygone dynasty. These are like windows for us to take a glimpse into the past and see their values and philosophy of life. Each and everyone of the mansions has a story to tell, waiting for someone to come and listen. Unlike the scenic spots, these old mansions are “non-renewable resources” getting closer to extinction year by year. A decade from now, the Spring and Autumn Pavilions will still be there, but who knows how many of these old houses will.

After a crash course on old mansions, I came to realize where to look and how to make educated guesses when visiting. Building techniques and materials reveal a lot about the time in which they were constructed. Some of them date back to the Ching dynasty while others to the Japanese era, but all of them feature Chinese traditional architecture. Since there were no kilns to fire bricks and roof tiles, all of those would have to be imported from China. The same happened with timber since sawmills were unavailable. Even well into the Japanese era, timber was still imported since the best Taiwanese cypress and other trees were exclusively reserved for the Japanese market. The only locally procured materials were clay bricks, coral limestone, and lime. As for the people who built them, masters and craftsmen were also from China, and that’s why these houses display a traditional southern Chinese style.

The old mansion of the Liaos (located in Wu-jia, pic. 1) features Japanese painted tiles from Awaji, Shikoku (pic. 2~3). This is a clear indication of the era in which it was built. However, these tiles were used sparingly as a decoration due to their high cost. The Hsiehs’ mansion (located in Pei-tzai tou, pic. 1) features finely cut limestones arranged in the shape of ancient coin (pic. 2~3), obviously suggesting extravagance and wealth. It is calculated to be at least nearly two hundred years old, and there’s also photographic evidence from the 1870’s by a French engineer. The mansion of the Yu family (located in Yee-chia, pic. 7) features finely cut scale-shaped and hexagonal limestones as the lower wall of the façade (pic. 8~9), suggesting approximately two hundred years since they resemble the design of the North Gate (1825).