One place where you see this is in the number of buildings from the Japanese time that are still in use. We've already seen the Tainan Train Station, but the rail system itself was built during Japanese time. And the Anping Fort is also from Japanese time.
Below is the Tainan Martial Arts Morals Hall built in the traditional style in 1936. It is now used for cultural and educational events.
Below is the Second Branch of the Fire Department built in 1936. At that time the tower was the highest in Tainan and fires could be spotted. Still ready to go put out fires today.
Here is the current Museum of Taiwanese Literature and Perservation of Cultural Properties. Construction started in 1913 and was the government seat. Still in use today with a library, displays, ...
Here is (appropriately) the History Department Building across from the Foreign Language Building where I have my classes. You can always tell the old buildings because they have the high ceiling for when air conditioning was not yet invented.
I know on the Campuses of University of Minnesota and University of Washington there are buildings from more than 100 years ago that are still going strong. But there are also building built in the last 50 years that are now gone. They don't make them like they use to.
The Southern United States wouldn't be as populous as it is now except for the invention of air conditioning. I remember going to TSU(Texas Southern University) in Houston in 1972 and we'd all take the bus downtown to the department store and ride the escalators because they had the only air conditioning in town.
Here's the old Hayashi Department Building. It is made of yellow brick but hasn't been cleaned in a long time and now is covered in grime. But still standing. This is in the western part of Tainan and close to the port on the Taiwan straits. As the railroad has become more important, the center of Tainan has move to the East and now is closer to the RR than the port.
2 comments:
They are Good building pictures. They have more Characters than square and tall buildings. I wonder how they hide all of the fiber optical and other wire stuff. But if we use all wireless it wouldn’t have too many problems.
They are attractive old buildings! Does the government have laws to protect the older buildings? They certainly add to the charm of the city. I appreciate your remarks about the development of the country. Is air conditioning used widely in Tainan now? I don't imagine that you need heating. It's probably like Hawaii that way. Most homes don't have heating and often only have fans instead of AC.
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