A Look Back at the Songshan Tobacco Factory - 台灣光華雜誌 Taiwan Panorama | 國際化,雙語編排,文化整合,全球華人的雜誌

The Songshan Tobacco Fac-tory was built in the 1930s, near the end of the era of Japanese rule. It was once among the most state-of-the art industrial facilities in Taiwan. For the long period when the government monopolized the sale of alcohol and tobacco, the plant greatly bolstered the national coffers. Then in 1998, due to a variety of factors-including impending reforms that were to open up the cigarette market to imports and turn the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau into the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation-the factory closed. Despite occupying a large expanse of real estate in expensive East Taipei, the site was left unused, and the offices and residences under the old smokestacks stood derelict and deserted, visited only by bugs and birds. Green and lush and overgrown with plants, the site began to be looked upon as precious open space within the urban jungle. Bizarrely, as a result of the twists of fate that have befallen the "Taipei Cultural and Athletics Park" plan, the site remains empty down to the present day. At the beginning of this year, the BOT (build, operate and transfer) plan for a large domed stadium on part of the site entered the stage of urban design review and environmental impact assessment, so that the location is once again busy with human activity. Elsewhere on the site, the restoration of the old buildings is underway, so it would seem that it is soon to return to magnificence. While the Songshan Tobacco Factory gets its makeover, let us stop and gaze backward through the spiraling smoke of history. Let us investigate the significance of this unusual space, which has generated so much controversy and speculation.

The Songshan Tobacco Fac-tory was built in the 1930s, near the end of the era of Japanese rule. It was once among the most state-of-the art industrial facilities in Taiwan. For the long period when the government monopolized the sale of alcohol and tobacco, the plant greatly bolstered the national coffers. Then in 1998, due to a variety of factors-including impending reforms that were to open up the cigarette market to imports and turn the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau into the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation-the factory closed. Despite occupying a large expanse of real estate