Taiwan 12 - JiuFen (九份)

Yeah.... Last destination set in our itinerary - JIUFEN!! Just some grandmother stories to be shared here with some photos attached. The second last day will be posted and shared later on. Excuse me, I just wanna make it not in sequences as I am kinda in mood to blog this right now. B.L.E.R =P

Well well well.... Back to this vintage town in Taiwan, JiuFen.... During the first year of the Qing Dynasty, the village here housed NINE families, thus the village would request NINE PORTIONS every time shipments arrived from town. Later JiuFen (NINE PORTIONS in Chinese) would become the name of the village. 

Furthermore, JiuFen was an isolated village until gold was discovered in the area. The Gold Rush brought its influx of people and a demand for housing. During WWII, a prisoner-of-war camp called "kinkaseki" was set up in the village and the POWs were forced to slave in the dark depths of a nearby copper mine and were subjected to the most inhuman treatment imaginable. In time, the gold and ore ran out and the mine was shut off eventually. JiuFen's lustre began to fade with declaim of gold mining activities too. 

In 1989, a Taiwanese film called The City of Sadness was shot in JiuFen and since it was a big hit in the cinema, many have flocked to JiuFen to experience that nostalgic feeling. Its downtown was used as a model in the anime movie Spirited Away too. JiuFen has since evolved into one of the most popular tourist hub in Taiwan now.

@28062011