Hsinchu City East Gate, Taiwan

One of the most beautiful historic gates in Taiwan

This gate is part of my Gates of Taiwan list.

Hsinchu City East Gate (Chinese 新竹東門城, pronounced Xīnzhú Dōngménchéng) also known as Yingxi gate (Chinese 迎曦門, pronounced Yíngxīmén, literally Sunshine receiving gate) was completed in 1827, when the Qing Dynasty ruled over Taiwan. It's today the only remaining historic gate in Hsinchu (there used to be 8 gates in the 19th century, four were big, four small). In 1901/02 the Japanese destroyed all of the gates except the East gate, because they were redesigning the city, widening some roads. Besides the gates, Hsinchu used to have a wall and a moat surrounding the city (Info: Source 1, Source 2). Today only the moat remains, which can be seen in the gate's vicinity. The whole area is transformed to a park and it's a popular spot for young Taiwanese to hang out, go for a walk, feed the fish. Same goes for the East Gate and the area nearby, which is used as a public square, where concerts are commonly held. I was lucky to see one, when I visited the city for the first time.

See my photos (from May 2010):

Young people listening to a live concert near the Yinxi gate.

Another angle on the gate.

The famous blogger posing near the gate (joking about the famous part).

A view through the gate.

The Hsinchu East Gate from the side.

One of my best shots of the gate. It was a great spring day, I only wish the sky had been blue.

The historic moat. I've seen fish and turtles inside.

This is really one of my favorite historic gates in Taiwan. And the whole area with the old moat and the park along the way is really beautiful. I hope I can explore more of Hsinchu in the future. See also Josh Fahler's East Gate HDR photo>>

[My TAIWAN page][My HSINCHU posts][All photos by MKL, 2010]